Cycling UK Forum

Hi there - I am looking for a front child's bike seat for more than a trip to nursery - we want to take our girls on day trips. We have tried rear mounted seats but we don't like the girls behind us, particularly as they are now starting to become more interactive and they will not just want to sit at the back all day.

One of our girls will be 3 in the Summer and the other is one and a half. We need something that is comfortable and supporting if they fall asleep. For us, we are 5'5" and 5'7" so not tall people but we don't want to have our legs in an awkward position for cycling on long day rides. Our bikes are city/commuter bikes.

We looked at the Weeride but people say their knees hit the seat. We liked this seat though as there was a head rest for when falling asleep and lots of padding to make it comfortable. Anyone any experience of these at all?

We also looked at the ibert seat but whilst this may be fine for the eldest, we are not so sure about the support for the youngest.

If anyone could give us any information/advice, we would really appreciate it. Thanks very much

Sounds like you need a more suitable bike

eg

http://www.practicalcycles.com/userimages/procart7.htm

Hello - not getting much response to my previous thread and have been looking all day for some advice and now come away more despondent about the whole thing! Here is me trying to consider a child seat when, for my purposes, I shouldn't be event taking children in them. A lot of forum posters are saying that it is unfair for a toddler to be placed in a seat for any length of time and just short trips to the shop is what they are made for.

So the question is, how long would you or do you ride with a two year old in a bike seat?

Seems like a biking holiday is out for a while

Mark give people time they will answer. How long depends on the child and how long they stay interested for or how long they sleep.

markmax wrote:have been looking all day for some advice

you've been looking in the wrong place.

at the top of the screen is a search facility. open that tab up, put child seat in to the keywords box, and bob's your uncle

here's a selection of the wealth of experience you may find, if you look

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24868&hilit=child+seat
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32578&hilit=child+seat
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35110&p=279188&hilit=child+seat#p279188

I'm guessing you havnt taken the kids out much/ at all? My youngest hated it and cried all the time. You are not going to be riding all day.
Start from home taking them on really short trips that lead to something they enjoy, like the local swings. Then you can try some different swings(or whatever) a bit further away. The answer is you can ride for as long as the kids are enjoying it, on that particular day.

Hi Mark

I used to cycle with my little one on a rear seat for a good couple of hours around the villages where I live. I cycle for leisure, and he came with me! To be honest he'd fall asleep pretty quickly and stay that way for the duration! He seemed happy enough to go out on the bike, in the period before falling into a contented sleep, and upon waking up!

Regarding responses. As NUKe says, give people time. 48hrs for example is no bad thing. On a question such as yours you should get some feedback.

531colin wrote:My youngest hated it and cried all the time.

blimey
my son loved it. we often went 20 miles in a day, no complaints

Thanks for your responses. I have a child coming up 3 years old and another who is one and a half. They are down to midday naps only now. We have taken them out in rear seats, the eldest one more so but she gets bored. The youngest one has only been out once never cried at all, but not sure if she really enjoyed the experience! We looked at front mounted seats so that we could interact with them and they would not get bored but either the forum posters say they are unsafe (which wasn't the question a lot of people were asking but nevertheless, got a bit of stick from wanting a front seat) or it was cruel to have them in a child seat for anything over an hour. I found a lot of the posts were difficult to understand - how many people have their children strapped up in a car seat for over an hour in a stuffy car, only then to shift the car seat onto the buggy so the baby has no opportunity to have a stretch?! We are now looking at trailers as well but you miss out on chatting with the children whilst cycling out and about.

We have recently joined the CTC and decided to take up biking as something the whole family can do and to encourage the girls as they got older, so I thought I would post here.

Thanks very much for the links. I will check those out now. It's good to read some positive views where people are regularly taking their children out and about.

[old fart mode on]
Kids don't know they born these days. Them modern kiddy seats look as comfy as the ones in first class on Virgin Atlantic...

In MY DAY we sat in them little square ones made out of bits of flat steel bar, padded with a sixteenth of an inch of tartan-clad sponge. AND they were attached to the back of a clattery ladies Raleigh roadster.

Tsk, young'uns, spoiled rotten...

[/old fart mode off]

GrahamNR17 wrote:[old fart mode on]
padded with a sixteenth of an inch of tartan-clad sponge.

[/old fart mode off]

You clearly had the de luxe model

Both my daughters (5 years between them) would happily sit in a front mounted seat all day no matter what the weather (I always made sure they were wrapped up well against the cold) - nodding off was also a regular thing. Mild off-road stuff was always looked forward to - we did the easier trails around Dalby Forest several times. Once they were old/strong enough they'd even enjoy seeing what effect they could have on the steering/gears whilst dad was daydreaming
Neither enjoyed being in a seat on the back though - that wasn't used for very long at all before it was sold on. Probably because they felt less involved and it was more difficult for them to chat or point stuff out to you, or vice versa. It was then a progression to a trailer bike before rapidly moving onto their own two wheels. The rides then got a little shorter/slower for a while, but were still enjoyable.
Eldest is all grown up now - in fact she passed her driving test just last Tuesday at the first attempt. I like to think that the cycling helped a little by providing a bit of road sense along the way. Youngest is already planning some cycle/camping trips should the weather ever improve
Start 'em young, they'll remember things about the rides long after you've forgotten them

Steve

I have taken my daughter for a 40 mile day in a child seat, the day was broken up with two train rides a few cafe stops etc, however my daughter is very used to going places by bike.
In the trailer we have done 60 miles and frequently do 50 miles which is a good five hours.
On those grounds she must do over 200hours a year in the trailer.
However a trailer is much more pleasant for a child than a bike seat. They can eat drink and play in it.
Although they mostly catch up on their sleep.


We had terrible trouble with my son in the car seat, he hated it on main roads and only stopped crying when we got back on country lanes, I never heard anyone suggest that we should stop taking him in the car.

markmax wrote:or it was cruel to have them in a child seat for anything over an hour.

I'd be inclined to ignore that sort of feedback

markmax wrote:the forum posters say they are unsafe or it was cruel to have them in a child seat for anything over an hour.

what forum is this?
i've commuted daily with my son to his childcare place for years until he started school, and he never fell out once.
now, some motorist's behaviour towards cyclists...that can be dangerous