"Rat" Child saftey seat?

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pepper

pepper

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I taught my son and my oldest daughter how to ride a bike last night, I ran 2 pounds of my gut off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E3dfvFxeD0

Now they will be wanting to ride all the time so I have to get ready. I also have a 3 year old that I need to take along for the ride. The classic child seats look heavy and not very protective, and the new ones look like they all came from Walmart.

I need options. Rat a Walmart plastic wonder or just get an older one??

Stick on flames?

Stickers that say "Turbo"
 
mine used to fall asleep in her seat, i guess watching dad's tush wasnt too exciting lol. I would look back and see her little helmet bouncing with the sidewalk cracks. Definitely cherish every moment, it seems like you wake up one morning and they are all grown up. Seemed like only a few weeks passed between teaching my older daughter to ride on 2 wheels and teaching her to drive a manual trans in the car i gave her. now shes married and I'm waiting (hopefully a while) for grandkids to show the joys of bicycles
 
You may also want to consider a trailer, at least if you crash, you don't take the kid with you. I remember seeing a child fall asleep in a bike seat then slump forward into Dad making him stop suddenly, didn't look like the safest thing to have happen. I was coming up on them fast.

Cars will give a trailer a wide berth. Be sure to Rat it out if you use one! :)
 
I have the rear mounted Wal-Mart child seat, I have a trailer, and I have the handlebar mount Bobike mini seat.

The rear mount was the first I had, it feels flimsy, but it has held up just fine, but the weight over the rear wheel makes the rear of the bike feel spooky, especially when you need to stand up to pedal. Of course, my first daughter freaked out when I stood up, so I wouldn't when giving her a ride and sitting down pumping up hill BURNS!

The trailer is great, but I don't agree that all cars will give you more room, on busy roads, you MUST have a sidewalk, and remember it's back there or your child will be doing 1 wheel stunts. I have pulled my oldest daughter and son in the trailer, the weight wears on you quickly.

Lastly the Bobike mini ( http://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Interna ... 224&sr=8-8 ) I doubt your 3 year old would fit in this thing, but I firmly believe now that front mount is the way to go. At the end of the summer I put my under 1 year old daughter on it and it feels so natural to have that weight just behind the handlebars, plus, if you did have an accident, in theory, you could hold up the front of the bike better than the back. She LOVED being able to see out front. I will use this seat until she doesn't fit anymore, then name something bigger. haha

A final option is one of those tag along bikes. My son just turned 4 last week and though we don't have one, I would have trusted him at 3yo on one of those. Last time we rode we let him ride his 12" bike with training wheels and follow us and he did fine on that, so he would have done even better on the tag along bike. Plus, I didn't realize until that ride that he didn't know how to use his coaster brake until we were going down a hill, wouldn't have had to worry with a tag along bike.
 
That bobike seat is really cool. Pick yourself up a cycletruck and modify a seat for the front. :mrgreen:
 
M.Martian said:
That bobike seat is really cool. Pick yourself up a cycletruck and modify a seat for the front. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I saw the Bobike, liked it and my sister found a screaming deal on eBay that was supposed to be used, but it had never been put on a bike. The coolest part is that it is quick release, you pull a pin and the seat lifts off completely, not so easy with my rear seat, gotta get out a wrench to remove it, unless you replace the supplied nuts with wingnuts. It's just so small, so cool, though if you use it on a geared bike, your child could start trigger shifting and catch you off guard if you're not paying attention. This is why mine is on a cruiser. The quick release mount is also so simple that you could easily mock up your own for use on other places on a bike.

I've thought about doing a cycletruck style front seat for the kids. Projects, projects...
 
the thing that worries me about the front mount seats is the fact that in 25+ years in the bike business the #1 car-bike accident my customers have- BY FAR- is the 'car turns in front of the bike and cuts it off' scenario. sandwiching a child between you and your landing site on the hood of the car is just too sketchy for me to contemplate.

listen hippies, i don't care WHAT they ride on a path in europe ( :p ), i firmly believe a BRIGHTLY COLORED, QUALITY trailer with it's safety flag in place is far and away the best alternative once you leave the confines of your neighborhood. it's also the only practical way we found to also haul the stuff you need to have along with the child- be it toys, diaper bag, blanket, school books, picnic lunch, whatever.....

and you can't put fat whitewalls on a kid seat. :mrgreen:


just my 2 cents from my experience as a mechanic and parent....... :D








......before you get riled, the hippie comment is just a little joke aimed at some of our boulder types here in colorado...... :wink:
 
Bendix said:
i firmly believe a BRIGHTLY COLORED, QUALITY trailer with it's safety flag in place is far and away the best alternative once you leave the confines of your neighborhood.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... sounds like a good post RRBBO challenge... who can design the safest bike child carrier, any modified seat, trailer, or tag-along. That could be interesting.
 
Now there's an oxymoron..."child safety seat". What's safe about making a potential organ donor out of your kid? I cringe everytime I see a kid strapped into a rear bike seat. You might as well strap your kid to the front bumper of your car when you go for a drive...to me it's the same thing. What are you parents thinking? :!: Gary
 
Re: "Rat" Child safety seat?

It has been heart warming watching them ride their bikes, they do grow up fast.
My son woke up this morning staring out the window at his bike waiting for the son to come up.


I not only have a 3 year old I also have a 3 month old. The thought of safety seats hanging all over my bike isn't appealing.
Im thinking a trailer or a side car. I just bought some 1/4 birch to make a recumbent, I could use that as the body
 

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