Can anyone recommend a kiddie seat to fit on a bike fitted with a rack?

[Paul]

I have a hamax siesta. It fits to a clamp on the seat tube (not the seat pin). I like it quite a bit. It can be tilted - the idea is that your kid can have a kip in it by tilting it back.

For me, though, the advantages over rack mounted seats are:

• it is suspended - the bars that the seat sits on flex, so bumps that make it past the tyre aren't transferred directly to your passenger (though the bounce can be interesting).
• I don't have to have a rack on the bike that I carry Louis on. Though I do, obviously, have to have the dedicated clamp. For some reason, I prefer that.

But I don't dismiss the points made by Fidgetbuzz entirely. I would have preferred a head/top tube mounted seat initially - there just wasn't one in the shop the day I bought the rear-mounted one.

Tip (gleaned from someone on the last site): use a toe strap as a hand brake. It makes life sooo much easier.

[hatler]

I used a Weeride for both mini-hatlers and can't speak highly enough about them.

They are simply fantastic. The children would jump up and down excitedly whenever they caught sight of the seat.

The whole bit about effectively having the same view is great.
The balance on the bike is more natural.
Having the child beteween your arms is very reassuring.

The only one slight negative point is that the seat forces your knees out ever so slightly. When on the flat this isn't too much of a problem, but if going up a steepish hill (like Ditchling Beacon) the strain on the knees can become a bit of a strain.

[JJ]

Just saw this thread, rather late in the day to help the OP, but FWIW, +1 for the Copilot.  Personally I'm for the non-limo version, as it slots directly onto a fairly ordinary blackburn rack, so once all the relevant bikes have that rack, you can move it around at will.

My experience of front-mounted seats was that they were a PITA bacause I had to ride with my knees out like a clown, and the seat way down low because there wasn't room for me between it and the child seat.  YMMV.

Chris Juden is also lukewarm about the safety benefits of front-loaders.

[Frenchie]

IMHO the Copilot Limo, which attaches and detaches easily to a Blackburn EX-1 rack is the dog's cojones. We've used one for all our kids. Just add the rack to each bike you want to use for child transport and move the seat around at will.

+1

It is fantastic. We use ours a lot on WEs or to go to the nursery. My daughter and I are very happy riders.

[PrettyBoyTim]

Unfortunately my son keeps growing and despite him only having just reached his 4th birthday, his latest pair of shoes are size 12. Although I think the Copilot (taxi) is a smashing seat, his new shoes are just a bit to thick at the back to fit into the foot scoops on the seat and tend to end up jammed in. I'm either going to have to get another seat or just use the child trailer from now on... 

[RJ]

IMHO the Copilot Limo, which attaches and detaches easily to a Blackburn EX-1 rack is the dog's cojones. We've used one for all our kids. Just add the rack to each bike you want to use for child transport and move the seat around at will.

+1

It is fantastic. We use ours a lot on WEs or to go to the nursery. My daughter and I are very happy riders.

(A bit on the late side as well, for - oh - many reasons)

The Co-Pilot Limo is what we have too and it has been very good (FirstBorn is getting a little on the heavy side for it).

However, I see that EBC are now plugging Hamax seats quite hard.  Compared with Co-Pilot, I see two possible advantages of the Hamax seats that fit via a seattube clamp:

• You can still carry panniers
• You're not limited to a Blackburn rack

The latter is an issue for me because my Ortlieb pannier fittings have gradually worn away at the rack tubing, which is slightly worrying when you've got 15+kg of child fixed to the bike by it.

On the other hand, the Co-Pilot seats give excellent all-round protection to the child - that alone muigh be enough to justify the possibility of occasional extra cost of buying replacement Blackburn racks.

A colleague has one of the Hama seats.  If anyone's interested, I can ask them what they think of it.

Unfortunately my son keeps growing and despite him only having just reached his 4th birthday, his latest pair of shoes are size 12. Although I think the Copilot (taxi) is a smashing seat, his new shoes are just a bit to thick at the back to fit into the foot scoops on the seat and tend to end up jammed in. I'm either going to have to get another seat or just use the child trailer from now on... 

Ah yes.  Co-Pilot foot scoops.  My bike has relatively little heel clearance for panniers and FirstBorn's toes!

PBT - FirstBorn's just a bit older than your boy.  We're resigned to a phase of not transporting him by bike, because he's nowhere near ready to stoke a trailerbike or tandem in city traffic ...

[RichMoss]

Another recommendation for theCoPilot Limo from me. Not long after we got it I strapped my daughter in, bike leant against garage. I turned round to get something from inside the back door. My daughter pushed off the garage wall and toppled the bike . After a cry and a cuddle order was restored and no harm to her - the Limo protected her well. (phew!)
After this I fitted an eye bolt to the wall that I could clip the bike to. I also attached a small length of rope and a small carabiner to the top of the seat so that I could fix it to railings etc to avoid repeat occurrences. I also carried an old toestrap that I used over the brake lever as a sort of parking brake.
I also fed a couple of toestraps through the rear of the seat as somewhere to carry a U-lock.
Richard

[Frenchie]

The protection level of the CoPilot Limo is what sold it to us too. I get on well with the Ex rack I have to say. I had one on that particular bike before in fact. Fat tyres make it okay for comfort I'd say. Now that Baby G has grown I appreciate the relative rigidity of the assembly in fact, as when she moves about, I do notice it on the ride.

This is us last year:

[PrettyBoyTim]

What I'd really like is one of these CTS sidecarriers:

Chariot Carriers: Bike Trailers, Jogging Strollers and more, for bicycle riders and joggers



But I don't think they sell 'em over here and I'd want one that attached on the left rather than the right.

[clarion]

It might mean you get decent distance on an overtake....



Actually, that does remind me: I did used to get a decent clearance when I cyced with a childseat, even when it was empty (not visible from behind).  Sometimes left it on just anyway...

[rogerzilla]

We have a CoPilot Taxi on an EX-1 rack.  It works fine but is expensive for what it is.  The rack looks a bit silly on a 26" wheeled bike, because it's designed for 700c.

Child seats and helmets don't go well together - the protruding helmet tends to clonk against the seatback.

[PhilO]

Resurrecting this thread, does anybody have any experience of Beto rack-mounted seats? They look to be quite solid (insofar as you can tell from a photo, anyway!) and are certainly much cheaper than the co-pilots...