Any opinions on this .......

Child seat

I always thought that rear mounted child seats were safer but after trying a rear mounted child seat I can see the advantages of front mounting. Spent a weeks holiday in Italy and saw a lot of these front mounted child seats being used.

Question to antbody who has one - Does the seat get in the way of your pedal stroke?

One big advantage is that I can put the seat on a full sus bike.

thats the one the missus has got on her bike and even with a long top tube it gets in the way of your knees and restricts your turning.
personaly i dont like it but the missus does prefer it to the rear mounted ones.
if i had the money i would have went for one of the tug along trailer types that look like pikey horse carts. my thinking is that they are lower to the ground and pivoted so if you did stack they would have less distance to fall and it would be harded to flip it.

How old is the child?

I used a rear mounted seat when my kids were under about 2 and a hald to 3 the a top tube mounted seat when older. The top tube was very basic, bit like a cycle seat that bolted or clipped on and another bar that clamped to the down tube for them to put their feet on. They held onto the middle of the handle bars too.
Was great fun.

Thanks for the advice.

The child will be one next month. I read a couple of safety reviews on the internet and 12 months was considered to be the minimum age to put a child on a bike child seat. The reports also stated that while the child was under 3-4 years old most accidents were related to the child falling out of the seat or legs catching rear wheel spokes - basically too young to realize the danger and communicate it to the rider. I like the the idea that you can see the child and it's feet are away from rear wheel spokes in the front mounted seat. The rear mounted seats do tend to have a higher weight limit, so seem better suited to older children.

The trailers are another possibility but the price, size, can't use with full susser and the fact that they are more susceptible to be hit by a car are putting me off.

Still weighing uo the pros and cons so any more advice is welcome.

The back rack I had had plastic sheets to stop the feet getting in the wheel
I think most do.

The advattage of having them in front of you is that you can wrap yourself around them if the worst happens and you come off though that may mean landing on them

Maybe you could get an older rigid bike for kiddy duties, that's what I found easier in the end

For my 3 kids I used a rear mounted seat on a road bike (didn't have a MTB back then). Today's seats look much better built with safety in mind, particularly where arms & legs are concerned.

The kids loved going for a ride though they tended to fall asleep at some point. The first one I bought (secondhand) was a wrought iron contraption with basically not much in the way of comfort or protection for the passenger. Never suffered any injuries thank goodness but I toppled over a few times when at a standstill (the child leans to one side unexpectedly)!

Personally, I never liked the idea of a front mounted seat but on the plus side they can see where they are going.

I have used a trailer, trial-a-bike, and rear seat, but not a font one. My concern with the front was restricted pedaling/steering, and in case of quick dismount I would not be able to move forward.

Of the others, I have used the trail-a-bike and trailer with a full susser. The trail-a-bike attaches to seat tube, but is only suitable for older kids (probably four upwards). But it is good, gets them pedalling as well and is highly enjoyed by my kids.

The trailer attaches to the chainstays, so again is fine with a full susser, but not rear disk brakes. It is great for two small kids, and coats/picnicsetc.. but with the kids so low down I'd be wary in any traffic.

Rear monted seats (either on a rack, or seat post) are OK, but they alter the stability of a bike quite markedly, and cycling on your own there it is awkward getting the kids in or out.

I'd be wary of using all of these on busy roads. The trail-a-bike is the only one I do use on road, and even then it's to take the kids to school or potter around locally on quiet roads.

One last comment - trail a bike and or trailer are both more expensive, but you'd recoup some of that when you sell on.
Hope that helps