Psychbiker

Hi All! I'm wanting to get my 18 month biking with me. I have a similar Raliegh below. Only difference is I added bull horn bars so the controls are toward the center and bars as less wide.

I mounted the Yepp Mini child seat to the bike and I can pedal but reach my bars will be hard. Even it I went back to stock it would be tough reaching.

I'm debating changing the bars to an a BMX style with a 80-100mm rise and some sweep toward the rear. When I'm not biking with my daughter, will the bars be a problem with pedaling and riding around? Meaning not efficient I guess? I figured changing the bars is the easiest than stem since bars getting the bars to sweep to the rear will help keep me from leaning over and have my daughter head against my chest.

Bar example https://www.amazon.com/BW-100mm-Rise...jaz10cnVl&th=1 -

veganbikes

I personally wouldn't use a child as an airbag but yes you could swap your bar it would just change the position of your bar and you might need new cables and housing and probably a brake bleed assuming hydraulics.

soyabean

It's amazing some of the things I've heard from helicopter parents about fastening a baby seat on a rear pannier rack.

They think an eagle will snatch the baby away and the parent won't notice.

Or the baby will unbuckle their harness and just jump out and the parent won't notice.

Or ufo abduction and the parent won't notice.

Or <insert your creative imagination reason> and the parent won't notice.

Or, "baby on a bike? I'm calling child protection services on you!".

Nate8727

I've never used a front mount seat, in fact I didn't know they existed until last week.

I have a trailer I use mainly for my 2 year old. We have a rear seat I haven't setup yet for our 9 month old, but I believe it's for one year old and up, so I might wait.

Just make sure whatever method you use coincides with the age/weight of the child.

70sSanO

Many years ago we had a rear seat for our daughter. It definitely throws the weight and balance off. Although there are all sorts of child bike seat setups available, I’d opt for a trailer, especially if you have to modify your current bike.

You need to determine the cost involved in your swap vs the cost of a trailer.

John

alcjphil

My son used a front mount child seat for his 2 sons when they were little. The kids loved it because they had a clear view ahead and could talk with their parents. However, the seat forced you to pedal with your knees splayed out in a very uncomfortable position, riding for more than 30 minutes or so could become quite painful

livedarklions

I did rear seat and trailer when my kids were small. I got used to the weight in the back very quickly, and didn't find it awkward. I found that I could also adapt pretty quickly to the added vehicle length of a trailer, but I don't think it was any smaller of an adaptation than balancing the seat. It's a lot easier to talk with your kid when they're in the seat, that's pretty nice.

Psychbiker

That's true depending on height of seat and height of rider. I'm short but do have a longer legs for height. I'm gonna try a set of $40 bars that will come Friday. If it's a no go I'll take the seat back and keep the bars, then decide on another route.

livedarklions

My kids are grown at this point, but I don't think I'd ever have been comfortable with a front seat arrangement if they had existed at the time. On the pannier never bothered me. No idea if that's rational or not.

soyabean

The way that has worked for tens of thousands of years and raised warriors to survive:


The current way to make more folks woke and cancel culture:

base2 

The first one is a great way for your kid to kick-"A"
The latter is a great way to get kicked in the junk...

Camilo

So does the front mount seat (throw balance off). It can make the bike very flakey when dismounting and handling, especially if you encounter sand or gravel. We always used a trailer and it's what I recommended to my kids for their kids.

When the kids were older and could do it I loved the trail-a-bike type of thing and I think they did too. They could actually help pedal and sometimes I'd coast and let them provide all the power!

70sSanO

I haven’t used a front mount, but I imagine it is like front panniers at handlebar height.

John

alcjphil

Saddle height makes no difference. Front mount child seats are right where your knees would want to be while pedalling no matter how long or short your legs are

alcjphil

Front mount child seats have been around since the 1970's when my son was born

livedarklions

​​​​​​If you say so. When my kids were that size in the 1990s, I never saw those seats either in stores or on bicycles. I don't have any idea what was available in the 1970s.

livedarklions

Woke and cancel?!?! WTH?
Spare us the idiotic reactionary rhetoric. I carried my kids on the front because it's a hell of a lot easier to negotiate public transit that way. And yes, kids that old like it better because humans are social. It also has nothing to do with bicycles.

Seriously, if you're going to try to turn front vs. back into a question of left vs. right, you should probably look at why you'd want to politicize literally everything.

Ironfish653

I don't have a huge amount of experience with either, as my kids got too big too quick, and they're close together, so I ended up going to the trailer pretty early on.
I like the front-mount, because it gets the kiddo 'front and center' so they get more experience out of the ride, especially on scenic trails. I also like it because the weight of the kiddo is a little more inside the 'triangle' of the bike's wheelbase, and the rider CG, so it's less akward than hanging out over the rear wheel.
A wider, higher bar is definitely easier for you, as the rider, so that you're not bonking heads with the kiddo, but how high, and how wide depends on how you fit on your bike. A 100mm riser isn't really that extreme (although you'll need longer brake / shift cables) but it'll definitely make a more 'relaxed' riding position when you're not hauling the kiddo.

Good news is that it's not permanent, kids grow, and eventually they'll be too big for the kiddie seat. My son was too big, by about 2-1/2, so I went to the trailer. The advantage of a trailer is that if you're using the bike to get to a destination, rather than just 'going for a ride' the trailer has room for snacks, diaper bags, and the 100 other things little kids seem to need.

Ironfish653

You crash into stuff that often, that that's your first thought?

livedarklions

Crashing is unlikely, but the consequences of crashing with your child on the bike could be so bad that safety is going to be the number one consideration for me as to where a child is going to ride. That's going to include questions of how the placement is going to affect my ability to control the bike AND what's likely to happen IF I do crash.

veganbikes

No I actually don't crash often but having a smaller human sitting in front of you on the handlebars is simply not a safe place for a child. If you are putting them there you are using them as an airbag because if you fall you will unlikely fall backwards but forwards. One doesn't have to crash to understand airbags and bikes and all of that. Plus you are adding a lot of weight to your steering, very high up. Surely this isn't your first time thinking about this, I work at a shop so I maybe encounter it more but it doesn't take much thought to figure out what would happen. Nor do you have to crash once let alone multiple times.

I care about children, I couldn't not having had parents who were in the children's medical profession (pediatric doctor and school nurse) and having friends with kids and also being a kid once myself. However even if you didn't care about kids putting them on high up on handle bars is about the worst place to put that kind of wriggly weight. If I really need to put them in the front get a front load cargo bike as those are generally a lot lower to the ground and easier to ride as the child isn't part of the steering of the bike.

I figure this might also get brought up "what about the Netherlands, they have 46 kids strapped to the front and they blah blah blah". The Netherlands has a much different cycling culture and different culture in general, they also have proper bike lanes infrastructure and it is less crazy. Even still though I wouldn't do what they do even if I was Dutch. I still don't think it is a good place to put loved ones.