After much shopping and agonizing, my lady friend, Leisha, decided to get the Yepp front mount bike seat for her almost 2 yr old Emmet.
Turns out, my 3 yr old (long and tall) Dexter likes it too! Auntie took him for a little spin the other night. They had a great tour around the neighbourhood, with a lot of running commentary on trees and parks.
I've always nixed the idea of a front-mounted seat for me, because I always knew I'd have two kids and thought the trailer investment was a better way to go. Now that I've seen a bunch of mamas with just the simple and light seat up front? I can definitely see the merits of a quick plop of the kid and then being on your way.
That being said, I am super short and the top of the kid's head is always right in front of my face. My arms are also short and I have trouble comfortably wrapping them around said kid so... I'm still alright with not having the front mount.
Though, there is still no denying the close contact with the child and being able to chat and talk and essentially snuggle them the whole time. Awww!
Speaking of riding with kids up front, Simply Bike just did a little blurb about her iBert seat and check out this fantastic little video I was sent, documenting Hazel's first bike ride.
Riding with kids. A pain to get it set up for infants and multiples (unless you do what I wish we had done in the beginning, which is just splurge on a bakfiets or nihola that could accommodate a car seat), but it's worth it. When you're a cyclist, being off the bike is like walking around without a limb.
I can't tell you how over-the-moon I am to have everything set up with both kids in one trailer now. I suspect this will be how we're going to ride for the next several years, with obvious modifications to Alice's side of the trailer as she gets bigger and stronger until she can eventually just sit in it as-is. Come next summer season, my Madsen will be good to go with both kids just sitting on the bench with the lap belt. So I'll have trailer and cargo bike to choose from when both are with me!
I also haven't ruled out getting a rear seat (this is the one I am thinking about) for when I only have one kid, but now I see I am getting ahead of myself again with all my permutations and combinations about biking with kids. Shall stop for now!
The main thing you need to know is there are lots of good options if you have a child that is one year or older, and if you only have one of them. If this is you, I congratulate you and encourage you to enjoy the hell out of it!
4 comments:
Have you ever looked at a long tail cargo bike like the Xtracycle, which can either have kid seats mounted to the deck, or have thm sitting freely once they are old enough?
The bobike Jr. is awesome! I loved mine until I let a friend borrow it and she kinda broke it. Right now I have the front and rear yepp seats on my Gazelle Bloom and I love them too. The yepp mini is much more comfortable than the bobike mini. The Bobike Jr is just awesome because when I drop my daughter off at school I could just fold the back down and use it like a rack. When I am back down to one kid on the bike I will definitely buy another one.
I have a Yepp Mini and we love it! Great video, I'll have to take one of my own. I plan to let Future Anna worry about what to do when there are multiple kids to tow.
- Anna from Chicago
I loved my burly trailer, and I still use the trail bike when I want to take my younger son out on major roads or on a particularly long ride.
I like trailers because they protects the child. I had an accident traveling at a good clip on a slope in the snow and even though I was thrown from the bike my son never even woke up from his nap.
I never liked the child seats because a child's head is so heavy, and the seat puts their head much higher than the bike's natural center of gravity. This means that when the child moves their head suddenly it affects the movement of the bike so that the rider has to compensate.
Having said that, the new design places the child in the best possible position on the bike, and it does look lovely and cozy, social and fun.
Why not try it? You can use it in combination with a trail bike next year!
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