UKH

Hi All

I have just bought a new 29er mountain bike and wanted to look at taking my daughter out with me on some gentle rides.

Does anyone know if a general rear child seat fits ok on a 29er giving enough clearance 

Currently looking at the Thule models.

Many Thanks

Tommy

I use a rear child seat on a 29er (hard tail) and it works fine.  On mine, you adjust it vertically based on where you attach the mounting bracket, to get the right distance above the wheel.  Then the seat can be adjusted forwards/backwards to get it the right distance behind you.

One of the best purchases I've ever made.  We've had so many brilliant days out with it.

I've got a Hamax one fitted on a hybrid with 700c wheels, which are the same diameter as 29", so you should be fine. 

It's really hard to know until you try. Sometimes there isn't enough clearance between the wheel and seatpost to fit clamp/seat holder and on my mountain bike 650b+ (so probably similar outer tyre diameter to a 29er, the angle of the seatpost means the seat hangs quite low, low enough that the seat touches the tire when you go over a bump, and that was last summer when my son was just 2, now he's going on 3 I'm sure the extra weight would stop me being able to use the seat on that bike.

You can get seats that attach to a rack rather than using a clamp - we've got one of them for my wife's hybrid, basically because the frame clearance on her women's frame wasn't enough to take the Hamax clamp.

Basically modern frames on mountain bikes and some gravel bikes, and on women's frame, all with sloping top tubes tend to cause issues with bike seats. The bikes I had when my older kids (now 16 and 14) used seats were fine, but with our toddler, fitting a seat to my current bikes (and his mum's) has been a cause of some hassle! 

Hamax do a specific alternative bar for some seats to cope with exactly this issue:

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-accessories/child-bike-seats/hamax-si...

I never used a rear-seat, but had our first child on a WeeRide which was great.

There's a big caveat that the comfort of a front-seat depends on your size, and your bikes geometry as to whether or not it's comfortable to ride or not. I only used it for nursery runs and the occasional lap around the local woods - and whilst I was a little bow-legged, it was generally fine.

I liked being able to have a nice chat, and I/she felt that much safer as were we to crash, you're already kind of protecting them. This is probably more psychologically than physically true.

Also if you have full-suspension, they benefit from it.

My only slight complaint was that on my Canondale, which has a silly-big headset it's chipped the paint slightly as it was a tough fit.

With the addition of child #2, we ended up with a trailer they both fit in which is great for longer rides - but it's hard to chat to them. They however just chat to themselves. Not cheap, as got the Burley D'lite specifically as it has suspension so is way more comfortable off-road. Also means you can take it off (in about 30 seconds) to have a normal bike again. 

Thankyou so much for the comments and information they have been a great help, I have ordered one now after speaking to the shop, I will trial it and hopefully have no issues.

Tommy