bike seats..

[bea]

looking into getting a rear mounted child bike seat... hamax, seems to be a popular make... anyone have a bike seat kiddies? (dd is 16 months old) if so what should i look out for and what do you reccommend!!

ta!

We bought one fron Argos when ds was around the same age and he still uses it aged 4, as does his 2-year-old brother. Our local bike shop sells them for around 3 times the price. As long as they're EC safety test passed, which all Argos stuff is, I'd say you're fine getting a seat (ans helmet) there.

Mines's a Hamax and both me and dd are happy with it. She's been in it since she was a similar age to your dd and even now she's 3 is still happy and comfortable in it.
I've no direct experience of any others although a friend has one which has a kind of hand rail in the centre which she's really keen on as she thinks it makes her child feel more secure.

Ours is Halfords own make. Went in to get a Britax one as it was on special offer at the time and they had none left. It seems to do the job fine although I haven't been out on the bike for a while since DS2 was born and very much doubt I could manage with DS1 on the back anymore. I really enjoyed our cycles together and I think the seats are great. Have fun!!!

thanks for all the replies so far!... Mumsnet is great for this sort of thing...

i forgot to mention that i've heard to get ones that can clip in and out off diff bikes... which would be useful for whenever dh or me decide to do the biking... do a lot of bike seats do this?

Thanks again!!!

We've got a 'Sirius' one which protects them really well, and clips onto the frame to give them a smoother ride - apparently!

I have an Argos seat, too. Quite happy with it, although we use an extra set of reins to keep child strapped in. And not so great when they fall asleep because head slumps forward; you can get (heavy & expensive, but) reclining seats that must be much more comfy for child. I'll just urge that you take a lot of time to get the child's helmut fitted on snug (but not skin pinching!).

We use the trailer with both kids (13m & 36 m) in it, nowadays. Then just have to watch out for spats between them.

Bea

DW has just had a child seat added to the new electrically assisted bike I bought her for an Xmas pressent. The one thing to be careful of is that there are sometimes a few problems with getting the seats fitted if you have not done it before so I got our local bike shop to fit it.