I love this seat. We've had it for about a week now, and my son is 9 months old. I didn't want to get a rear seat, because I wanted to be able to keep an eye on him while biking -- especially to know whether he was falling asleep. I also didn't want to get a trailer, since that's way too cumbersome for the short daily city rides I take. Below are my pros and cons. The list of cons is longer, but for me the pros still outweigh it.
Pro:
- Baby really likes it. We've gone on rides up to 45 min long, and he hasn't complained at all. I expect this would be different if he was staring at my bum (on a rear seat), or at my wheel (in a trailer).
- I thought the baby's weight would make me rather unstable, but that's not the case. It seems to be in a good neutral position.
- It's easy to install, and if you have an extra bracket, easy to move between mom and dad's bike.
- It's very easy to lean over and talk to him.
- If he's feeling a bit tired, he can lean on my arm.
Con:
- The biggest problem for me is stopping and starting. With the child seat in front of me, there is very little room for me to stand flat footed on the ground (in the space between my seat and his seat). I've learned to master the "tripod stop", where I keep my bum on my seat, and lean over slightly so that one foot can touch the ground. Starting (especially while on an incline) is more difficult. Because of the baby seat, I can't stand up in the pedals and lean forward. The one time I had to start on an incline, I backed the bike up to flat ground, so that I could get a good running start to go up the hill. Since I rarely encounter hills on my daily rides, this is still manageable.
- The shoulder straps easily slide down off his shoulders. I've now taken a extra clasp off a backpack I wasn't using, so that I can buckle the straps across his chest as well (similar to the chest clip on a car seat).
- The seat is super easy to remove, therefore easy to steal. This is easily solved if you buy a small padlock, and use that to secure the seat instead of the pin provided.
- The seat does not come above the baby's shoulders. Therefore it doesn't offer head and neck protection in a fall. This is of all front child seats. To me this is offset by the fact that the baby is cradled between my arms, and that since I can see him, I'm less likely to be caught unaware if he suddenly decides to fling himself somewhere.
- There's nothing for baby to hold on to. He started out holding my mirror (which rendered it useless to me). I then bought the chest rest accessory for this seat, and he is comfortable holding on to that. It also gives him something to lean on if tired.
- The bobike seat is made to be mounted on a quill stem. Alternatively there is an adapter that can be used for other bikes, but only if they have a top tube (i.e. must be a man's bike, not a ladies step-through bike). The step-through bike was essential for me, since I often wear a skirt while biking. I traded in my old hybrid bike, and bought an upright city bike with a quill stem. Certainly most people would not buy a new bike to go with their baby seat, but I was already in the market for a bike. Shopping for bike and seat at the same time meant I was able to get a combination that worked well together. Bikes that I tried that worked well with the bobike seat included the Gary Fisher Simple City and the Batavus Personal Bike. Most of the other bikes I tried did not have enough room between my seat and the handlebars to comfortably fit the bobike mini, and enable me to stand flat-footed on the ground when stopped. A number of the dutch companies make special "mama-bikes" that have a longer distance between seat and handlebars, so that the childs seat can easily fit in front. But living in North America, this would have required custom shipping, and appeared prohibitively expensive. Bobike Mini Bike Seat
It does exactly what it promises.
PROS: The dutch have it down when it comes to bike culture! It was easy to set up on my Trek 800 mountain bike (as well as my wife's Gary fischer women's mountain bike). My 16 month, 25 lb, 32 inch tall boy fits nicely and likes it too. He was a bit unsure during the first ride but now loves it, probably because he is sitting taller and going faster than when he is in the stroller and he also has better peripheral vision. The shoulder straps are long enough to clear the helmet which is cool (otherwise I would have had to take the helmet off before locking/unlocking him. Because our sidewalks (I refuse to bike on the roads) have a lot of protruding branches I also got the front shield (from another site) and that is truly awesome to keep bugs and twigs off his face.
CONS: None really if you consider what this device is meant to do. You just have to do a few adjustments to the way you bike:
1. You will have to adjust your pedaling with your knees jutting slightly to the sides but I'm 5'8" and I got used to it during the first ride.
2.The bike is heavier now and though not any less stable, it has a bigger turn radius because the stirrups catch the cross bar.
3. As for the startup problem that other reviewers have mentioned about front child seats, I think it has to do with the way you start. I tend to start while seated on the bike seat so I have no problem with the bobike. My wife on the other hand, tends to start by standing on the pedal. For her, the bobike is still not functional as it gets in her way. We'll see.
4. Finally, hills! We live in a hilly area so uphill is quite a workout. Originally I was worried that the 33lb max weight rating would come by too fast (The ibert I believe goes up to 38lbs). But after taking my son back from the farmer's market with a fully loaded bike and backpack, I am kinda glad that I won't have to do this for ever!
I was deciding between the bobike and the ibert and in the end, it was the optional wind screen that did it for me. Otherwise you probably get a similar feel with the ibert and you get to bike with your kid till he is 38lbs. And the the higher back support that the bobike has is cool but honestly the kid does not really use it. Nor is it meant to help in a fall. You just have to ride a lot slower and more carefully with this thing. - Bike Seat - Child Carrier - Child Bike Seat - Bike Front-mounted Baby Seat'
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