Safe -T- seat or buggy trailer?

peasey

Which would you recommend?

I am fair weather cyclist and have a baby year old who i would like to go cycling with mainly in parks or on cycle lanes.

Would i be better getting the safe-t-seat which is front mounted or attaching a trailer to the bike? Which do you think would be safer around the streets of Dublin?

both are of similar price and baby would have helmet on regardless of which bought

doozerie

I haven't used a seat attached to the frame so can't comment on that option, but went for the trailer option instead. Benefits of the trailer include:

*Our trailer has an integrated weather-proof cover, with the option of an addition waterproof outer layer, so you don't have to worry about putting waterproofs on the baby.
* It is comfortable enough for the baby to sleep safely in it. Ours has adjustable suspension, which helps here.
* If the bike falls over the baby doesn't, and in fact a good trailer should not be affected at all by the bike falling.
* Good (all?) trailers have a roll-cage built-in so even if the trailer were knocked over the baby should be protected from impact with the road.
* Depending on the way it attaches to the bike, a trailer may be easier to swap between bikes.
* Some (all?) trailers convert to buggies once detached from the bike so it is easy to move the child around while on foot. Some also have additional storage capacity which can be very useful.

Disadvantages of a trailer are that you can't easily see the child as they are behind you and you can't easily talk to them either for the same reason. In terms of visibility to traffic, we have found that drivers recognise the trailer for what it is from a distance and tend to give us plenty of room (you do encounter the odd moron, of course, but you can never avoid all of them no matter what you do).

Note that a child can't actually wear a helmet in many trailers as their head rests against a head support and a helmet would force their head/neck into an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous position. The combination of an effective harness and a robust roll-cage on any decent trailer though should mean that a helmet is completely unnecessary anyway.

peasey

thanks for your reply i really appreciate it

DualFrontDiscs

@doozerie What trailer did you go for? Can you post a link?

DFD.

DualFrontDiscs

peasey wrote: »

both are of similar price and baby would have helmet on regardless of which bought

Is this the Safe-T-Seat you're referring to? I've heard it described as a '10mph hug', which sounds nice. It's around the €100 mark, right?

What trailer were you looking at for around €100?

DFD.

doozerie

DualFrontDiscs wrote: »

@doozerie What trailer did you go for? Can you post a link?

DFD.

We got the Chariot Cougar 1 - it's not cheap but we have been very happy with it over several months of use so far so it has been worth it to us. We bought it in Ireland, from Cloughjourdan Cycle Co-op (whose website seems to be a bit broken at the moment).

doozerie

@peasey, Incidentally, we have a WeeRide Kangaroo centre-mounted carrier going free to a good home at the moment. It was given to us by someone that never used it and we've not used it either as it won't fit any of our bikes (it requires about 1-inch or so of head tube above the top tube as this is where one end of the support bar clamps to). In case you are interested, I am based in Dublin.

I'd still recommend a good trailer, based on our experiences, but if you decide on a child seat instead then the WeeRide looks reasonably good having taken it out of its box.

peasey

that is so kind of you doozerie thank you