Combining a bike seat with panniers

[Cait.Hewitt]

Hi. I'm looking for a rear child seat that I can use at the same time as panniers. Does anyone know if this is possible? Plan is to cycle the first 5 mins with my one-year-old in the seat (or probably walk it till she's a bit bigger, to be honest), drop her off at our nannyshare, then cycle on to work. Need to be able to carry a laptop and a few papers, keys and money etc, and also waterproofs just in case. Ideally I'd like to be able to use rear panniers, but BC Bikes have advised that this wouldn't be possible with the seat in position, and that I should consider a backpack - possibly one that would convert to a pannier once the child seat was removed.

Does anyone have experience and/or suggestions? I'm really missing cycling, and public transport to and from central London feels slow and unreliable by comparison, especially when I'm itching to get home to see my little girl!

[Otto]

Have you considered a front mount child seat? For a one year old, that would be perfect -- hard to find in uk but if you google...

otherwise...yes...backpack. anything but a laptop can also be strapped into child seat with elasticated ties...

[The Nappy Lady]

My hubby uses a Humax rear seat with panniers but placement is critical & it's a fiddle getting it all on.

I have a seat that goes in front of me for my now nearly 3 year old & much prefer it. Check out front mounted bike seats on eBay. Wee ride is one which I borrowed & it was good but the one I have now fixes to 1 bracket on my handlebar stem & I prefer it as I can quickly remove it so it's out of the way when I'm cycling alone. Can't recall the make but it's German I think, possibly no longer made.

I feel it's safer with little ones in front of you & easier to talk to them too. Also if you do have a back pack it's not in their face & they can see where they are going.

[Cait.Hewitt]

Thanks for the tips. I posted about this on another forum too, and it seems as if my best options are either a front seat and rear panniers or a rear seat and front panniers. I must say I've always preferred the idea of a front mounted seat, but people in bike shops have advised against on the basis that it affects your balance too much so makes you unsafe.

I would ordinarily look for everything secondhand before buying new, but I read that with car seats it's not advised in case there had been a road accident making the seat unsafe, and wonder if the same is true of bike seats, so might avoid ebay.

[Polly D]

Have you got a basket on the front? Don't know if you could fit a laptop in one though.

I have a Hamax Siesta on the back of mine (fitted by BC Bikes) and there is no room for the panniers. But I can usually fit all I need for work in a bag and put that in the front basket. I do also wear a small rucksack on my back with my son's stuff for the day in it and I wear that while he's in the seat and it doesn't get in his way at all.

I think you would be fine to get one secondhand as long as you got someone professional to fix it maybe? But they're not that expensive compared to some equipment. Think ours was about ?50 or less.

[cuppa tea]

I have a rear seat with front panniers. Works fine. As my children have got bigger the rear seat makes more sense and the balance is better. But I've never tried a front seat so have nothing to compare to. Sometimes I end up with a baby in the rear seat, a 4 year old squeezed in the space in front of him, his bike on the front rack and then front panniers....it's a bit of a circus!!

[Gubodge]

I could fit panniers ok with my Hamax.

[MichelleT]

I don't have panniers, but I take my 13 month old to his nanny in his bobike mini which I bought on ebay and which he absolutely loves.

[Cait.Hewitt]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I think I'm now sold on the idea of a front seat, even though bike shops seem to disapprove I actually thought I had made a decision on bike (which needs replacing) plus seat, till I learned today that front-mounted seats shouldn't be fixed to aluminium alloy stems, as these stems are liable to suddenly break, so I'll need to rethink my choice of bike. But it's all getting gradually clearer!

[savage]

Hi

I have a front mounted child seat for my 2 year old and we both love it. This is the one we've got

http://www.co-rider.com/The_Co-Rider_2011.html

[mikeb]

I'd welcome some more suggestions for front-mounted bike seats for my 2-year old (tagalong means rear-mounted won't fit)

I've tried a Leco - and never again. The build quality was terrible and so far as I could see the safety of it depended entirely on how tightly you could clamp it to the cross bar. I also suspect it's not got the proper safety certificates as the packaging including no safety information.

The Wee Ride looks good, though maybe a little bulky. Any other suggestions? A trawl through the web suggests:

* OK Baby Orion - looks better build quality and it seems like the child's legs are further forward and out of your way. But its fixing mechanism again looks like it depends entirely on clamping to the tubes

* Rabbit - looks too close to the rider to be comfortable and also seems to require bikes with narrow tubes

* i-bert safe-t-seat - looks very odd, moves with the steering wheel? Small back rest

Anything else I should try?

thanks

Mike

[MichelleT]

Bobike - they are Dutch. I got ours on ebay, and a friend who is also a mountain biking journalist said that he recommended a front carry as safer. The only issue I have with the baby on the front is that he has now learned how to change gears which isn't much fun when going up hill...

http://www.bobike.nl/en/Bobike-you-re-sitting-pretty.htm

[Hollybush]

I see people with the pannier & child seat combo and am always jealous as can't make it work on mine. On the other hand I hate the seat flapping about once you've dropped the child off, so in fact I just walk the bike and carry the little one in a sling, then once I've dropped off I'm unencumbered..

Like the idea of a front seat though even though people say its less safe. seems more safe to me. My children have fallen asleep in the rear seat and end up lolling out the side - also any backpack tends to get right in their faces.