Do you want to ride with your 1yr old baby on a bike? Do you have a step through bike frame?
Understand the options that are most suitable for your style of bike. Helping you get the Right Kids Bike Seat or Trailer.
Supporting you and your family to SMILE when you ride.
Overview: Bike with a Step Through Frame
Step Through Frames:
A step through bike frame is an awesome bike for riding early with your child. These types of bikes are easy & fun to ride. They are made with strong frames and designed to have weight added to them – to carry gear, shopping or kids. All the bike seat options for a one year old work well with this bike design but we particularly like this bike with a front seat because the design of the bike puts the adult rider in an upright body position.
Type of Riding: these types of bike frames are mostly used in urban environments for around town riding on easy to manage roads, bike paths & cycleways. Best match to town, short commute, simple recreation riding.
Front Kids Bike Seats
A Front Kids Bike Seat sits right behind the handlebars so the child is in between your arms. Kids love this as they can see where they are going. This seat provides the best interaction between you and your child as they are right in front of you and you can see what they are doing.
Step through bike frames usually have height in the handlebar stems for attaching the adaptor that receives a front seat. These bikes are the perfect match to front seat attachment as you need 20mm of space in this area.
Find out more about attachment:Â Will a Front Seat fit my Bike?
Rear Mount Seats Carrier and Frame
A rear kids bike seat sits above the rear wheel of your bike attached to a rear carrier (carrier mount) or directly to the frame of your bike (frame mount). Your child will be tucked in right behind you and well protected to enjoy their time on the bike.
A lot of step through frames come with rear carriers, if not they are great bikes to fit carriers to. Frame mount rear seats attach to the frame of bikes on the seat post tube and step through frames have the required space to attach the mount.
Find out more about carrier attachment:Â Will a Rear Carrier Mount seat bit my bike?
Find out more about frame attachment:Â Will a Rear Frame Mount seat fit my bike?
Bike Trailers
A kids bike trailer is pulled along behind a step through frame. This is a great way to carry one or two kids who will be well protected and comfortable.
The trailer attaches at the rear wheel axel and you will find that for most step through frames the attachment the trailer comes with (compatible with a hollow axel with quick release) is the one that will work.
Find out more about bike trailer attachment:Â Will a Bike Trailer fit my bike?
Step Through Frames: Multiple Kids or Twins
A step through bike works really well with more than one child. This is the bike style that you see the most with a front & rear seat attached to it. The bike is easy to handle & can be comfortably ridden along flat, smooth trails with the added weight of two children.
Towing a double bike trailer immediately gives you options for two kids. Or a single/double bike trailer allows for either a front or rear seat to be attached to the bike.
Design features that cause issues: Step Through Frames
A step through bike offers many options for riding with kids. It is one of the best bikes to have to ride as a family. But like all bikes some features can cause issues…
X-SMALL FRAMES – if you are considering a front mount seat then pay particular attention to whether you will have enough space in front of your body. The upright body position you ride in should give you enough room, please check.
SMALL FRAMES – a rear kids bike seat needs to be attached close to the middle of your rear wheel – ideally a little in front – so that the weight transferred down does not cause rear tipping of your bike. If mounting a rear seat directly to the frame – Frame Mount Rear Seat – your frame needs to be medium or larger. Small bike frames do not have the length required to safely mount a rear frame mount seat. If you have a Small frame please read: Small Bike Frames & Kids Bike Seats
29 INCH WHEELS – If your bike has 29 inch wheels then a frame mount rear bike seat is not a suitable option.
ELECTRIC BIKE BATTERY – Battery placement can be an issue with Rear Bike Seats. E-bikes that have batteries placed below rear carriers or in, or behind, the seat post tube may have problems. These positions for batteries can effect your ability to attach both a rear frame and a rear carrier mount seat.
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