"We’ve been given one of these cool little seats to try from the owner of Kids Ride Shotgun, and within 5 minutes, Maia loved it!
We’ve been riding with an iBert (which has been awesome, thanks uncle Mark) for the last year or so and it’s about the right time for Maia (20 months old) to graduate.
The Shotgun seat concept isn’t new and there are a few out there on the market so hopefully we can get a couple of other types to try to compare. In the first instance though, this seat is sweet.
It took a little bit of fiddling around to get the seat fitted right and a bit of care to make sure nuts and bolts were tight enough to stop the seat from moving around, but not crushing the frame of my carbon Giant Bicycles Trance. I would recommend carrying the correct tools (8mm spanner and 6mm Allen key) for your first couple of ride so you can adjust while out and about.
My brother has a hand me down version of this seat that doesn’t have a brand name on it but one of the distinct differences is the rubber sleeve on the Shotgun. The rubber does two things; protects the bike frame from rubbing metal rash and help stops movement of the seat by adding friction.
Most of the parts on the seat seem solid, especially the foot pegs. I really like solid engineering. In saying that, the old school style seat clamp will be something I keep an eye on as it is potential weak point, time will tell.
All in all, I really like this seat. I think the fact that Maia now has a bit of control and has to hold on to the bike has made her like it even more. Even on the third run of Challenge she was saying “Wee, wee, more, more”, and that was after two hours on the seat exploring the forest.
I look forward to trying a similar seat like a Do Little so I can compare but having not tried anything else, I can honestly say that I rate the Shotgun and highly recommend it. I love being able to take my bub out in the forest and play. While the ibert was great for starting baby off on a bike and getting mum and dad out riding, the Shotgun now let’s mum, dad and baby really enjoy the pleasures of the Whakarewarewa Forest"