UKC

Thinking of getting a front carrier seat for our 8 month old. He would only be in there for short enough rides (up to say 20 minutes max, but usually just 5-10 mins into creche etc).

Any recommendations from others? Looking for something which will be nice and comfortable and which comes with a wind shield.

I was looking at the Yepp Mini.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/yepp-mini-child-seat/

Our local bike shop doesn't stock any so have nothing to try before we buy unfortunately so will be buying online...

Thanks!

In reply to jussy:

I tried a weeride and didn't get on with it at all... I was pushed against the head of the child reaching round to the handlebars. Shortish arms, XC race MTB frame. Others have had more luck.

In reply to jussy: I had a kangaroo weeride and it was pants. My knees kept hitting the seat, so I had to ride with my knees pointing out which was very painful. The reviews for the yepp-mini are not very encouraging and I wouldn't recomend a front carrier seat.

I replaced the Weeride with a Hamax rear mounted seat which is fantastic.

In reply to Tricky Dicky:

Thanks for the replies.

Thing is I think our little one is too small for a rear seat. He is only 7.5 mo now so we would be more keen on a front carrier if possible...

Anybody else tried them?

In reply to Tricky Dicky:

me too: Replaced Weeride with Hamax.

In reply to jussy: Do you use your bike for other things? If so, you might want to consider a rear child seat. The front carriers that I discovered were all permanent fixtures and appeared to get in the way of normal cycling. I therefore opted for a rear removable seat which my son, who is now three has almost grown out of. He first used it when he was 9 months old and was fine.

In reply to jussy:

do a search on the forum at http://singletrackworld.com/forum/ most on there seem to use the weeride

In reply to jussy:

I considered this when getting a child seat for our first daughter. The main issue that everyone seemed to mention was they get in the way of our knees when peddaling. The Wee-ride looked esp. bad for this as its quite bulky and sits in the middle of top tube.

I think it depend upon what type of bike you have, if you have a traditional town bike which is more upright then you can probably fit one easily. MTB/hybrids/road bikes are more tricky as they generally have short and low front ends & handle bars.

Of all the ones I looked at the Bo-bike Mini looked the best, as it was mounted as far forward as possible, with the kids legs either side of the stem, also demountable easily. You can get a seperate wind shield. Some pics here:

http://www.mumsnet.com/reviews/on-the-move/child-bike-seats/9716-bobike-min...

In the end I went with a rack mounted rear seat as it was half price in my LBS, so can't tell you what they are like in practice.

In reply to Phil79: That looks pretty cool actually, but it is worth pointing out that a 9 month child will probably outgrow such a seat within a year or so. Also, if you are using it for regular daily pick up / drop off to the nursery, those days when it is sheeting it down, a child in the front seat would have to bear the full force of the weather. Eeebygum jnr has had a few rough rides home over the last couple of years, but being behind me is somewhat shielded.

In reply to EeeByGum:

Thanks all for the replies. Eeey gum I have seen they have pretty good windshields for the frontseats which look like they give a good shelter.
http://www.tribikes.ie/Yepp-Mini-Windscreen

In reply to jussy: Still not convinced. After spending £60+ on one of these seats, you will be cussing having to spend another £40+ in less than a years time!

In reply to EeeByGum: I love our wee ride and so does my son. I've been using it since he was about 8 months and he is only just about growing out of it now at 3.5yrs.

I use it on my xc full sus so there is a reasonable amount of room. Yes it is not ideal for your knees but mine are utterly screwed anyway so I don't care that much. For me the advantage is we can ride offroad downhills as it doesn't affect the centre of gravity too much, and he is looking ahead with me so we can talk about the birds, horses etc we see.

He doesn't need shielding, he just wears a wind proof, mitts and wellies though admittedly he doesn't seem to feel the cold. That said it had never occurred to me to do the nursery run in the rain, I use the car for that.

Finally, I couldn't actually use a rear seat as I only have a full sus and a cross bike so I guess it does depend on what you ride.