I wanna child seat for a bicycle

Hopelesswithmoney

Anybody got any experience of these please?

I want a seat that will fit my hubby's Raleigh Pioneer Trail Hybrid.

Not sure whether to look for front or rear-mounting seats and what makes are good etc.

Any advice gratefully received.

TIA
Hopeless

hel8itch

theres a load here
http://sports.listings.ebay.co.uk/Cycling-Accessories_Childrens-Seats-Trailers_W0QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ98932QQsocmdZListingItemList

http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/section.php?xSec=4046

flea72

depends on age/size of child you are carrying

front mounted seats ok, if the child is light, as you need to be able to turn the handlebars, plus their weight

rear mounted seats usually ok til the child is about 2ys max (unless heavy/tall), although the extra weight at the back can make the bike tip, when you come to a stop (need good thigh muscles) - also as most rear mounted bike seats clamp to the seat tubing, watch where you front mech cables go, as you may need to re-route these around the clamp

also with rear mounted seats, the kids tend to stick their knees in your back, or spend half the time putting their cold hands down the back of your trousers/up your top (they find this really funny) - or even pull your trousers down (even funnier)

i think hammax do a bike seat that clamps to a pannier rack, which means the seat is more supported

or you can just get a saddle that fits to the crossbar (for older kids) but then you have to bike bow-legged

also most bike seats only have a 3-point harness, so they arent that supportive, so the child needs to be able to support its own head really well (even when asleep) else they start to loll out the side of the chair, or onto your back

really for the money and how much use you will get out of it - i would suggest going for a trailer instead - as even once the child has outgrown it, it still comes in useful on family bike rides, to carry all the food/drink and junk that you need, and if you feel like it, even to do the food shopping, rather than a car - Argos do a decent, trailer which can take 2 kids for under £90

when year bear in mind you will prob pay about £35+ for a bike seat, and if you are a biker, you will prob want to progress onto the trailer anyway at some point, so i would just buy that to start with

hth

Hopelesswithmoney

Thanks flea72, that is really kind of you to go to all that trouble and I'm very grateful to you for your advice.

I wasn't really sure what I was looking for - our son is two next month but already weighs 14.5 kilos (just plonked him on the scales...). I had no intention of lugging him round myself - he would have had to go on my hubby's bike as hubby is fit and strong and I am weak - but thanks to your advice I think we'll look into the trailer.

Hubby and I used to do a bit of leisure cycling before we had the littl'un and we thought that this would be a good way of doing some exercise with litt'un in tow (although the dog will not be happy for being left at home but you can't please everyone all of the time!).

Thanks again

Hopeless

EvilMonkey

Something else you might look into is something called a trail gater it's a bar which can you can attach to a standard bike and varying size kids bikes (effectively making them a tandem).

A couple I cycle with have 2, 1 for there 5 year old, where he starts off on his bike and when he gets tired they hook him up to mum (you can leave them attached to a bike and cycle quite normally as they kind of "fold" up and out of the way when not in use) and one for there 2-3 year old who'd in a trike (I think) hooked up to dad.

at £43 a pop again not amazingly cheap, but you might get a bit more out of it?

See: www.trailgatorbar.co.uk for more info

E.M.

Hopelesswithmoney

Cheers E.M.

rusty_3

i've seen folks have a trailer behind bike
its a purpose made trailer got 2 wheels with a seat for child, they have tops u can fit or remove (keep off the rain/wind etc)
don't know what they r called, i'll look round the net incase i can find a link

rusty_3

heres an e-bay link

give u an idea of the things u can get

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7167441827&category=98932

gravitytolls

A knew someone who had a trike, with a custom made seat for 2 children on teh back. The seat was a wooden bench type, and had harnesses of teh kind on pushchairs.

This was brillo, as even if the children did fidget, the bike wasn't in danger of toppling.

Expensive though, you'd need to be pretty serious cyclists to want to spend that kind of dough.