Mom / Dad-mobiles, Kid-transporters

£200!

Also not keen on the increased TT as I have a rear seat as well so it makes swinging my leg over tricky.

With two kids and daily use for at least another 3-5 years, I figure it's money well spent. At least in our case.

Has anyone had a go at attaching a garmin light bracket to a Yepp Maxi? I'd quite like to use my Varia on the back of the childseat. Wondering if there are any easy solutions?

Not directly, but I saw there are a lot of custom 3d printed Varia mounts for different placements on eBay

Anyone want a free (/forum donation) Hamax Kiss? Comes with 2 sizes of mount.
Collection from Beckenham.

https://www.hamax.com/product/kiss/

On here?

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Did you have to hack/bodge anything with the top tube-mounted cables? Their site specifically says one can’t use a bike with them but looks like you’re good?

I'm using hydro brakes which are less fussy about the hoses being straight - running it under the top tube.
The gear cable is fine too, it's just the inner, which goes in between the middle and side bit of the shotgun seat.

Will depend on your setup a bit. Anything that needs to go down the middle of the top of the top tube won't work, and full outer cables probably won't either.

Got it thanks.

Think I will buy the seat and then figure out what bike I have (need) for it

Can I dibs this please if still available.

This has served me well for a while now, but it was always a bit of a budget bodge, and I'm thinking of changing things out. Formerly a cheap 29er MTB, it's very slightly too long for the bike locker it lives in, and the high bottom bracket means getting on it is difficult with anything in the basket. I also want to make it two-kid capable, in anticipation of a possible future goblin to join the horde. So I'd need to be able to fit a second child seat on the rear rack, and then ideally still keep a basket on the handlebars or a front rack.

It's now the bike I ride most often, doing commuting journeys and town stuff, before or after the nursery run. So I'd like a dynamo wheelset, and I'm thinking 27.5 or even 26 would make the whole thing a bit easier to handle around town, up steps, through the nursery gate, into its bike locker etc.

Any reason not to go for an On One Inbred or 456? Or are there any new 'ATB' type frames I should be looking at - something like Surly Bridge Club? VO Piolet looks great but too expensive. Bit wary of mad boost and thru axle standards on new MTB-adjacent frames...

Probably cheaper option would be to keep the frame but just build a 27.5 dynamo wheelset to drop the bottom bracket a bit, and get a slightly shorter fork to accommodate, both of which would also slightly shorten the wheelbase. Expect that might make the geometry noticeably weird though

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I'd go for a Surly Disc Trucker with 26" wheels. Small wheels means the center of gravity is lowered, even with kids and baskets.
Added benefit is more space for something like a macride or Kids Ride Shotgun seat because of the tall headtube and short fork AC.
Touring spec makes the frame nice and stiff.

Be wary of the wheelbase though.
Pictured is my Intec M1 in dad mode.
It used to have a rear mounted thule seat as well.

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If a medium surly troll would suit then slide into my DMs as I have one (f&f, bb, maybe headset?) I need to shift. 26” wheels, a bazillion mounting points. Cracking dad biek. I did the two kid transporting on it a bunch of times, whether in two seats or in a trailer or with a tagalong.

Thanks both, good suggestions. I would probably take you up on the Troll if it was a large

Could you borrow a set of 27.5 or 26" wheels to try them for size?

I think your main issue will be the short wheelbase - the back looks quite short in the picture.

I have another 27.5 wheelset but not with the right standards - it would need to be QR135 at the back but Thru axle 15 at the front

Axle and brake standards are a pain in the arse. Disc trucker in 26 looks good apart from it's flat mount which would mean new brakes (and possibly even shifters, not sure). Leaning towards Bridge Club as I have a QR 27.5 dynamo wheelset which would fit and think pretty much everything else from the MTB could be swapped over

Potentially interested! Is this still available? We're in St George...

I'm looking at getting a bike setup for transporting my nearly 3 year old around, maybe dog, maybe another kid etc. Long tail cargo bikes look fun. Any major drawbacks about a kona ute?

Couple of months left in this setup before my kid will outgrow the Thule Yepp Next Mini seat.

Need to decide on either a rear mounted seat (kid says she doesn't like the sound of it as she likes being up front) or a shotgun/macride front seat. Slightly concerned she won't be able to adapt easily from a full seat with backrest and seatbelt that she can just sit back and relax in, to a seat-only style where she will very much need to pay attention and hold onto the bars.

My kid did fine with a Shotgun seat- you as the rider kinda envelop them with your body/arms so I don't think there's much risk of them falling off. Having to hold on keeps them engaged and it's much nicer to be able to chat/see the same stuff.

That's encouraging. From what age? Mine needs to stop using the current seat at 3 which she nearly is

Our eldest started using the MacRide when she was two. She she hasn’t gotten in the canopy/box at the front our Bullitt since - when when she has been pelted with rain and sleet.
Once she even fell asleep between my arms.

I got the MacRide over the shotgun because of the lower seat height, which hopefully means she and her sister well be able to use it for longer.

Yep we made the same move from 3 years old

Our 2-year old went onto the MacRide from his 2nd birthday more or less and it's great - as jobrim and mistermikkel said, your arms are there and you can also crank the feet in tight with the straps if you want. Partner still takes him on her bike with the Thule Next Mini and he's not bothered either way.

I got a Thule seat for the back (clamps onto the rack in 30secs rather than mounting to seat tube) quite cheaply and this was definitely useful for longer trips eg cycle camping last year. Haven't yet tried the Macride for anything more than 4o mins but maybe your 3yr old sleeps less anyway. I can easily do without the Macride or Thule for a week so if you're near Hackney and want to borrow both and try them out, you're welcome.

also just noticed but your bike has quite a handy sloping top tube and lots of steerer like mine - it's nice for a MacRide cause you can set the back bracket low on the seatpost and bit higher on the steerer so they're really sitting on a saddle with a pommel. I though I'd worry about him flying forwards but it's really difficult to see that happening if set up as just mentioned.