kids & bikes - seat or trailer and from what age?

[jax13]

the nipper is only 6 months old at the moment and i have no inclination to take him out just yet but when the time comes i need to have a plan.

first off, how old is deemed reasonable for a kid to be a passenger?
i'm not planning anything ridiculous, but when the missus goes back to work i'll be looking after him & would love to be able to go out for a ride for a couple of hours with him.

next question, seat or trailer? I can see both have their merits but for functionality & safety, which option is best and what are the drawbacks & bonuses of each?


thanks gents.

 

[orange71]

We did seat from 6 months to about 4 yrs, then trailer (tag-along) from then onwards. Never did the trailer with seats kind of thing, though looks good fun

 

[trickylad]

Hey jax.
I've got three, only the youngest (9 months) can't ride.
We use a burley bee trailer. I strap him in it in his car seat with some bungee cords for extra stability and peace of mind.
Done a number of 20milers with him. The benefit is that he can be rattled and shaken to sleep and you don't need to worry about their necks, which you do more so in a seat.
The trailer is collapsible and really nicely made. Snagged it off eBay for just over a ton, RRP is £225-50.

Here's a pic of it with my two older girls in it.

Happy to help further if you need it. I did loads of research.

 

[jax13]

We did seat from 6 months to about 4 yrs, then trailer (tag-along) from then onwards. Never did the trailer with seats kind of thing, though looks good fun

any recommendations for decent seats? obviously there will be good and not so good ones but which gives the best overall package?

also, does frame choice some into the equation... do you need rack mounts etc. or is it a simple seatpost clamp on most??

 

[orange71]

For me it was the fact I had full suspension that meant I had to go down the seat post clamp route - which while Ok meant a bit of a bouncy ride for little'un I'd have felt happier on a hard tail with multipoint securing.

Not sure what make mine was, sorry. Gone now.

 

[chrisv40]

I'm using a Hamax Kiss seat that we bought from Halfords and it has been very good, the quick release fitting is a doddle when I need to put the bike on the rack on the back of the car.

The only downside is if your child gets tired and wants a sleep and they do make your bike handle very oddly but you soon get used to it.

 

[Alison]

I second the Burley trailer, we had a single seater one, and when I did not want to ride to the village we just used it as a pushchair.

I found it easy to ride with and good over rougher terrain.

Alison

 

[dbmtb]

Child seat : Yepp

Trailer : Winther Dolphin. Big, bulky,expensive, probably hard to find outside Denmark, but easily the best one on the market in terms of versatility, quality and stability.

 

[GWDesigns]

I use an adventure AT3 2 seat trailer http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=20682
It's relatively cheap and perfect for the riding I do with the kids. I had both my children in there since about 4 months but I used a weber child seat as they were too small for the seat in the trailer without. http://www.activekidsgear.co.uk/weber-b ... p-148.html
The weber seat is great as you can have younger children in the trailer and is very secure especially with the optional head rest. I inadvertently flipped the trailer on some scree on an off camber trail and my daughter was fine apart from a being a little upset.
It has good storage too. When my son gets tired of riding his balance bike he can get in and the bike fits securely in the back.
I think I'm going to sell the weber seat soon with the optional headrest as the kids are too big for it now.

 

[1duck]

child seat just because i feel safer than trailing a trailer behind me.