Kid carrier dadbike 29er conversion

Having had a kid this year I have much less time for riding in the woods and a new need to ferry a little one around without using the car. So it's time to convert my cheap and cheerful Voodoo Bizango 29er into a kid carrier.

She is not going to be of an age to ride it safely (or at least my wife would not be comfortable with us trying it) until she's roughly a year old, so I have til at least the end of the year.

Some inspiration from the Kid carrier bike thread here. It's gonna be heavy, it's gonna be ugly, it's gonna be great.

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First step was to replace the actually-quite-good-but-incredibly-heavy suspension forks with some carbon (albeit alu steerer) forks from Exotic. This saved literally 2kg, which will nearly but not quite make up for the weight of the kid seat.

Of course on a build like this weight doesn't matter really but I do want to be able to lift it up so I'm happy with that.

Post fork change that gets us here. A handy, capable bike considering it was only £500 brand new a few years ago but of course hideously ugly. Paint job and decals probably the most offensively ugly bit -trying desperately to appeal to the 13 year old boy market I think.

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Good bits that I'll be keeping:

Deore 1x10 drive train with extremely low gearing.

Dropper post which should make mounting and dismounting with a baby on board a little easier.

Shimano hydro brakes - bottom of the range no doubt but they are fantastic.

Frame is actually reasonably light, super sturdy and the right size.

Wheelset has presented me zero issues riding off road so should be fine with the added weight of a kid.

But with the new forks on, before changing any other parts I wanted to get rid of the awful paintjob. Briefly looked at professional powder coating but really didn't want to spend £100 on a non functional aspect of this cheap and cheerful build.

Then I saw spray.bike have nice colours for a tenner a can and thought well, I can hardly make it any worse than it currently is.

Spray.bike have all sorts of videos of people doing insanely good multi colour paintjobs. I do not have the skills or patience for that, so instead I just stripped it, gave it a quick rub down, and sprayed their 'peacock' teal all over.

Here it is after spraying. Next up is a finishing clear coat and then once it's cured I will start hanging some new parts off it next week.

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I've got some 29 x 2.25 Schwalbe G Ones cheap off eBay, which should be a bit less tedious to ride on road than proper MTB tyres while still being super cushy and grippy, some On One Mike bars for beach cruiser upright ride position, and a plusher saddle given all my weight will be on my arse.

Do chains come in ‘brown’ now?

Did you remove old paint?

This bike lives outside, uncovered. It does not get mollycoddled. It is the rustiest chain you could imagine. It sounds horrendous. I will be treating it to a new one though.

Rad colour! Keen to see the finished build.

Nice, good start

No removal of old paint, just sprayed right on top. Spray.bike reckon a bit of light sanding is a good idea but also that it's fine to just spray straight on top. I had absolutely no inclination to spend hours sanding, so I just sprayed away.

The finish is not perfect but it could be an awful lot worse. I'm super pleased.

There is sadly no way to remedy the 'crash damage' aesthetic of the curved tubes. Presumably they are intended to have some sort of benefit but I expect it's just marketing bollocks. That aside, and with the disgusting paint job now gone, I think it's the perfect frame for my needs. It even has (rear) rack mount bosses. Which I will be using, along with some sort of crate to chuck the baby's paraphernalia in. I really had no idea until I had one, just how many accoutrements you need to bring in order to leave the house with a baby.

I assume you have seen this

I have not, but it's excellent.

Bit too premium for what I have in mind though. My nice bike isn't that nice.

Presumably they are intended to have some sort of benefit but I expect it's just marketing bollocks

With the kid seat on the back the distressed look top tube will actually help you get safely get on the bike without kicking your prodigy in the face, so there is that.

Can confirm that having the seat mounted like this is waaaaay better than a rear mounted seat.

Well the clearcoat was a lot harder to apply nicely than the paint itself, but on balance still v happy with this. New bars and saddle looking comfy.

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And with sweet sweet reflective stripes

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Droppers are very handy for stopping and junctions.

Our 'dad' bike (I share with the 6ft mrs) didn't like the out front seat and heavily limited steering angles, it was head tube angle related - our On One Scandal is very slack - but this looks spot on.
Little Dext used the Thule Yepp Mini from 9 months > without issue until the little porker maxed out the weight limit. She loved it and we've had her on a Mac-Ride since 18months. The Mac-Ride is great as you can switch it between bikes mid ride within 30 seconds.

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Hmmm yeah the effect of a front seat on steering is my main concern. I think I've now ruled out a Weeride as I don't like the idea of having to use a very wide stance to avoid bashing your knees on the seat. So I'm looking at Thule Yepp Mini, which will affect the steering in a way the Weeride doesn't.

MacRide looks great but I think wouldn't give me confidence for a very young baby, I'd rather she was fully strapped in.

This is not really a dad/parent bike however. It is an absolutely slapping serious mountain bike on which you are balancing your offspring (about 5 feet up in the air?!)

This is a parent bike

Mostly done now apart from the actual kid carrying appendage.

New sticker and old headtube badge back on to give a little of that early teenage aesthetic back.

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where did you buy the reflective triangle from?

eBay a few years ago

It's one of these
https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5050-135/Yield-Safety-Shield

And side on. Ride position with the new bars, lighter front end and the G Ones make this pretty fun to ride. Might have to take it on a few more 'test' rides before it becomes purely a workdonkey

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It also has a bell with 'cowbell function'