What's new

Riding Race Bike with Child Seat

Malte

Maximum Pace
Sep 26, 2011
496
54
I am thinking about installing a child seat (like this) on my commuter road bike (its my old steel race bike). I have never seen anybody having a child seat on a race bike and I wounder why (well ok, my motivation is that the distance is ~8km and my daughters pre-kindergarten is along the path of my normal commute). Is this difficult to handle? Experience anybody?
 
I had a child seat on my hybrid (stolen :mad:) and some of the issues include:
  • A bit of challenge getting the kid into the seat without a stable stand. I would mount the bicyle facing rearward, holding the bicycle upright between the legs, lift the kid in, and secure him.
  • Mounting and dismount is different. I kept forgeting that I can't swing a leg over the seat. Made for interesting starts at times.
  • The bicycle becomes heavy in the rear and have to be aware the front end can come up.
  • Weight obviously makes handling sluggish.
  • The seats you are considering are springy and exacerbate the sluggish handling. If you have place to mount a rear rack, the Topeak solution might be more stable: http://topeak.com/products/Child-Carrier

Benefits include spending more time with the kid. My kids enjoy riding around with me, especially when I build up a bit speed. The satisfaction being a cycleway hero passing other cyclists while fully burdened. :)
 
There's a thread on this ... https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=3184 I think both FE and I have used the 'Eddy Mercyx' method to some degree of success. And when my daughter was an infant I simply zipped her up into my jacket. She was secure in a sling on my chest. Then later - I got a OGK Kid's seat and put a rack on my fixed gear and cross bike. Now she rides either the 'buddy bike' , mama-chari seat or her own bike.
 
I'm using the Topeak linked to above and like it. That being said, the caveats Jack mentioned are all valid points. At the end of the day though, I'm happy with my choice!
 
I had a child seat on my hybrid (stolen :mad:) and some of the issues include:
  • A bit of challenge getting the kid into the seat without a stable stand. I would mount the bicyle facing rearward, holding the bicycle upright between the legs, lift the kid in, and secure him.
  • Mounting and dismount is different. I kept forgeting that I can't swing a leg over the seat. Made for interesting starts at times.
  • The bicycle becomes heavy in the rear and have to be aware the front end can come up.
  • Weight obviously makes handling sluggish.
  • The seats you are considering are springy and exacerbate the sluggish handling. If you have place to mount a rear rack, the Topeak solution might be more stable: http://topeak.com/products/Child-Carrier

Benefits include spending more time with the kid. My kids enjoy riding around with me, especially when I build up a bit speed. The satisfaction being a cycleway hero passing other cyclists while fully burdened. :)

I have experience with the IBert on my City/Cross Bike. With that bike, I lowered my seat considerable so I can put my feat to the ground easily (because the IBert is kind of in the way making it difficult to stand over the top tube). This setup is ok for local cruising but nothing for a daily 8km tour. Thus I was thinking about adding something to my road bike. Unfortunately my Road Bike has no connectors for a rear-rack so I am stuck with this seat tube solution.
 
There's a thread on this ... https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=3184 I think both FE and I have used the 'Eddy Mercyx' method to some degree of success. And when my daughter was an infant I simply zipped her up into my jacket. She was secure in a sling on my chest. Then later - I got a OGK Kid's seat and put a rack on my fixed gear and cross bike. Now she rides either the 'buddy bike' , mama-chari seat or her own bike.

(Admin, ok to merge this thread. :eek:)

When looking at the OGK I guess it has similar disadvantages as the IBert. The Seat/Kid is in the way of your legs and you need to lower your seat so you can reach ground without stepping down from the saddle. Another problem might be that my daughter still falls asleep (especially in the morning) on longer rides, so I would need something that holds her.
 
When my daughter got older I just transferred her to a rear mounted carrier. She's always sleeping on the seat (and the buddy bike, too). Just put a strap around their chest so they don't fall out. (in addition to the seat belt). I have no desire to ride her around on my carbon roadbike - at more than 20kg, it's just not practical - so, that's what the mama-chari or cross bike is for. And now she's 6 and can ride her own bike so - in a few months , problem solved altogether, as she's doing fine at 10km by herself on the bike trails. I just load up her kids bike onto the buddy bike and portage her that way.

Ideally I'd like to have a kid's bike that also doubles as a 'buddy bike' - so then I can tow her to where we do our ride together, disconnect the kid's bike, and she can ride by herself, then re-attach and ride home where it's safer if I'm in control.

By the way - I put the kid's seat on the buddy bike, too - so I'd have option of either her pedalling or just sleeping / sitting in the chair. I used this last year and we rode together all the way from Shinjuku to Odaiba and back. Plus other trips on Arakawa, etc. The buddy bike has a rear rack - so it was very simple to attach the kid's seat.

This is the one I have - it doubles as a shopping basket, too ---

http://www.ogk.co.jp/products/individual/child/rear/rbc-009f3(フリーキャリーシステム用着脱うしろ子供の/
 
Back
Top Bottom