Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

tash_duck
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Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby tash_duck » Wed May 02, 2018 8:48 pm

Hi, so I've been on a mission to buy a baby bike seat but unfortunately my bike doesn't have the holes above the rear axle, needed to fit the rear bike rack.

I don't want to give up though. And want to find out if:

1) There are any bike seats sold in Australia which come with rear bike racks which clamp onto the bike's frame in three places instead of needing to connect through a hole with a bolt/screws.

AND/OR

2) If there are any bike seats which can be safely attached to an alternative brand's bike rack (as above, which clamp instead of needing a bolt/screws to attach)?

Just as a side note: I bought the Beto Baby Deluxe the other day when I didn't realise my problem and will need to return it if this one cannot work for this (above).

Apologies if my terminology is slightly off! Fingers crossed one of you know a bit about this...

Thanks :)

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10speedsemiracer
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Thu May 03, 2018 3:32 am

There are some that mount to the seat post and 'suspend' the child over the back wheel. The mounting system on these looks substantial, and may have the added benefit of not being as likely to transmit road vibration to the child.

Image

The Thule RideAlong seems to be the best rated according to reviews, and Thule are well known in cycling for their racks and carriers etc, all of which are good stuff.

Here is a link to a review which has a lot of pics to help envisage how it all works:
https://www.twowheelingtots.com/thule-ridealong/

Pushys carry them, at a surprisingly reasonable price compared to what I expected, having seen how much they sell for in USD.

Image

Linkage to Pushys : https://www.pushys.com.au/thule-100107- ... -grey.html

Also, a video :

Campagnolo for show, SunTour for go

tash_duck
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby tash_duck » Thu May 03, 2018 10:07 am

That's brilliant, I knew that I'd asked this in the right place. Thanks @10speedmiracer!

:D

twowheels
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby twowheels » Thu May 03, 2018 10:44 am

P clips would enable you to fit a rack if your frame doesn't have holes at the rear axle.
Image
https://www.bicyclestore.com.au/pannier ... clips.html

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P!N20
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby P!N20 » Thu May 03, 2018 4:14 pm

^ Except you might arrive at your destination sans child.

BobtheBuilder
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby BobtheBuilder » Thu May 03, 2018 4:37 pm

Or you could consider one that mounted in front of you ...

Image

NASHIE
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby NASHIE » Thu May 03, 2018 4:52 pm

BobtheBuilder wrote:Or you could consider one that mounted in front of you ...

Image
Like these, but when i think back we had the thule type (not a thule but exactly the same) and the kids often fell asleep :roll: , so the thule might give better head support for sleeping kids....often with their head on your back.

Milpool
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby Milpool » Thu May 03, 2018 7:02 pm

I'm about to start looking for one to take my one year old along. I can use the rack mounted ones, been leaning towards the Topeak one but there sure is a lot of the Beto ones on gumtree for not much at all. Anyone used them?

sir_camel
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby sir_camel » Fri May 04, 2018 9:16 am

For what it's worth I've just started using a WeeRide Deluxe for our 1yo and she LOVES it. She spends her time banging away on the padding in front and have heard when they sleep they often put their head down on there but she hasn't been put to sleep on our rides yet. I love having her in front so we can really interact while riding along. When she is bigger we might look at the Thule style seat at the back though. This is on a 27.5 Hard Tail MTB for reference.
Bikes Bikes Bikes

bianchi928
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby bianchi928 » Fri May 04, 2018 11:46 am

I highly recommend the ones mounted in front of you (I used a weeride).

I think it is also better for rider/child interaction during the ride as well.
Stand on my dog I cut off your head

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Defy The Odds
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby Defy The Odds » Sat May 05, 2018 11:58 am

Why not look at a trailer?

I picked one up brand new for $100 and its more comfortable/safer and roomy for my little one.

Also, it has a cover for wind which is perfect for Autumn.

I just got back from a ride with my son now using it actually

Edit: This is the trailer

Image

ball bearing
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby ball bearing » Sat May 05, 2018 1:00 pm

We used a trailer.

The front toptube seat appears to be unsafe to me. The child could get in the way of controls and it must make the bike top heavy. Mounting must be interesting. I'd hate to stop in an emergency or hit a curb. What happens when the chld falls asleep?

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Defy The Odds
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby Defy The Odds » Sun May 13, 2018 7:17 pm

ball bearing wrote:We used a trailer.

The front toptube seat appears to be unsafe to me. The child could get in the way of controls and it must make the bike top heavy. Mounting must be interesting. I'd hate to stop in an emergency or hit a curb. What happens when the chld falls asleep?
My son regularly falls asleep in the trailer he loves it. Beauty is that during winter its sealed off from the wind and he can still come out with me on a leasurely Sunday cruise.

Personally I think its the safest option

ironhanglider
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby ironhanglider » Sun May 13, 2018 9:43 pm

Defy The Odds wrote:
ball bearing wrote:We used a trailer.

The front toptube seat appears to be unsafe to me. The child could get in the way of controls and it must make the bike top heavy. Mounting must be interesting. I'd hate to stop in an emergency or hit a curb. What happens when the chld falls asleep?
My son regularly falls asleep in the trailer he loves it. Beauty is that during winter its sealed off from the wind and he can still come out with me on a leasurely Sunday cruise.

Personally I think its the safest option
Safe is always a question of perspective. In my mind the rear mounted baby seats are the least safe, because they are the least stable when stationary. The biggest danger presented by travelling with a child on a bike (IMO), is falling over whilst trying to get on or off the bike. (Actually I think the biggest danger for young children is whiplash caused by the weight of the helmet, but the law forbids any alternative). I had a rear mount seat and was fortunate enough to already be in the habit of swinging my leg over the bars to mount the bike. However I have seen a few instances of bikes falling over with child in them, and nearly done the same myself. I think that the front mount seats would be better in this respect. I don't share ball bearing's concern about the child falling asleep. The front position is more stimulating for the child so they are less likely to fall asleep, and there is the pad in front of them even if they do.

I prefer the seat tube mount seats to the rack mount seats mainly for the suspension offered. On a rack every little ripple that the back wheel hits is transferred to the seat.

Later on I also had a trailer. It was a cheapie from eBay. I agree with Defy The Odds that the trailer is the safest option. I found that I did have to put a wedge behind the children when they were young in order to create a gap for the helmets. (I used a ring binder and a thin cushion). However I did manage to roll the trailer twice. Once on a right hand turn at the bottom of a hill, where I had only one child seated on the left side of the trailer (mounted to the left side of the bike). I suspect a central or right side seating position would have been better. The other time was on a steep left hand u-turn. That time I suspect that I cut the corner too tight and the trailer's left wheel hit the 'kerb' which gave it enough lift to tip it over, and in the process to tip me off too. In both instances the children were quite safe inside the trailer, protected by the wheels. Also in both instances the pilot was at fault and was guilty of riding too 'enthusiastically'. Road traffic always gave the trailer a wide berth, loaded or otherwise and presented no fears for me.

Cheers,

Cameron

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CaffeineAU
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Re: Rear baby bike seats - when no racks fit your bike...

Postby CaffeineAU » Mon May 14, 2018 3:00 pm

10speedsemiracer wrote:There are some that mount to the seat post and 'suspend' the child over the back wheel. The mounting system on these looks substantial, and may have the added benefit of not being as likely to transmit road vibration to the child.

The Thule RideAlong seems to be the best rated according to reviews, and Thule are well known in cycling for their racks and carriers etc, all of which are good stuff.

I have one. My kid loves it. He's up around 18kg now (at 2 and 1/2!) so he's not going to be in it much longer, but it's been great for him since he's been about 8 months old.

Very easy to fit and remove when necessary, and the recline is great for when he falls asleep.

It also locks onto the bike, using the standard thule lock barrels, so I have my roof bars, bike racks, this bike seat and a roof pod, all keyed alike.

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