Cx bike and baby seat
Discussion
Evening,
At the moment I only have carbon road bikes, which are not suitable for the clamp of my Hamax siesta child's seat.
I am considering something like a Cannondale Caadx, which is Alu and retains half decent geo (compared to a MB). However my LBS is telling me I'd be stupid to put a child seat on a Cx bike as it would be very unstable. The drop bars and the extra crank clearance/ height make the extra weight of the baby seat affect the handling badly - he says it's dangerous and would not want to sell me the bike on those grounds...
I can kind of see his points, but don't want to buy a hardtail as I will be riding on road with the odd path - trying to keep up with my Mrs on her road bike.
Do any of you guys use a Cx bike with a child seat and if so, how do you get on?
Thanks
At the moment I only have carbon road bikes, which are not suitable for the clamp of my Hamax siesta child's seat.
I am considering something like a Cannondale Caadx, which is Alu and retains half decent geo (compared to a MB). However my LBS is telling me I'd be stupid to put a child seat on a Cx bike as it would be very unstable. The drop bars and the extra crank clearance/ height make the extra weight of the baby seat affect the handling badly - he says it's dangerous and would not want to sell me the bike on those grounds...
I can kind of see his points, but don't want to buy a hardtail as I will be riding on road with the odd path - trying to keep up with my Mrs on her road bike.
Do any of you guys use a Cx bike with a child seat and if so, how do you get on?
Thanks
Edited by russy01 on Friday 19th August 07:08
I use my Hamax seat on my steel road bike , which has similar clearances & hei to a CX , I ride it down grave tracks etc ...
I used to use it on my hybrid with wide bars
Steel road bike is fine , it's not the most stable due to the geo and narrow bars , plus I'm not that heavy to counter the weight of my daughter
It's fine , as long as you are careful , I ride down narrow gravel tracks on 23c slicks , 2 year old I'm seat fully spd sl clipped in and our mad collie chasing me .
Why don't you get a trailer ? I just got a Raleigh trailer off EBay for £40 it clamps on the chain stay and is much more comfy for me and daughter , feels more stable , easier to fit and can carry more . But it is harder work but I found I was going to fast with a kids seat on a road bike
I used to use it on my hybrid with wide bars
Steel road bike is fine , it's not the most stable due to the geo and narrow bars , plus I'm not that heavy to counter the weight of my daughter
It's fine , as long as you are careful , I ride down narrow gravel tracks on 23c slicks , 2 year old I'm seat fully spd sl clipped in and our mad collie chasing me .
Why don't you get a trailer ? I just got a Raleigh trailer off EBay for £40 it clamps on the chain stay and is much more comfy for me and daughter , feels more stable , easier to fit and can carry more . But it is harder work but I found I was going to fast with a kids seat on a road bike
I use my Hamax seat on my steel road bike , which has similar clearances & hei to a CX , I ride it down grave tracks etc ...
I used to use it on my hybrid with wide bars
Steel road bike is fine , it's not the most stable due to the geo and narrow bars , plus I'm not that heavy to counter the weight of my daughter
It's fine , as long as you are careful , I ride down narrow gravel tracks on 23c slicks , 2 year old I'm seat fully spd sl clipped in and our mad collie chasing me .
Why don't you get a trailer ? I just got a Raleigh trailer off EBay for £40 it clamps on the chain stay and is much more comfy for me and daughter , feels more stable , easier to fit and can carry more . But it is harder work but I found I was going to fast with a kids seat on a road bike
I used to use it on my hybrid with wide bars
Steel road bike is fine , it's not the most stable due to the geo and narrow bars , plus I'm not that heavy to counter the weight of my daughter
It's fine , as long as you are careful , I ride down narrow gravel tracks on 23c slicks , 2 year old I'm seat fully spd sl clipped in and our mad collie chasing me .
Why don't you get a trailer ? I just got a Raleigh trailer off EBay for £40 it clamps on the chain stay and is much more comfy for me and daughter , feels more stable , easier to fit and can carry more . But it is harder work but I found I was going to fast with a kids seat on a road bike
I have regularly used a cross bike (Genesis Vapour) to carry my little one since he was about 9 months old, he is now 3 and still using it for the nursery run.
We have been all over the place on it without any trouble, ok it gets a bit wobbly when he gets excited going down hill and wiggles about but that would feel a bit hairy no matter what bike you were on.
We also have a trailer but there is no chance I would use that on the road, it makes you much wider and feels like the little one is in a much more vulnerable position and too far out of reach if he wants anything. Also there's a note on it about the connection not being safe for much over 10mph.... on the road that feels too slow.
We have a Hamax seat which connects to a Hamax pannier rack, it feels nice and secure but I don't think they make it anymore which is a shame. I've seen that they do one that reclines a bit though, might be worth looking into if you are planning rides of 10+ miles. Even on shorter ones my lad still falls asleep if he has had a busy day/rough night but I've worked around that by carrying a roll of Duck Tape.
We have been all over the place on it without any trouble, ok it gets a bit wobbly when he gets excited going down hill and wiggles about but that would feel a bit hairy no matter what bike you were on.
We also have a trailer but there is no chance I would use that on the road, it makes you much wider and feels like the little one is in a much more vulnerable position and too far out of reach if he wants anything. Also there's a note on it about the connection not being safe for much over 10mph.... on the road that feels too slow.
We have a Hamax seat which connects to a Hamax pannier rack, it feels nice and secure but I don't think they make it anymore which is a shame. I've seen that they do one that reclines a bit though, might be worth looking into if you are planning rides of 10+ miles. Even on shorter ones my lad still falls asleep if he has had a busy day/rough night but I've worked around that by carrying a roll of Duck Tape.
How did it end up feeling then?
Despite having 4 bikes, I think only the Gensis Flyer I have is likely appropriate (the others are carbon), but it is on 23c (though could fit 28) road tyres. Do I need to buy a new bike, or is that going to be fine, appreciate going up hills will be impossible with its current gearing
Despite having 4 bikes, I think only the Gensis Flyer I have is likely appropriate (the others are carbon), but it is on 23c (though could fit 28) road tyres. Do I need to buy a new bike, or is that going to be fine, appreciate going up hills will be impossible with its current gearing
okgo said:
How did it end up feeling then?
Despite having 4 bikes, I think only the Gensis Flyer I have is likely appropriate (the others are carbon), but it is on 23c (though could fit 28) road tyres. Do I need to buy a new bike, or is that going to be fine, appreciate going up hills will be impossible with its current gearing
It was fine to be fair, providing the little one sat still. There is no doubt you get a very high CoG and its funny having so much weight out on the back wheel. I bought the CAADX specifically for this - all my other bikes are carbon and you have to really crank up the bracket. Despite having 4 bikes, I think only the Gensis Flyer I have is likely appropriate (the others are carbon), but it is on 23c (though could fit 28) road tyres. Do I need to buy a new bike, or is that going to be fine, appreciate going up hills will be impossible with its current gearing
I zip around 17-19 mph on the flats and its a great workout, uphill it clearly gets pretty tricky. But a little one smacking your ass telling you to hurry up is quite encouraging!
I bought the Hamax Siesta which reclined and my little one actually fell asleep quite often on longer trips out and about.
Other points:
- Cant ride out of the saddle. It obviously whips the bike, thus passengers around violently!
- My little one would get excited and fart around on the back, this is a no go. You dont want a tank slapper whilst bombing down a hill.
- its pretty scary on busier roads with traffic.
- Its hard to get on and off, i.e holding the bike upright and trying to get your leg over.
So you're saying living in central London and having a big gear single speed maybe isn't ideal
Thanks for that, I think I'll stick a smaller gear on the thing so I can ride without getting out of the saddle. I've ridden with large Apidura saddle bag and know what you mean re COG and out of saddle.
Thanks for that, I think I'll stick a smaller gear on the thing so I can ride without getting out of the saddle. I've ridden with large Apidura saddle bag and know what you mean re COG and out of saddle.
okgo said:
So you're saying living in central London and having a big gear single speed maybe isn't ideal
Thanks for that, I think I'll stick a smaller gear on the thing so I can ride without getting out of the saddle. I've ridden with large Apidura saddle bag and know what you mean re COG and out of saddle.
It’s fine on the flat, you’ve no hills in London. But you’d want a low gear so you can spin off the line and not blast out 400-500w for the first 50m off every lights. Thanks for that, I think I'll stick a smaller gear on the thing so I can ride without getting out of the saddle. I've ridden with large Apidura saddle bag and know what you mean re COG and out of saddle.
But traffic can be a bit nervy - it’s obviously no different to riding a normal bike, you’ve just got precious cargo onboard so your attitude changes.
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