iBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

This front mounted child seat is great. Instead of staring at my back the whole ride my kid is up front with me actually getting involved with the ride. We talk and point things out to each other. Started my son on it at 10 months and now at 2yrs he still loves going for rides.

Easy to set up. Make sure you have the 3/4" of space on your stem for the stinger to attach. If not you'll have to change out your stem or like I did get a stem riser adapater.

The location of the seat up front keeps the center of gravity in the middle of the bike so handling feels the same with or without a kid along for the ride.

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

We used this seat all summer for our bigger-than average 1.5 year old. It worked well all summer and I anticipate using it again next summer. Our son enjoyed the seat, and would get actively excited when he saw us pulling the bikes out for a ride.

Although I am not an expert bike mechanic, I installed the seat easily. We bought an extra "stinger" attachment to be able to easily switch between bikes. Removal of the seat is easy enough that I would sometimes take it off and leave it at home if my son wasn't with me. It just is not a hassle to take off/put back on.

The seat seemed comfortable for longish rides (an hour or so). My son never complained of being uncomfortable, and very seldom fussed to get out. I think this is because he was right there next to me and we could talk and I could point things out to him as we went.

Advantages of the seat include this access to my son (no reaching behind me to entertain my toddler as some of my friends must do), easy on/off, easy installation, a relatively high weight limit for use through the toddler years, and a good balance on the bike. I can also hitch my tag-along to my bike and take both sons as a self-contained unit.

My complaints about the seat and assembly are relatively minor. My son's feet would often hang up on the handlebars as I removed him. He learned this issue soon enough and would help by pointing his toes, but it is a minor annoyance. Also, the harness is not easy to adjust and is not long enough to go over a head with a helmet. This is solved by putting on the helmet after you load the child, but can be inconvenient - a 5 point hitch like a carseat would be easier to adjust and to put on a helmeted child. The "stinger" assembly is intimidating when the seat is removed from the bike - you're always aware it is there and it moves with the bike, so you have to be alert not to hit it. Finally, there is no obvious place for a sleeping child to rest his head. This usually resulted in me moving my hand over to allow him to rest his head there, but only works for short periods of time.

All in all, we got a lot of use out of the seat, and anticipate getting another season's use from it. I would (and have) recommend this seat to others, and have been stopped on the street so someone can ask about it.

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

I am not a great cyclist, so balance was important to me. You can't even tell the child is in the seat. It is very very easy to install but one should note that the bike needs to be a medium size, because a small men's bike with gears and brakes leaves no room for the kids' legs. At least a 2 year old. Our daughter loves this seat so much she asked for a longer bike ride instead of stopping and going to a playground!

Service and delivery comments:

The staff in REI Rockville and College Park MD have been so awesome to work with!

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

We have been using this seat for about 3 years with our 4yo and toddler and they both absolutely love it. What makes this seat special is being able to intimitely share the ride with your little one as if they were sitting in your lap. They love being up front and holding on to the bars like a grownup, it really makes them feel like they are riding the bike and not just cargo in a trailer.

The iBert is also very easy to install and remove which makes it nice for occasional use and car trips.

There are a few issues though, some could be improved while others are just inherent in having a 30lb kid hanging off the fork steering tube:

- It is impossible to stand over the top tube when stopped since the iBert is in the way. With the bike saddle adjusted to the proper height I typically can barely put a toe down while in the saddle which makes it difficult to balance. I lowered the saddle so I could put feet flat on the ground but it is a bit low for pedaling.

- Difficult to balance the bike and iBert when loading/unloading the child. I imagine this is an issue with any front seat.

- Harness design is terrible. The straps always tangle in the buckle, they are not long enough to fit over helmets and once you finally get it on it always slides off their shoulders anyway. Should be a 5-point harness.

- Knees bump iBert when pedaling so I have to point them out slightly. This combined with low saddle height makes the iBert less than ideal for longer rides.

Despite these issues we still love this seat for the joy it brings us when biking with our little ones, but if I did it again I might look at other options like the Bobike Mini.

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

I am not a great cyclist and i was worried about balance. You can't even tell the child is there, other then the fun conversation and exploring. It is also easy to communicate when it is time to be done, or potty breaks. In a trailer its all guessing. Plus when we used a trailer before all the stuff from the trail kicked up on our daughter and if we put the plastic cover down she was too hot. When I was a toddler I used the back mount seats, but thats kinda boring, staring at mom's backside. I love this product

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

If MY child loves this seat, then ANY child would love this seat! We bought the iBert after trying a trailer. The trailer was awful. She constantly slid down and her head bounced on the seat back. Once we got the iBert, the biggest challenge with our "sensitive" daughter was getting the helmet on for the first ride. We got to the park and all she wanted to do was get back on the bike! She absolutely loves this child seat, and my husband feels totally in control when riding. He can talk to her and easily see over her head, and the chair does not get in the way of peddling, even on his cruiser. I wish we had known about this seat a year ago! We now feel like we have so many more things to do as family with the iBert!

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

I was really excited to get this bike seat for my son. He seemed to fit in it easily and comfortably, but when I installed it on my bike the IBERT seat was touching my belly. It was a very tight fit. So we thought we'd install it on his father's bike and we had the same issue. Both of our bike frames are smaller (as we are both under 5'-6") so there simply wasn't enough room for the seat and us to ride comfortably/safely. Make sure your bike is long enough to accomodate this seat!

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

Got one after talking to another family and love it. I hook it up to my old mountain bike and my two year old loves it. He is right there so I can talk to him. The only problem is the four year old still wants to go in it sometimes. Make sure you have play in your pedals if you use clipless pedals as you will probably need to bow your legs some (I do anyway) but besides that it is great. Very stable with the weight centered more than a rear mounted seat.

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

Of the IBert and the Novara Afterburner, it is really a tough tell which of them are the best product for biking with your little kids, but we love both and so happy that we have these two products.
We first bought a traditional child seat that mounts on the back, for our now 6 year old, when he had just passed 1 year. Not only is it hard to ride the bike when you are 'pulling' the kid, but he often fall asleep in the seat and just bend forward and bump in to me and there would be no interaction or shared experiance of our trip.
Enter IBert - much easier to ride and no problem with balance and what a difference for the kid. They are up front and can really feel the ride and enjoy everything and we can share the experiance.
Our second child is now riding in the IBert and he loves it as much as his big brother. And I have even been driving with one boy up front in the IBert and the older kid in tow on the Afterburner - great family experiance.
Only sad thing about ours - our 3 year old will outgrown this after the summer and he will have to go on the Afterburner, but atleast the IBert have given him a good experiance and intro to balancing and riding fast.
Not that I am brainsurgeon (or rocket scientest for that matter), but a caution/warning about riding with young babies - it is recommended not to ride bikes in any shape or form with your kids before they are atleast 1 year old, due to brain tissue still being very soft and have not 'settled yet'. Whether that is true or not, no reason take any chance and there will be many years to come where you can ride with them.

Comments about IBert Safe-T-Seat Child Carrier:

I got this as a present when my (average size) son turned 1 and used it for three seasons until he outgrew it when he was 3. The product does not change the balance of the bike, and barely interferes with my knees. I have never fallen. My only complaint is that there is nothing for the child to lean forward onto if they want to go to sleep.