# Toddler carrying/riding options with tall parent



## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

My daughter will be turning 2 in August. I'd love to take her riding with me (so Dad can get some riding in too!). We already have a Chariot for road riding, but MTBing is more my thing, and I think she'd like the extra feeling of participation.

I've looked at the ibert and wee-ride and am very concerned about having my knees hit the seat. I'm 6' 2" with very long legs. I'd mount either seat on my SC Superlight (25" wide flat handlebar, 120mm stem, 100mm travel air fork/ air/oil rear shock). I could also mount it on one of my singlespeed hardtails (cromoly frame, 80mm air/oil fork, 26" riser bar, 120mm stem) but I think I'd need the gears with the extra weight.

One option I really like is the LOCT BodySpace Child Saddle (http://www.loct.co.uk/product.html), but not the $300 price.

Any other tall riders out there successfully ride with the ibert or wee-ride?

I've looked at run-bikes for my daughter, but our neighborhood is very hilly - a could see her running out of control down our driveway or into a cul de sac.

Thanks in advance - JMJ


----------



## ryball (May 14, 2007)

Birdman said:


> One option I really like is the LOCT BodySpace Child Saddle (http://www.loct.co.uk/product.html), but not the $300 price.


That looks AWESOME, but yeah, $300...

Wee ride is definitely going to be an issue for you. What about a rear rack mounted one?


----------



## ryball (May 14, 2007)

hmm... http://www.amazon.com/iBert-Safe-T-Front-Mounted-Bicycle/dp/B000H4E7EO/ref=pd_sim_sg_1


----------



## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

ryball said:


> hmm... http://www.amazon.com/iBert-Safe-T-Front-Mounted-Bicycle/dp/B000H4E7EO/ref=pd_sim_sg_1


Thanks - yes - that's the ibert.

My question was *"Any other tall riders out there successfully ride with the ibert or wee-ride?"*

JMJ


----------



## ryball (May 14, 2007)

Sorry, I was more thinking aloud to myself.


----------



## Swannyboy (Apr 19, 2008)

What kind of riding are you planning on doing? I have a Burley trailer that I pull my son in. I took the wimpy tires that it came with off and put on some mild nobbies on.His trailer had 20in wheels instead of 16's so that helped with tire selection. I pull him on double track and even some wider single track. It actually works really well and he loves it when it bounces around a little.


----------



## mbmb65 (Jan 13, 2004)

Why not use the Chariot? Very trail worthy. We've been using ours off road for about a year and a half now with no problems.


----------



## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

*About the Chariot*

My Chariot is an older model (circa 2000) without the suspension. There is some really nice singletrack locally that will not easily (if at all) accommodate the Chariot - tight winding singletrack, narrow bridges, etc.

I've thought of throwing extra-large tires on the Chariot to soften the road ride - just need to find a cheap pair of smooth 20 x 2" bmx tires (knobbies on the road would be bad).

JMJ


----------



## mbmb65 (Jan 13, 2004)

Birdman said:


> My Chariot is an older model (circa 2000) without the suspension. There is some really nice singletrack locally that will not easily (if at all) accommodate the Chariot - tight winding singletrack, narrow bridges, etc.
> 
> I've thought of throwing extra-large tires on the Chariot to soften the road ride - just need to find a cheap pair of smooth 20 x 2" bmx tires (knobbies on the road would be bad).
> 
> JMJ


Yeah, that would make a difference, not having the suspension. Sell it and buy a newer used one! Ours has been a lifesaver for sure. We too are lucky enough to have narrow, technical singletrack and the Chariot takes all I throw at. It's narrow enough (just over 2') and the suspension actually works. My son and I love it!


----------



## Swannyboy (Apr 19, 2008)

mbmb65 said:


> Yeah, that would make a difference, not having the suspension. Sell it and buy a newer used one! Ours has been a lifesaver for sure. We too are lucky enough to have narrow, technical singletrack and the Chariot takes all I throw at. It's narrow enough (just over 2') and the suspension actually works. My son and I love it!


Second that vote :thumbsup:


----------



## outdoornut (Aug 13, 2005)

Birdman said:


> My daughter will be turning 2 in August. I'd love to take her riding with me (so Dad can get some riding in too!).


Another possible option.

I had this same delema back in the late 90's when there weren't many options other than
the seat on the back of your bike. I didn't like the idea of my son being strapped into my
bike on singletrack, so I chose to use my Kelty Mountain Hiker child carrier backpack. I
opted flats on my bike ( better exit opportunity ) and didn't ride down any real steeps or
obsticles and was able to enjoy a few years of sharing singletrack with my son. Maybe
that's why he was riding without training wheels when he was three and riding that same
singletrack at age 5. Some questioned my choice but my thinking was, how many times
in the past has my bike hit the ground and I didn't ( stayed on my feet ) ? My bike was 
my answer so I opted for the pack. Another plus, once I took the pack off it was like
I had been training with weights. Even in a couple bad situations I was able to just step 
off the bike. I felt that was better than him being tied to the bike. Just another option.

ODN


----------



## anotherbrian (Mar 18, 2005)

Birdman said:


> Any other tall riders out there successfully ride with the ibert or wee-ride


I'm 73.5" without shoes, so near your height. I dunno if I have long legs or not, but my similarly heighted friends tend to lower the saddle on my bikes when they borrow them.

I definitely ride bowlegged when riding with the Wee-Ride, but it has never been an issue (max length of rides ~3.5 hours, max dirt distance ~20mi, max paved ~30mi, max climb ~2500ft). More of a problem has been the saddle height, or lack thereof. I use a Gravity Dropper seatpost, and I wish it dropped further _and_ had some set back. Jones/Mary-style bars with lots of sweep and a stem with lots of rise is also helpful to make room for the kid.

I'd suggest you find someone with a Wee-Ride and give it a try ... that'll also confirm how readily it will fit your bike. I haven't used an ibert, but from the pics it looks very sketchy for real offroad riding.


----------



## anotherbrian (Mar 18, 2005)

Birdman said:


> One option I really like is the LOCT BodySpace Child Saddle (http://www.loct.co.uk/product.html), but not the $300 price.


And just checked out the LOCT.

I think that would be the optimal solution for real offroading. My objection to the Wee-Ride is the child can't unweight the seat.

After having seen similar seats to the LOCT on Dutch bikes (make that, a saddle mounted to the top tube, with stirrups hanging below), I thought about attaching a cushion directly to the Wee-Ride's mounting bar, and then rigid footrests hanging down. I wouldn't expect my son to sit on it for 30 miles, but for shorter duration/more aggresive riding, I think it'd be the ticket (and I'm inspired to try it after seeing those pics).


----------



## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

*Perfect*



anotherbrian said:


> I'm 73.5" without shoes, so near your height. I dunno if I have long legs or not, but my similarly heighted friends tend to lower the saddle on my bikes when they borrow them.
> 
> I definitely ride bowlegged when riding with the Wee-Ride, but it has never been an issue (max length of rides ~3.5 hours, max dirt distance ~20mi, max paved ~30mi, max climb ~2500ft). More of a problem has been the saddle height, or lack thereof. I use a Gravity Dropper seatpost, and I wish it dropped further _and_ had some set back. Jones/Mary-style bars with lots of sweep and a stem with lots of rise is also helpful to make room for the kid.
> 
> I'd suggest you find someone with a Wee-Ride and give it a try ... that'll also confirm how readily it will fit your bike. I haven't used an ibert, but from the pics it looks very sketchy for real offroad riding.


Thanks - exactly the feedback I was looking for! My wife is slowly coming around to the option of getting the LOCT, but when our daughter's a bit older. The fly in the ointment is that I ride a SC Superlight, so I'd be pushing the weight limit for that frame, I think.

On Mothers Day, we went for a quick road ride - my wife riding ahead, and me towing Sofie in the Chariot. As much as I like the trailer, it's a real PITA to look back to see if Sofie's okay. Even on smooth roads, it's tough to see her clearly in the mirror - I can't imagine how I'd manage on even a "smooth" trail. Maybe with practice.

Selling the Chariot for a newer model model would probably put me out the same amount as a LOCT (about $250 or so). If I go with the LOCT, I can have both.

I've got a Kelty kid-carrier, but I don't know if I'd want to try riding with it.

Thanks all - JMJ


----------



## outdoornut (Aug 13, 2005)

Birdman said:


> I've got a Kelty kid-carrier, but I don't know if I'd want to try riding with it.
> 
> Thanks all - JMJ


You'd have to make sure it was the model with the 5 poing harness for the child and you.
That's the one I used. I put the helmet on him and he was happy as a lark...:thumbsup: Hope 
you find something that works for you. It's great to get your kids out there with you...

ODN


----------



## jcbkarl (Mar 31, 2009)

*I ride a mtn bike w/ ibert*

My wife and I use a chariot for the road, but I wanted to be able to ride singletrack off-road where there was just no way a chariot would work so I got an I-bert. At first I put it on an old Mongoose mtn bike I had with an abnormally long top tube. I'm 6 feet tall with a 34" inseam (measured the cycling way, not pant size). I tried it around the neighborhood and my knees did hit the Ibert. It probably needed to move forward another 2 inches. The other thing that immediately struck me was that this setup did not seem safe at all for serious mtn riding (I-bert says that too). So I started looking around at what to do. My biggest fears were the front wheel of the bike falling out of the fork (because of an axle failure) and the steerer tube of the fork breaking off. So I found a blowout deal on a Jamis Diablo downhill/freeride bike with a 20mm through axle and a 1.5" diameter steerer tube on the fork. Then I made a custom bracket that eliminated all the stock metal parts of the Ibert (I had to drill out the rivets that hold the plastic to the metal) and mounted the Ibert on top of the handlebars.

The result? It absolutely rocks. In my opinion you need a bike like this to run the Ibert safely off road. The wheelbase is long so you won't endo. I've got a 2.7 tire on the front so it floats over the sand and can handle rocks without pinch flatting. It's got 180mm of travel on the front and I'll typically use 150mm of that on a normal ride. The bike is 44 lbs, so with the seat and the kid I'm pushing about 85 lbs, but this really just lets my wife and me be more compatible when we ride. I've ridden the trails at Tsali with this setup and it works wonderfully.


----------



## jcbkarl (Mar 31, 2009)

*another thing*

I forgot to mention above that with the ibert you need to add a horizontal strap to the back of the existing shoulder straps to keep them from slipping off your kids shoulders (kind of like a sternum strap on a backpack, but over their shoulder blades).

I'll also say you shouldn't do stuff like this unless you are a good rider and know how to ride within your limits so you don't crash. I've been mtn biking for 20 yrs including racing and also ride off road motorcycles so I'm comfortable throwing around 250-300 lbs in the dirt. Okay, that's the disclaimer - hope this doesn't turn into a safety thread.


----------



## phatbiker (Mar 3, 2004)

hey there. we picked up a Wee Ride Kangaroo LTD recently and absolutely love it. I was also concerned about being bow legged but it's not much at all. my son loves it. we picked it up on line at:

http://www.bikes4families.com/weeride-weeride-kangaroo-child-carrier-p-18.html

great price and great service. hope this helps.

phat


----------



## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

Thanks jcbkarl - very clever!

JMJ


----------



## anotherbrian (Mar 18, 2005)

It looks like jcbkarl and I almost have the same garage doors. 

Here is a profile shot of the Wee-Ride on a Turner 5-Pack (a 6-Pack with 5" of travel rather than 6") for comparison. That's from summer '07, and except for changing tires to 2.4" Fat Albert UST's and putting the beefier 6-Pack rear end back on (but leaving 5" rockers installed) the bike is the same.

I do think I'm more of a fan of having the child positioned between the handlebars and seat ... while it makes it more difficult to mount/dismount, it makes little change to the handling of the bike.


----------

