Greg T

I been looking at these for a while for my 2 year old son. My main concern is affecting the pedaling motion. I read some people saying the back of there heals hit the foot rest area and are forced to pedal with there heals rather than there foot centered on the pedal. Anyone use these and like them? Any problems using these kind of child seats? What brand are you using?

prathmann

Used one for thousands of miles when our daughter was little without any problems. My bike at the time was one with quite short chainstays (Gitane Interclub) and there wasn't any clearance issue. The one I used was 'Sears Best' at the time - but that was many years ago. Note that your son will probably outgrow the seat pretty soon. I switched our daughter to the stoker seat on our tandem with a 'kid-back' attachment a little after she turned three. Do some practice rides with some weight in the seat to check on the bike's handling, braking, and any other issues before taking your son for a ride - some bikes handle quite differently with significant weight in the back.

Greg T

My son is on the small side he will fit in it longer than most kids. Thanks for the tip on trying out the seat with weight in it before putting him in. I bet it feel funny having weight in the back. I rode a tandem bike once if your not use to it its very different!!!

cderalow

We've got a Topeak BabySeat II and while my wife doesn't have pedal clearance issues on her schwinn, I occasionally hit mine when using it on my GT.

It works well up to about 40lbs, but does take quite a bit of getting accustomed to.

LiamSkymom

I very rarely, but occasionally, hit my heels on the foot rest. I think part of it may have been particular shoes. My bigger problem was as my son got older and a little longer he thought it was funny to put his feet on my heels. Needless to say, we don't use them anymore. He did ride in it for several years.

Turbo231

I have been using a Bell rear seat all summer and have had no issues...outside of my 14 month old taping my sides to go faster. The only issues are getting on and off and keeping the bike stable while you load and unload him/her. Once you're mounted on your bike, things feel pretty normal and things you can adjust to.

chcknhawk

+1

i dont have any kids but my brother and his wife have these on there bike. the thing i like most about them is the seat can come off with the push of a button so you dont have to have the seat on there all the time. i think they are about $120 (ouch) but good investment.

https://www.topeak.com/products/Child...babyseat_wrack

Turbo231

Wow...very nice.

cderalow

It's a bit more difficult than just pushing a button.... you have to push two buttons.

Phantoj

I had the original Topeak baby seat and agree with those above; it is very easy to switch out. Mine used a slightly different rack from the current design, but similar concept.

The current Baby Seat II is nicer because it accepts the slide-on rack trunk.

RALEIGH_COMP 

I just bought a really basic seat (Bell) last night off craigslist for 25. I saw they usually listed for about 45 so i figured i'll give it a try. First impressions was that the plastic was a little flimsy. O well you get what you pay for and its you never know until you see for yourself. I definately agree about the handling, it took me only 5 min or so to adjust. but initially almost fell right over in the driveway in a matter of like 4 feet. doh!

My main use for buying this was mainly to go across the street to Disneyland, we have annual passes and my daughter is free so we go for just a few hours pretty often. This is something to consider as well. Good fit/quality is important, but if you are only going to use it for quick short distance rides where comfort is less of an issue, maybe you can live with some less than ideal features in these cases. but if you are like to do long rides (which i hope to do soon too) then you probably want some thing very sturdy and well fitting.

mr,grumpy 

We have a Torek seat for out guy and he's on the small side for a three year old, but he's at the limits of the seat. One trouble that I found was that the foot straps are so impossibly long that he could take his feet out and dangle them of kick me with them! These two things did in fact, get in the way with my peddling! I got about two year's use out of the seat but he's pretty much confined to the trailer now. He's always liked it more than the seat.

As others have said, you should practice with weight in the seat for a while. It's a different feeling for sure!