The official Riding with Kids thread

[Theunissa]

Just now, ridr said:

Cool! Where did you find those?

Solomons cycles. They do 20 and 24" tubeless tyres to. Cyclelab had 24" kenda and maxxis tubeless tires 

[Theunissa]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:08 PM, Shebeen said:

Specialized 20" bike.

It's done some proper miles and trails.

I've never touched the fork because it seems like a fools errand, but the seals are riding up and gunk is coming up.

 

Worth cleaning out?

It's a Suntour fork so not total Ching Chong, but at this level it hardly ever did suspension anyway like we know it on a big bike

It's very bottom of suntour range. Just has a spring. 

[ridr]

1 minute ago, Theunissa said:

Solomons cycles. They do 20 and 24" tubeless tyres to. Cyclelab had 24" kenda and maxxis tubeless tires 

That's great to know. Thanks. I looked around a while back and then forgot about it.

[Theunissa]

Just now, ridr said:

That's great to know. Thanks. I looked around a while back and then forgot about it.

I'm glad I got. Tired of patching tubes. My son seems to love the sekelbos on our plot

[Alouette3]

Want to start looking into a ride along seat for my little one, just passing 9 months but my wife thinks she's be about ready in the next couple months. For those with experience, what would you recommend, top tube mount foam seats, rear mounted bucket? Something that would fit my full sus would be ideal... then again, N+1

Somewhere at my folks place is a trailer unit my dad brought from the states many moons ago, top quality but think it uses a QR and I don't have a compatible frame. Seating area also a bit big and cant take along a greenbelt

Edited September 22, 2023 by Alouette3

[ChrisF]

I see the yellow toptube seat on our trail on a regular basis.

 

Some even doing mildly technical stuff.

 

Hearing the laughter of the kids is SO nice ....

[Jako De Wet]

I have one of those yellow seats that go on the top tube. Both my daughters loved riding there until they transitioned to their own bikes. 
You can do semi decent trails with the kids between your arms like that. Remember going up Helderberg and slowly down the single track when they where still super small. 

[WR 1.0]

10 hours ago, Alouette3 said:

Want to start looking into a ride along seat for my little one, just passing 9 months but my wife thinks she's be about ready in the next couple months. For those with experience, what would you recommend, top tube mount foam seats, rear mounted bucket? Something that would fit my full sus would be ideal... then again, N+1

Somewhere at my folks place is a trailer unit my dad brought from the states many moons ago, top quality but think it uses a QR and I don't have a compatible frame. Seating area also a bit big and cant take along a greenbelt

Feva Starseat, I bought mine from Sportsmans but they also pop up 2nd hand every now and then 

[Iwan Kemp]

On 9/22/2023 at 10:34 PM, Alouette3 said:

Want to start looking into a ride along seat for my little one, just passing 9 months but my wife thinks she's be about ready in the next couple months. For those with experience, what would you recommend, top tube mount foam seats, rear mounted bucket? Something that would fit my full sus would be ideal... then again, N+1

Somewhere at my folks place is a trailer unit my dad brought from the states many moons ago, top quality but think it uses a QR and I don't have a compatible frame. Seating area also a bit big and cant take along a greenbelt

I've tried most of them as our kid have grown up, in (longish) short

Thule Front Mounted
https://www.thule.com/en-za/child-bike-seats/front-mounted-child-bike-seats

• Will give your kid a nice view
• Easy to have a conversation
• You'll have to ride with frog legs
• Bicycle becomes massively front-heavy
• Can work on a dual sus
• Will require enough stack height to fit seat

Thule Rear Mounted
https://www.thule.com/en-za/child-bike-seats/rear-mounted-child-bike-seats

• The view is terrible for the kid
• Not so easy to have a chat
• You'll have to lay with set up and can suffer some ankle strikes against the foot cradles. Not fun. 
• The bicycle becomes massively rear-heavy. 
• Won't work on a dual sus 
• Not carbon friendly

Mac Ride
https://mac-ride.com/collections/frontpage/products/black-mac-ride-child-bike-seat

• View is great
• Allows your kid to grab the handlebar that gives them a sense of steering.
• Easiest to have a conversation
• Easiest on and off
• Least impact on bike balance
• Due to neutral balance, it was the easiest of the three I owned and used to ride trails with. 
• Dropper friendly
• Easy to move between bikes

Ultimately, quite a bit comes down to the age of your kid. When they are very young it will be difficult to use a seat like the Mac Ride where they will have to balance themselves. And keep their head up, etc. But no doubt the Mac Ride was the one my kid and I enjoyed the most. By FAR.

[This reminded me that I have a Mac Ride to sell. Let me know if you'd like to grab it now. Even though your kid may be too small now, she will be ready for it soon enough.]

[Alouette3]

Thanks for the advise so far. 

Toying with the idea of building up a hardtail 26"  (Flowta has a nice AM Ragley frame in the classifieds) got all the other components to get it rolling any way, then I'll have something to mount a bucket type rear mount seat  on till she's old enough for something like the Mac seat.

@Iwan Kemp I'll drop you a PM

[Mohs]

I have the Thule front mounted seat and my son loves it, start crying when I stop (13months old)... But, the stack on my bike is just to short and I need to angle the adapter to maximum to allow clearance below to my frame. Additionally I use my ebike and the display is also in the way. To get a good grip at that angle the spacer all get bent from the force. Not the ideal setup.

So when you buy the Thule Front seat, be sure you have an uncut steerer...

 

[Alouette3]

8 minutes ago, Mohs said:

I have the Thule front mounted seat and my son loves it, start crying when I stop (13months old)... But, the stack on my bike is just to short and I need to angle the adapter to maximum to allow clearance below to my frame. Additionally I use my ebike and the display is also in the way. To get a good grip at that angle the spacer all get bent from the force. Not the ideal setup.

So when you buy the Thule Front seat, be sure you have an uncut steerer...

 

Stem length also seems to be a consideration, the iBert front seat apparently lacks clearance with a stem under 70mm.

Rear mount is defiantly  kinder on the bike, but not as ideal for the kid

[Jono]

@Alouette3 I have one of those yellow feva seats that you’re welcome to have. Pop me a dm if interested, I’m in Tokai. It has gone through 2 kids so looking quite tired. Still usable though.

[Shebeen]

On 4/8/2016 at 12:53 PM, Shebeen said:

I love this thread, it's actually a really great resource over the years. As someone has almost always had the sort of questions you do.

 

Some feedback to some of the stuff I've read here and tried.

for the young kids who need to be carried. 

I've tried/owned/had access to all three main groups now.

Trailer - have had a single and double, they are really cool, you can take lots of stuff and despite the weight is the least taxing of all types. BUT, we really battled to find somewhere to ride it. this is just not holland, so most of the actual riding has just been the main road pavement muizenberg=>kalk bay, and round the constantia wine farms area. punctures are schlepp of note - so put some tyre liners on the wheels

 

http://www.kidscab.be/img/p/297-738-thickbox.jpg

 

Sit behind - rack mounted.  probably used this the most. you can't really fault these, but it is a bit disconcerting not being able to see what's going on the whole time. the bike is a bit unbalanced, but you get used to it quickly. i normally load up the kid, strap in, helmet and then go. so you need to be ready and done first before starting this. my roadbike has a rack on it permanently so not a hassle to load/unload the whole shebang.

http://www.cbdcycles.com.au/images/accessories/thumb/betochildseat.jpg

 

 

sit in front - been borrowing an ibert model (the green machine) for a few months now. This is without doubt the best option. it's brilliant to be able to chat and point and everything. I've ridden this on bumpy farm roads on holiday and while i do wonder what it does to your fork action with so much weight loaded directly on the front of the bike, it seems to be ok.

it is a bit of a schlep having the bee sting/attachment point on the bike, as it looks lank scary riding with it on without the seat attached, you could do serious damage in a crash.

 

 

i have crashed (slow speed) with all of them..so far no big issues on that though. helmets are mandatory, but hard to enforce. #2 has had to deal with a pink one for a while but now he has his very own one that fits way better. so far i haven't tried riding with two kids at once, i don't need that much training!

so this old chestnut!

 

if you can get the frontmounted stuff and make it work without being a hassle then go for it.

 

i had to give that big green thing back and swapped it out for a Feva. not nearly as bulletproof but does the trick well.

 

only other thing i can think of that has come about since then is the wild air thingymajig

 

dunno if it ever took off

https://wildairsports.com/the-little-wing-kids-bicycle-seat-launches-in-south-africa/

[Alouette3]

5 hours ago, Jono said:

@Alouette3 I have one of those yellow feva seats that you’re welcome to have. Pop me a dm if interested, I’m in Tokai. It has gone through 2 kids so looking quite tired. Still usable though.

Thanks Jono, I'll drop you a PM. Going to get the Mac from Iwan too

 

8 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

so this old chestnut!

 

if you can get the frontmounted stuff and make it work without being a hassle then go for it.

 

i had to give that big green thing back and swapped it out for a Feva. not nearly as bulletproof but does the trick well.

 

only other thing i can think of that has come about since then is the wild air thingymajig

 

dunno if it ever took off

https://wildairsports.com/the-little-wing-kids-bicycle-seat-launches-in-south-africa/

Knew there was something buried in the 70 pages of posts, thanks! I see there is an old iBert in the Classifieds, bit not sure it will work on my short stem. Feel so bad for the steerer

[Trashy]

On 9/26/2023 at 3:04 PM, Alouette3 said:

Thanks Jono, I'll drop you a PM. Going to get the Mac from Iwan too

 

Knew there was something buried in the 70 pages of posts, thanks! I see there is an old iBert in the Classifieds, bit not sure it will work on my short stem. Feel so bad for the steerer

I've got two bike trailers you can have if you'd like. One is a weehoo the other a BMX style one. Both attach to the seat post.

 

Pm me.