Bike and seat recommendation

psvrichard · Post by **psvrichard** » 8 Jan 2008, 3:11pm

Hi,

Does anyone have any recommendations for a bike and seat combo for a fairly hefty child. My son is 2 and a half and has muscular dystrophy so can't cycle on his own and probably wouldn't be stable in a trailer either. I'd love to take him on the back of my own bike but I have a number of issues. I need the sturdiest seat possible and a better bike to attach it to. My present bike has a very thick frame so the seat is attached quite high up and I can feel the back end go if I have to put a bit of effort in. (and I live at the bottom of a hill.)

If anyone successfully transports their kids about I'd love to hear recommendations of what bikes and seats are a good solution and advice on which retailers to go to.

james01 · Post by **james01** » 8 Jan 2008, 3:28pm

I carried my kids on rear-mounted bike seats, but I always felt slightly uneasy about stability. If I were doing it again I'd go for a trailer, with the child securely strapped into a modern 3 point rallycar-style harness.

glueman · Post by **glueman** » 8 Jan 2008, 4:12pm

We used seats and a trailer and there's a place for both. As a child gets heavier they exert considerable leverage with their movement, even when they are behaving. When they're playing up it's a full on storm at sea.
If you go down the seat route the minimum I'd recommend is a rack mounted type, a stable handling bike, flat wide handlebars and good brakes. The trailer is a much better suggestion tho'.

psvrichard · Post by **psvrichard** » 21 Jan 2008, 12:15am

Thanks for the advice. 2 trips to a very friendly bike shop in York have persuaded us that trailers are the right solution for us. The positives of trailers tick all the boxes and we've gone from rear seats to trailers in the space of 8 days. The kids went beserk when we put them in but I think that was due to our clumsiness in adjusting the harness! Can't wait to get out and about.

hamster · Post by **hamster** » 23 Jan 2008, 9:16pm

Persevere. We let ours play in the trailer for a day or two and then when they were familiar with it we went riding.
It requires very little in my experience to completely overstimulate them at first - 400m or so for the first time is enough. It's really frustrating, but little and often is the way. After a couple of weeks they will demand to go in the trailer, you'll be riding 10 miles or so, and they'll be fast asleep for most of it.

A couple of tips:
1 Plenty of clothing as it's easy for them to get cold
2 Keep the tyres quite soft (20psi max) as they are light - a bit of give helps the ride
3 You'll need low gears. 22T front and 28T back should get you up most things. A MTB gear set is ideal.