Toddler seat - Safety

We had a rack mounted rear seat.  

I believe had one incident of the bike toppling over at stationary with eldest in it.  He definitely didn't seem scarred by it literally or metaphorically.  He was safely inside the seat surrounds, seat belt and footloops and wearing a little helmet.  He's now bashing out 2 x 100km road rides a week and is capable on an MTB, 15 years later 🙂.  

Obviously don't make a habit of it.  

Watching this with interest as a my wife has similar concerns..I was looking at the kids ride shotgun seats but the idea is freaking her out a bit. It's not totally clear from the info if they have any kind of seatbelt or retention other than the foot loops and she isn't thrilled by that.

Mac Ride type seats - they’ve got to be old/mature enough to know to hold on. If they can do that, you’re golden. No need for seat belt etc, that’d be bad.

This was my youngest at 2yrs 2 mths old, but we started used it just before she turned 2. She understood the importance of holding on!

Best devices ever being front-mounted. Tons of chats and interaction as you ride along.

We've used a weeride seat with mini crank up to about 18 months then switched to a (copy) ride shotgun seat. Weeride is strapped in and has a little support at the front of the seat for them to hold on and/or rest their head when they fall asleep...

Shotgun is pretty much just a saddle on the top tube with some footpegs (with straps) and a little set of bars that attach to your bars to give them a better position. No straps but once the small person is comfortable they are solid and I think builds balance well. 

Not had a drop yet (touch wood), I find it best to be on the bike to support it when getting them in and out and not getting off, lean/stand the bike and take them out.

We had WeeRide (the ones with a seat they sit in, mounted on a bar from stem to seatpost. 

Absolutely brilliant things. The kid is literally between your arms. Loads of interactions, loads of smiles. 

Bike is top heavy and can be tricky to climb on to and move off, but I did it before dropper seatposts were a thing and never dropped it. 

People will always worry about things they feel they have no control over, which may be the issue here.

So, there are a couple of options. Buy one, use it without her knowing, sorted. Or have lots more kids, then she'll worry about something else. Oh, or buy a balance bike 😁

I had a rear mounted one, dropped the bike once. No problem or lasting damage at all.  Kids generally bounce, adults not so much.

Also there are the benefits.  fun bonding time with dad, fresh air etc.  It always amuses me how things seen as totally normal in other countries are seen as too dangerous here.  I wonder what the stats are for injured children in the low countries.

We had a weeride seat, goes in front, is a seat and seatbelt for when young. Me and him used it from soon as he could hold his head up. They have a padded tray type thing so they can slump forward and fall asleep. 
we also had a Croozer trailer with the baby sling attachment so he used that from 5 months. 
He always wore a helmet on the weeride, never fell off with him. I suppose the question is, how often do you fall over riding simple terrain that you’d be happy riding with a 1 year old. Accidents do happen, car crashes happen but we need to risk assess it a bit. I rode Gisburn blue with him, canal towpaths, local footpaths and BW’s. He’s seven now and riding all those and bits of reds now. He loved the bike, getting out on adventures. A ride out in the back lanes to a cafe, back via a massive John Deere dealer that has tons of tractors outside was like heaven to a 2 year old lad. 
used the trailer for longer/rougher type rides etc. 

Do remember though to wrap them up, they are getting the full wind chill sat up front and they aren’t doing the peddling 🤣. They get cold and a dither on otherwise. 
But yeah. Do it, both of us loved it and he set him up for “adventures” now he’s older. 

The Shotgun is one of the most fun things we've ever had. Junior loves it and I'm a bit sad that he's getting too big and heavy for it.

It's been great for getting out and exploring locally and we've used it on holiday. it's amazing.

I miss seat rides. Both boys too big for them now.  So nice to ride and chat.  

I was a bit nervous first time out, thought I'd just ride round the block at first, but he was taking his hands off and pointing at things straight away.  Not saying he was being reckless or unsafe - rather the opposite: he felt so safe and comfortable that he was happy to take a hand off.  

So I put him in charge of directions and we ended up riding 7 miles of trails! No nappy bag, water or snacks, cos I thought we were only going round the block. luckily no poos, and it was bilberry season so we stopped a few times and stuffed our faces.  Happy memories. 

I love the idea of using your offspring as an airbag between your body and the stem/bars. 

We used a Yepp 2 mini seat for ours when they were ~15months then moved onto the shotgun seat at ~ 2 years. One of the best investements we've ever made.

Echo the note about wrapping the kids up warmer than you - sitting still in the wind can be pretty chilly. Also worth noting that keping your ambitions in check is important.

Posted by: thecadian

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My daughter is 18 months old and I’m looking at getting some form of front mounted bike seat for her so we can go out on trips together. 

I love my Mac Ride crossbar seat, there have been many amazing rides with my two boys. It really is one of my favourite ways to spend time with them, it’s such a good place to chat and watch the world go by.

I got it when my eldest was 3 3/4 years old and he was immediately very comfortable on it, normally riding 10km on muddy forestry tracks. I briefly tried the youngest on it then when he wasn’t quite two, on a quiet flat road, and he was obviously scared. It wasn’t until he was 2.5 that he was ready for a longer ride and off-road bumps. A year later and he absolutely loves it, often telling me to go faster on the downhills and enjoying some twisty singletrack. Every kid will be different, so it’s a case of judging how they are and building up the distance and difficulty.

Before that, we used a Yepp seat on a rear rack. That’s definitely more suitable at a younger age, they are strapped in and can even nap. But actually when they are engaged and enthusiastic, I think there’s a safety advantage to the crossbar seat - you can see what they are doing and respond appropriately. Sometime in the Yepp, excitedly pointing (and thus throwing their weight around) at a tractor or similar would unexpectedly pull me around on the bike. With the crossbar seat, you can see exactly how they are moving and compensate for it.

As has already been said, wrap them up warm. They are not moving and get all the wind. One thing not mentioned is the pedalling position, you need to flare your knees out as the child is in the way. I ride flat pedals which I imagine is easier than clipless to give flexibility over foot placement.

I have fallen once, during a very slow tight turn - not quite adjusted right to allow that much handlebar movement. A tiny graze and my boy mentioned it a few times after, but it didn’t seem to put him off at all.

I highly recommend you give it a go, although it might be a few months before your daughter is old enough. I will be sad when my two are too big.

We used a Bobbie Mini with both of ours, it fixes to the stem so if you do fall over the bars don't hit the kid, excellent bit of kit. It's still sitting in the loft, if you're near Cardiff you're welcome to it.

So we’ve been exactly here with your predicament and came out the other side.

Thule Yepp Mini, we got a weeride but didn’t fit any of our bikes even with the different Mount. I went through pain to get him on the front of our bikes finding a solution that would work and the Thule came up trumps. Anyway reign back what you want to do and take no risks really. 

after then when they’re strong enough depending on how stable they are and if not that stable I’d suggest stay away from the joyride, they’re just a seat whereas the macride seats really holds your toddler well!

I found this out when he had a mad paddy early on and even if I wanted to and tried he couldn’t fall out of it! 😆

love the macride now and still use it even if he’s on his balance bike for when he gets too tired

So we started off with the Thule (yepp) mini then moved onto the shotgun. 

I used the Thule mini on my inbred and both boys loved it. Once bigger I took the foot straps off and once big I got rid of the shoulder straps. 

Generally my plan was pedal them somewhere with their balance bike strapped to my bag then let them ride around then I'd ride them home. Front mounted seats are great for chats pointing stuff out and the kids can't pull the bike around like they can on a rear seat when they lean and point. 

As for toppling over, I'd get on the bike (a dropper helps here) then I'd instruct child to turn around and I'd lift them on. 

The best bit about front seats is kids become a great mudguard. 

My youngest is now 4 1/2 and won't be riding shotgun much longer ( only on long climbs currently),when he's 5 he'll probably get a hand me down vitus 20+ from his brother and no danger am I sticking that on my bag. 

I borrowed a WeeRide but I couldn't pedal with it on, my knees kept scraping and bashing into it. Did I do something wrong? It was mounted as far forward as I could get it.

So sadly I think this is what you’ll likely find, even with our Thule Yepp mini you couldn’t ride normally and had to ride with your knees stuck out. 
In short I don’t think we did longer than 8 miles with him in that, I tended to find I put my feet towards the edge of the pedals so my knees were wider out anyway. I did think about getting pedal extensions 😆 but tbh it won’t be for too long you have them in one of those seats… maybe a year and then if they can hold themselves up well the shotgun sounds good, but I’d like ours he wasn’t good at staying in the middle of the bike the macride has been fantastic! 

We started with a Thule (strapped in), which she was in at about 9 months old, when she started at Nursery, she quickly wanted to go on that rather than in the trailer (it’s about 5km each way & mostly off road).

At just over a year she was getting too big for it it (she’s a tank & we’re both tall) so we put her on a shotgun. She had been on a balance bike then for about 3/4 months so understood the concept of holding on so kind of got it from the word go. The bigger issue was her trying to take her feet out of the straps.

Once her feet were a bit bigger the straps were tighter & it’s less of an issue. She does about 12km a day on it now to nursery, and will happily do about 20km now. Occasionally she likes to take her hands off, but when it gets bumpy she gets scared and holds on again or we stop & don’t go until she’s holding on, but that’s a bit of a battle sometimes.

She had more accidents in the trailer than on the seats so far, I’m sure we will have a moment at some point.

We had a Thule Yepp Mini seat which our daughter loved, its really helped her when she went on a bike on her own later. It was also great to talk to her when you were riding. It had a harness so she couldn't get out LOL, used it on roads, Sherwood pines few times and once your used to the balance point and size of it in front of you its great. Its for sale if you're interested?  

I had a WeeRide for my elder two which worked ok (and was suitable younger) but my youngest had a Ride Shotgun Pro which was so much nicer because I could pedal more normally, take it on and off super fast and ride my MTB almost as normal with it on when she wasn't on it (drops and all!) I now need to sell it if anyone wants an almost as-new condition one, I bought it too late and she's outgrown it annoyingly fast...

I hate the idea of a rear seat for a child, even if my knees might prefer it!

I had a macride, it was great. 

I found it difficult to pedal too, but ebike + dropper post made that loads better.

I even fell off with my daughter on. We were doing about 2mph through a muddy patch, but it was the ice-like chalk mud of the south downs. Even though both feet were on the ground there was nothing I could do, just slid over. We were both laughing as we got up covered in mud.

Couldn't get on with the weeride at all

We used a Bobike Mini - https://bobike.com/product/collections/go/go-mini-front-headtube

It is excellent and super stable and fits to any bike as long as you have space to remove 35mm of spacers on you headtube. Rode allsorts, including Make or Brake at Inners. The wee fella loved it, giggled like mad. Having said that, I never had a crash.

We used it with both our kids. My wife "crashed" once. Very slow speed sideways slip in a wheel-rut at Tentsmuir. The kid didn't even get muddy.

We went: Trailer --> Bobike Mini --> FollowMe Tandem

I watched my sister leap off a bike with her son strapped into a rear mounted seat, letting him just slam to the ground. Seriously WTF? I honestly think she'd forgotten he was there...

Used to love taking my kids out with the Wee Ride. Also had a rear mounted one but the Wee ride was so much better, the bike was a lot more balanced with their weight in the middle and it's much easier to chat to them. Best to have it on a bike with a dropper post as it's way easier to get on and off with it.

Boys loved the LOCT (MacRide would be the modern equivalent).

Used it from the age of two to six (coming home from football). So many adventures: not riding super gnarr but having so much fun.

We toppled once while I walked the bike on a slippery boardwalk but Thump was fine. Grinned, dusted ourselves down, and continued. 

Best fun is when several of you have the kids and seats. The boys slept well that night ! 

Plus 1 for the wee-ride.

You do need to splay your knees a little and a dropper post makes it much easier to manage and get on. He absolutely loved this, its infinitely better than them being behind you. 

We did progress to the shotgun seat later but didnt use that for as long, he was into his own balance bike by then.

I used the weeride on multiple bikes, gravel, carbon, alloy etc - it definitely works best on an alloy/steel framed mountainbike with a dropper. You want wide bars and the ability to drop the seat really helps with getting on and off, especally solo. 

Used a weeride up until our lot tuned about 3, then had a MacRide seat until they could ride distance properly - took it to Morzine to muck about on the greens. By the end of the week it was a case of "Stand up Zoe, there's a jump!". Use flats, you'll ruin your knees with clips and you really don't want to fall over through forgetfulness. A little bit of roadie bar tape between the controls makes a macride / shotgun seat a much more pleasant thing for little fingers to use.

All of ours slept at one point on the weeride. As others have said wrap them up really warm as its cold out front - snow suit or all in one waterproofs, boots and gloves.

The ideal bike is a fatbike (or e-fat) with their wide q-factor cranks. Dropper is very useful for setting off. 

@thecadian Have you considered a trailer instead? Your wife may prefer the idea of the kid being strapped in and surrounded by a metal frame, and two wheels so it can't tip (unless you cut a corner and bump it over of course). Plus there storage space for snacks, spare clothes, favourite teddy etc.

I wanted to take my youngest out on longer rides but also didn't want the faff of attaching cumbersome things to my bike so last week bought a great condition Halfords 2 child bike trailer from eBay for £50. Haven't used it yet though as the thru axle with hitch attachment only turned up today. All fitted and ready for the maiden voyage after work 😊 

I had a little look around the dutch road accidents stats.  Cyclist are a huge proportion as you would expect.  However young children are a tiny proportion and older folks on ebikes are the largest proportion.  Not enough detail to really be conclusive but given that children on bicycle seats is perfectly normal and commonplace there, if there was any real danger then I would have thought this would be reflected in the stats

Thanks everyone for your advice - Am looking at the new Shotgun one they are bringing out that seems to combine the supportive seat of a wee-ride for when she's small and then the seat/bars combo for when she's a bit bigger

@citizenlee   Haven't really got space for a trailer and prefer the idea of having her up front where i can keep an eye on her and engage 

Rhode Gear Limo mounted to a blackburn rack on our kiddyback tandem. Rode thousands of miles with two children without incident. I also had a Hamax seat tube mounted seat on another bike. The rack mounted seat was far superior an a joy. Mounted an Esge double sided kickstand so the bike was always stable when dropping kid into seat. Will post the final picture...

https://postimg.cc/MfmQg8rD

last journey to Re-Cycle. They grow up fast!

Posted by: thecadian

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Thanks everyone for your advice - Am looking at the new Shotgun one they are bringing out that seems to combine the supportive seat of a wee-ride for when she's small and then the seat/bars combo for when she's a bit bigger

@citizenlee   Haven't really got space for a trailer and prefer the idea of having her up front where i can keep an eye on her and engage 

The Halfords trailer does fold flat and the wheels easily come off, but understand you wanting her up front.

It's scary to imagine anything happening to your little one. But the truth is, front-mounted bike seats are designed to be really safe when used properly. Your daughter sits right in front of you, between your arms, so you’re always aware of how she’s doing. Most falls people worry about are super rare and usually happen when the bike isn’t even moving. With a proper helmet, a good quality seat, and riding on safe paths, the risk is low, and tons of parents have had amazing, safe rides with their toddlers this way. You could even ease into it by practicing first and starting with really short, slow rides.

@citizenlee   Haven't really got space for a trailer and prefer the idea of having her up front where i can keep an eye on her and engage

I had a folding Burley trailer when my kids were small. I could get both of them in there, plenty of room for their stuff, and it kept them warm and dry. Highly recommended.

Out today round glentress. Youngest is now 4 1/2. The biggest problem is by the time you add 18kg child, 6kg bike a couple of kilos in the seat and a bag full of child paraphernalia you end up with nearly 30kg of extras on the bike. .... That coupled with me being 10(+)kg heavier than I was and less fit makes for a tough climb. 

It is good chatting to them though and answering the rapid fire every topic under the sun question session that kids seem to relish in. 

It's a thumbs up from me