I got involved in front mounted children's bicycle seats almost four years ago when I started bicycle commuting. I liked the first seat I used well enough. It was a Bike Tutor, which is now called the Co-Rider. It worked well for me, but I would occasionally scrape my shins against the metal leg rests. When my older son grew out of it, I didn't bother keeping it. This year my youngest son is finally big enough for a front-mounted seat and so we started looking around again. I thought about getting a Co-Rider, but read enough negative reviews that I was leery about it. We ended up trying the Wee Ride Kangaroo seat, but I hated it because the back rest was in my way. I sent it back immediately. We thought about the iBert seat, as it is really popular and I saw it used a lot back when we lived in the city, but I didn't really like the idea of the weight of the seat being on the steering.
This seat has been exactly what I was looking for. It was a million times easier to mount than either of the first two seats I was looking at. There is no back rest or full leg rests to jar any part of my body against. The handle bars are great and keep my son's hands in a place that is comfortable for him and away from my gears, breaks, and bike computer. He does occasionally reach up and try to play with them, but it is easy enough to correct and hasn't been a big issues, and my kid is the type of kid who is into EVERYTHING. I put a bike bell on the handles and he loves to ring it when we are out passing people on the trail.
We don't do any serious hard core riding: our rides average 7-10 miles at speeds averaging 10mph - sometimes as high as 16, sometimes as low as 7 or 8. My bike is a Fisher Tiburon with a women's step through. It's a hybrid bike that does well on roads and less well out on the dirt, but I do ride it on dirt roads often. I have felt very safe with my son on it while road cycling and trail cycling. As a hybrid, my bike does have a partial suspension seat with first couple inches of the post being square and the lower section being tubular, so I did have to raise my seat a bit higher than I was used to in order to accommodate the seat. The seat fits well otherwise, but there was a learning curve to getting on and off the bike and stopping at intersections without being able to simply put my feet down or sliding off the seat in the front. I was most anxious about this, and I was disappointed that the manufacturer doesn't make any recommendations more specific than "use the curb". A YouTube video would have been most helpful. That was months ago, though, and I am an old pro at it by now.
I have not had any problems with the foot pegs sliding down, as others have reported. However, my son is only about 22 pounds and two years old and well below the manufacturer's maximum weight suggestion. The main bar itself is firmly attached to the bike and doesn't move. I check it every time we go out and it is always firmly in place. The seat itself has just a light foam padding on it, and the foam on the handlebars is the cheap kind that you see on kids' scooters or bikes: not designed to last long. So far it is holding up well for us, though.
My son loves going for bike rides. I had trouble getting him to put his helmet on the first time, but once he had been out on the bike and had learned to associate helmet with bike ride the problem disappeared. The seat looks uncomfortable to me, but for the most part my son doesn't act as though it bothers him. Our average ride is about an hour long, but he does get bored if I don't let him off to play at some point. We usually take a break about 3/4 of the way through our loop and stop at a park to play. I have done the full hour without stopping, but not often. This seat is designed for kids to have a full interactive/participatory experience, which means that you do have to have your kid's full cooperation. They hold themselves in place and ride along with you. If they are throwing a tantrum or falling asleep you can't simply soldier on as you might with a full seat or a trailer: you have to stop and deal with the problem and talk your kid into cooperating. So that's something to take into consideration.
I ride my bike solo all the time and I don't have to take the Tyke Toter off: I barely even know it's there. With the other seats I tried I could ride by myself, but they were so bulky that I didn't like to do it, which is why the Bike Tutor came off the second my son wasn't riding on it regularly anymore. They were also more difficult to take on and off. I don't have to take the Tyke Toter off, but if I did it would be a very simple thing to do.
Finally, I felt like the seat post mount solved a major problem of front-mounted seats. It's simple design is brilliant in a lot of ways. However, I had hoped to be able to carry both of my kids on my bike: one on the mounted seat and the other on the third wheel. Unfortunately because of the way my seat post is designed I can't really handle more than one seat post mount at once. It might be a possibility for a more traditional seat post that is all tubular and has no suspension. My husband's post is a partial suspension as well, so I can't say for sure.
I gave this product 5 stars because I haven't been able to find a better child bike seat, at least not in the US market. While I do feel that the seat and handlebar foam could be improved upon, the improvements are very minimal and will probably occur as this product evolves over time... which it is sure to do, as it is a great product. I'm very happy with mine, and so is my two year old.
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 21.1 x 9 x 7.3 inches |
|---|---|
| Package Weight | 3.2 Pounds |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 17.5 x 8 x 8.4 inches |
| Item Weight | 2 Pounds |
| Brand Name | TYKETOTER |
| Country of Origin | United States |
| Color | Orange and Silver |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Suggested Users | unisex-baby |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Manufacturer | TYKETOTER |
| Part Number | 4344812383 |
| Included Components | Foot Peg |
