Safe-T-Seat Review - BikeRadar

User review of

Got the seat after reading the review from here off the UK importer http://www.tinyexperience.co.uk I fitted it in a few mins without the need for instructions to my Gary Fisher rig (29er single speed) then checked I had done it right by reading the instructions which I had!

Now my lad Jake (nearly 3) can be a bit worried by a things and often can be heard to say " I don't like it!" before he has even tried thing so I was surprised and pleased to see him scrambling to get on board and go for a ride, there are no problems loading him up and off we went for a quick ride round the block but he liked it so much it was time to hit the trails.

So we headed off to the woods to ride the fire tracks of Cannock chase 8 ½ miles later I returned home and he wants to go back out now! It’s a great piece of kit and oddly despite being really tall my knees don't catch it when riding seated and I can even peddle standing up with a bit of technique altering so I was able to get up some tasty climbs and still wear cycling shoes with Spd peddles.

The handling of the bike wasn't adversely effected you just have to push the bars a little bit harder and remember the bike will turn a little slower which isn't a problem as your not meant to be free riding with a youngster strapped to the front of your bike. The build quality is as stated good and I didn't find it industrial as much as well made and I hope to get a lot of use over the next few months out of it as I have a race coming up on 25th of may and am struggling to get in enough training due to family commitments and work so I was going to most likely pull out as im in a very tough class (men's masters aged 30 – 39, 17.5 miles race) but I’m hoping that I can get enough training miles in over the hills I can still enter it and with this I can still spend quality time with Jake and just ride proper Xc on Sundays to keep my skills sharp. If not at least I will be able to enjoy my cycling and father son time.

Martin

User review of

This is an awesome seat for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it's stupidly easy to install and remove. Just bolt the "stinger" around your steerer (you need about 20mm space) and slide the seat on. The "stinger" is a very strong piece of cast metal. The seat seems huge when you take it out of the box, but once you're riding around you realise how much of a void you normally have between your chest and the handlebars!

Secondly, it puts the child "inside" you so if you crash (hopefully not) you will get it before the child does. I find standing up on the pedals is not hampered either. Mounting and dismounting can be a bit tricky, but you work it out.

Thirdly, it will fit ANY frame so there's no more excuses for dads with fancy full-sus frames which can't take a rack or top-tube mounted seat. if you have the steerer space, you can fit an iBert.

Finally, it doesn't really affect steering ability that much. You need a bit more effort to move the bars, but its not so bad as to put you in danger. Although I haven't tried it, I reckon you could ride singletrack quite easily with it.

The ONLY issues I have had are minor. When clamped around headset spacers, there can be some swiveling. I countered this by using the stinger clamp in place of the headset spacer so it clamped directly to the steerer. Also, if you get caught in a downpour, the footwells fill up with water. A couple of strategic drill holes would fix this.

User review of

Let me get this straight - so the child turns with the handlebars?

I find it hard to believe that this does not badly affect the handling. I remember using handlebar bags when I first started cycling and I hated the way they felt. And my bag did not move around like a child will.

This is a new design - what sort of testing and experience in use has there been?

User review of

The Safe-T-Seat has recently been granted the British Kitemark and has been granted BS EN14344.

The seat will support a child of 15kg, but in the US, they set the mark at 18kg. But due to the our stringent safety standards this has been lowered to 15kg.

The seats are sold worldwide from safe-t-seat.co.uk who are the distributors for UK and Europe.