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Mountain Bike with Your Mini-Me, with Mac Ride Child Seat

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Exploring the outdoors on your bicycle is a rewarding and it’s even better when sharing it with family and friends. The new Mac Ride seeks to enable parents to get their kids hooked on riding at an early age by making it possible to ride shotgun comfortably.

Using a saddle and stirrup like interface that can expand to fit you growing toddler and multiple frames, the Mac Ride is easy to install in under a minute. Initial setup requires replacing a spacer with a custom clip. To install or remove, you connect the front end to the spacer and clamp the rear of the Mac Ride to the seatpost. Easy does it. Mac Ride kid and Dad

While some worry warts might complain about the safety of this device, the designer correctly states that a childs safety is in the hands of their parents. Wearing a helmet, avoid gnarly hucks, and not taking life to seriously are the key to enjoying this product.

Want your own? For $125 you can be an early adopter. Link here.

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Wave
Wave
10 years ago

Looks cool, but the reduction in standover height makes me more nervous about the safety of the adult rider than the safety of the child. If you’ve got a kid to ride this thing you might be less concerned about preserving your ability to have another kid?

velorider
velorider
10 years ago

One day no one will ever need money to start a company and make money. Thank goodness the rest of have salary jobs so we can help these entrepreneurs never have to get a job again!

On a very basic level I support kickstarted, I do. I guess the fact that it can feel like a constant barrage of ideas — not all are good — that puts me off to it. The few truly good ideas will likely miss out on some support as a result.

Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago

Two thoughts:
1) Man I wish I would have had one of these when my now 8 yr old was small enough to ride! Look at the joy on that kid’s face; it captures the thrill I too enjoy.
2) My other thought is quite polar. I recently broke my face in a MTB accident on my local singletrack and had I been carrying my child…(cringe).

PaulM
PaulM
10 years ago

It looks remarkably similar to the LOCT (Little Ones Come Too) seat sold in the UK a couple of years ago…

http://www.loct.co.uk/

King County
King County
10 years ago

There have been a few similar things on the market over the years, but the differences with this unit are clever. Whether or not it is safe, the video is cool, the cute kid seems to be enjoying it and the ‘bonding’ factor between the two comes off as strong.

Jason
Jason
10 years ago

@velorider would you rather only big corporations with huge marketing departments be the only people allowed to bring new ideas to the consumer? If that were the case, then the only products that would actually reach the market would be those they new they could make a profit.

It’s often the entrepreneurs that are innovating and pushing the boundaries.

DRB
DRB
10 years ago

Awesome Baby Airbag.

Oscar Moreno
Oscar Moreno
10 years ago

Would you want to use your kid as your air bag?

This guy is going way …. too fast !! …

off-roadie
off-roadie
10 years ago

This looks fun, but it doesn’t include a kid. So that’s a whole separate part I’d have to buy?! I’ve seen kids in my LBS, so maybe I could get one there?

velorider
velorider
10 years ago

@Jason: I’m not jaded, but you must realize we are also only supporting those products that will produce a profit with our kickstarter contributions.

Was the hula hoop a great idea? Debatable, but certainly made a massive profit. Same with those foam rubber shoes Crocs – good idea? Not so sure we all needed to wear gardening shoes, but they made money by the roomful.

I’m not against good ideas. Instead I am wondering if kickstarter is a vehicle for exposing me to good ideas or a catch basin for too many mediocre ideas.

LP
LP
10 years ago

Looks like his saddle is not high enough…probably because he could not reach the bar with correct height saddle : kid would be in the way or something…..

WannaBeSTi
WannaBeSTi
10 years ago

@Ryan- I’m with you on #2…Cringe

The this product, iBert, and products like them are Darwin’s Theory or Darwin Awards in action.

Baby airbag..

Stump
Stump
10 years ago

Plain stupid and reckless.
We all know what kind of things can happen when you fall MTB.

RideBeerSleep
RideBeerSleep
10 years ago

Sweet! Now me and my little guy can hit A-Line together!

Matt
Matt
10 years ago

To all the naysayers talking about wrecking with the kid. Keep in mind that you go at totally different speeds and on different skill-level of trails when you take your kid with you.

Stuff like this is about bonding and getting your kid to love the outdoors as much you do; not about shredding trails and pushing yourself to the limit.

…that said, I still might get the kid a full-face helmet just in case.

nicholaspacific
nicholaspacific
10 years ago

This “invention” is waaaaaaay dangerous…….
It should be burned, buried and forgotten…….

Chris L
Chris L
10 years ago

Pretty old concept. Seats such as this have been in use in Europe for years. Does look like this version has a better/easier attachment mechanism. As for safety, that’s the responsibility of the parent, not the seat.

cspike
cspike
10 years ago

Correct. The parents responsibility. And you will tone down your riding with your child on your bike, it’s the parental safety behavior you acquire when you have one. 🙂 I ride my almost 2 year old son in an ibert, and now on the back of a Yuba Mundo. He absolutely loves it. He gets to spend time with me (and vice versa), and he enjoys the thrill of the ride. He now loves bikes and can’t wait to be able to ride his balance bike; he’s still a little short. I can’t say whether or not I, personally, would be very comfortable mtb riding with my son on such a seat. I can’t rule it out either, and this looks like a nice option.

Mirwin
Mirwin
10 years ago

“Baby airbags”, funny ’cause I’ve seen two accidents with the trail-a-bike, and hey, isn’t that where the kid rides behind the adult in a position that’s perceived to be safer? Accidents happen. Putting the kid in front of his dad doesn’t magnify the likelihood of accidents. But a good amount of rational thought sapping fear, paranoia and lack of bike handling skills sure will.

Similar designs have been around in EU for decades. Last time I checked they haven’t been outlawed either.

El Guapo
El Guapo
10 years ago

I love all the comments honestly. I hear the kickstarter complaints on both ends. I am an inventor and still it is a love/hate thing for me. About this product: It is dangerous and seems like lips waiting to be busted. I ride around my neighborhood with my kid on my knee though, so I don’t know which is worse?

Poncho
10 years ago

Often when you crash your bars end up having rotated 180 degrees. This can be a relatively low speed slip.

I asked another maker the question re steering limits. No concern it seems.

I would not put my little guy on a bike unless there was a serious steering limiter to prevent the bars from possible crushing his internals.

star
star
10 years ago

My son has loved our Ibert rides since he could hold his head up, just today, he begged me to take him out (he is now 2 1/2). Broke my heart that we could not, as I just had spine surgery 🙁

If you have the right trails or even streets, I bet your kid would love this! I love having my little man right in front of me, with his POC helmet, and you know, I would take one for the team; my head drives into a tree or dirt or car, before he ever gets hurt!

I have never had a single person old or young make a safety comment while we ride.

It is a chance of a lifetime…

bsimon
bsimon
10 years ago

Interesting idea. I put in a lot of miles with my kids in a wee-ride on the top tube; but they outgrew the seat before being ready for a trail-a-bike (much less ride solo). This would’ve been a good option for taking them along during that transition period. It also appears to cause less knee interference than the seat I used.

Bob Hiller
Bob Hiller
10 years ago

About 30 years ago I made a similar seat for my first daughter. A bike seat was fastened to top tube of an old Peugeot AO-8 with stainless hose clamps then I forged some foot rests that fastened to fork. We did take one slow tumble and I was able to wrap my arms around her protecting her from any scrapes. I rode her to pre-school for a couple of years with much enjoyment on her part and some envy from other kids. Several parents asked about me to make one for them, but I was reluctant due to liability. Yeah, there is some danger here, but it’s outweighed by the rewards and loud wheeees. Probability is in your favor, just ride easy and smooth. She went on to be one helluva rider. Good to see the idea still out there, nice fastening system, good luck with the project.

Piotr
Piotr
10 years ago

I’ve been riding with my almost 3 y.o. son for past 1,5-2 years using Bobike front mounted (on a steerer tube/quill stem tube) child seat and we both absolutely love it – especially downhill – weeeeeee! This will be second winter we ride to preschool almost every weekday together. It’s obviously THE BEST SPENT MONEY on bike parts ever – at least for me. We were even riding some smooth trails in local (Trzebnica, near Wroclaw, Poland, EU) forest. Its such a fantasit idea (a front seat for kid) that i’m going to modify this seat to fit it to top tube of my new 29er with some footrests for Igor. It’s true such seats have been very popular in Europe, especially France i guess, even pree II WW. For people who say it’s not safe – for low speed crashes you are basicly a safe cage for your kid. For high speed – who the f**k gets “gnarly” and “rad” with a kid on a bike, seriously?

John
John
10 years ago

Is it me or no one here knows that just about every other euro bike put seats at the front in a similar fashion. I much rather some flat gravel than cars trucks and idiots. Seriously, I have four kids and the only that will really make dumb fat idiots is TV.

Per
Per
10 years ago

I have been using the co-rider child seat extensively for about 3 years (UK made) with two kids on several bikes (full suspension, fatbike, long tail) and we love it.

http://www.co-rider.com

Very good and indestructible. Includes separate handlebar for the kid which is very good. The seat is heavy due to the overbuilt construction though, but better heavy than fragile. It also has a seat belt for the kid which is very good (especially when they fall asleep). Highly recommended if you are going off road with your kid.

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