We have previously covered the Macready A child seat for mountain bikes, but it's not the only game in town. The Kids Ride Shotgun Seat, brought to you from far and wide in New Zealand, is another option, and we love this one.
It's a comfortable saddle, a set of foot pegs, little handlebars, and that's it. No harness or anything to keep the kids in - they balance completely on their own, which is a great developmental step towards complete dominance on the bike. Your kid will one day smoke you out on a trail a lot sooner than you ever expected if you made him smoke on one of these things as a toddler, I promise.
It installs easily with a quick release clip and stud that threads through the foot pegs and down the saddle arms. These arms grip the top tube and down tube, which can be a problem if you're a tall rider on some XL bikes. My flat hardtop gravel bike had too much top tube and down tube clearance, and the seat wouldn't fit. But it's an XL, and the chassis is unique. Another XL frame I have that works easily with the seat. Your mileage may vary, that's what I'm saying.
my setup. See those silver nuts under the seat? You can adjust the angle of the saddle with those - crucial.
The arms are rubber, so they can grip the carbon without pulling on it, in theory at least, but I only use the seat on the hard aluminum tailstock, just to be safe. We ride it on the sidewalk around town, on fire roads and on mellow singletrack. Aside from the extra 35 pounds on my handlebars, the only real problem with the ride is that I can't see the patch where the front tire rolls because its awesome helmet head is in the way. So root partitions can get dicey. Really, you just have to be vigilant.
Anyway, my daughter has been riding with me since she was two years old. I'm sure the seat is for kids 3 and up, but my daughter, like her mom, is badass and, like her mom, really tall. She freaking loves this thing. He refuses any other mode of transportation, in fact. He makes songs about it when we're not near the bike.
You might be thinking: HELL NO DUDE that sounds insanely dangerous!
To be honest, at first, I was terrified. I ride with one arm around my little girl. Again, she was definitely too young, technically speaking, for this thing, but I was excited. I had already put it away for a few weeks before trying it again. This time, trusting the engineering and my daughter's instincts and boom, we were off. There was a learning curve to her too, as she was initially adamant about keeping her precious little hands on the handlebars, but after two weeks of daily riding, she waves to people, pulls her feet out of the grip and kicks them around feeling the wind, turning to tickle, etc.
It's a smash with it.
Also, it's a smash between my two towns. It's a very small town and people now recognize us everywhere we go. It's almost daily for someone to come up to me and say, Hi! I see you two riding all the time - it looks so much fun! Even the guards on the trails, the same people I play cat-and-mouse with on my big bike, smile and wave at us on the fire roads.
Anyway, get yours over here.
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