iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Child Bicycle Seat
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Description of iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Child Bicycle Seat
Easy and safer loading and unloading of the child, enclosed leg wells for comfort and safety, seat fits most children four years old and younger.Created by parents who were disappointed with the family bicycling options available, the iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Child Bicycle seat was made to offer families the best biking experience possible in safety and comfort. This front mounted seat offers both parent and child excellent range of vision, with the opportunity to interact as they bike together. Noted for its ease of use, the seat takes just a few minutes to install and remove, and it is equally easy and safe to load and unload the child from the seat. Providing plenty of clearance for the knees so that the adult can bike with ease, the seat is positioned so that it is easy to maintain the center of gravity. This adaptable seat fits any adult bike with a minimum of 3/4 inches of clearance on the handlebar stem.
The iBert Safe-T seat was developed after its creators became frustrated with the available bike seat options for children. They found that bike trailers kept their kids uncomfortably far away from them, got too hot in the sun, and only provided a limited view out to the children. The rear-mounted seats presented similar problems. The kids had a limited view and it was difficult to interact with them. Additionally, the balance of the bike was off and it was not easy to load and unload the kids. Other front mounted seats were complicated to hook onto the bike and difficult to remove. These seats also did not allow knee clearance for biking, and as a result were not comfortable.
The iBert Safe-T seat offers a variety of safety and comfort advantages compared to other child bike seat options. The iBert Safe-T seat allows you to maintain control of the bike when loading and unloading your child. To load and unload the child, you simply straddle the bike and lift the child into or out of the seat. When using the iBert seat you can always see what your child is doing and you can make sure that your child is safe and comfortable at all times. The center of gravity in the iBert seat is closer to the center of the bike making it easier to control the bike as you ride. The seat sits higher on the bike and is smooth on the bottom so that even tall riders rarely brush the bottom of the seat with their knees and if they do they just glide along the smooth edges on the bottom.
The iBert Safe-T seat is easy to install. The patented stinger assembly attaches to any bike with a minimum of 3/4 inches on the handle bar stem. The stinger system attaches to the bike in just two minutes and the seat can then be attached and detached from the stinger in 15 seconds. If you buy additional stinger assemblies the seat can be attached to multiple bikes.
The iBert Safe-T seat is made in the U.S.A. with safety and quality as the main objectives. While the iBert Safe-T seat is designed to meet all 1625-00 standards, at this time ASTM 1625-00 is written for rear child carriers not front mounted seats.
Specifications:
- Allows interaction with your child
- Child has a clear view
- No dirt, dust, rocks, or water thrown in child's face
- Small and easy to attach
- Easy and safe loading and unloading of child
- Maintains center of gravity
- Similar construction to rear-mounted seats
- One adult can take multiple children for bike rides
- Easy assembly
- Full clearance for knees
- Made in the USA
- Recommended for children one to four years old
- Maximum recommended height is 42 inches
- Maximum recommended weight is 38 pounds
What's in the Box?
iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Bike Seat, Stinger Assembly
Manufacturer's Warranty
Two year limited warranty for manufacturer's defects
Sports reviews of iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Child Bicycle Seat
Customer Review: iBert can be pure fun
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
Some observations on the iBert Safe-T-Seat:
Installation: easy
Time: 15 minutes
Take off handlebar, install iBert stinger, and once that's secure, you slide the seat on and pin it in place. There is more than one hole on the seat plate so that you can adjust the seat position forward or backward (not that the adjustment makes a whole lot of difference). Installation is faster with two persons although one person could definitely swing it from the on-bike position. Very easy to adjust stinger with the hex tool.
Ride: very good
Not very different from regular biking.
First test run with seat only: Pedaling does not make knees hit the seat. If it does, you need to raise your bike seat to elongate your pedaling stroke as well as your handlebar.
Very small amount of wobble on iBert, but it is not noticeable when riding around.
iBert does not interfere with steering at all. Plenty of room for arms. Rode around cul-de-sac end to test 360 left/right turning.
Changing gears: easy, no change from regular cycling; both gearshifts are positioned by my thumbs, lowside -- no chance baby can mess with them in-flight. Your bike may be different.
Safety belt: needs improvement
Works differently from what I thought at first, but you learn to adjust it fairly quickly. There is only one adjustment "buckle" on the right bottom side, so you have to push the slack down the right front, up the left side, then left to right under the seat back. Annoying! I would have preferred to have two adjustments, one on each side. But once you make the adjustment for your toddler, you won't have to do it often again.
Vision: no problems from the seat or having a helmeted toddler in front of me. There is plenty of clearance to see potholes, dog poops, mud piles, branches in front of the bike. You can raise your seat and handlebar anyway.
Fun factor: son did not want to get out of the seat after the test ride. On the day after we took a long ride on a bike trail, and it was so much fun!
Customer Review: Best $80.00 spent in a long time!
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
I received this seat yesterday and could not wait to try it out. My son is 19 months old and almost 36" tall. This seat works great. I installed it on my Gary Fisher Marlin mountain bike and it worked perfectly. Installation was very easy, taking less than 5 minutes. The package even include the required hex wrench.
Once on the road, I was able to ride without adjusting my pedaling style and without my knees hitting the seat. My son really enjoyed the ride. With my shifter and brake lever set-up I did have to take his shoes off to slide him into the seat. This is not a huge deal and I am sure this would not be necessary if my levers were in a different position.
I do agree with some of the other reviews that the shoulder strap design could be improved. It is not too difficult to use, but it could be better. It would definitely be worth an extra $5-$10 if the seat included a shoulder strap set-up similar to the "5-point" designs found in children's car seats.
Overall, I would not hesitate to order this product again or to give it as a gift. The simplicicty of the design and installation are wonderful and it makes it so easy to have fun with your kids. Get out and ride!!!!
Review Update: April 18, 2008:
After using the seat a few times, I love it even more. What a great tool to share quality time with your kid. Here are a couple of tips/observations for you:
1) If you have two hands, you can install this in 2 minutes. It is simple to take on and off of your bike.
2) To make it easier to put your child into the seat, take their shoes off and then put them back on once they are in the seat.
3) To make it easier to get the shoulder straps over your child's head, without having to re-adjust them every time, put you child in the seat and strap them in BEFORE you put their helmet on.
4) It will only take you 2-3 rides to feel really comfortable with having them on the bike.
5) Get ready to get tons of smiles from passers-by on your rides.
Customer Review: Works on foldable adult trike
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
How exciting to finally find a child bike seat that can fit onto my foldable adult trike. This seat is remarkably stable even on a bike like mine, which has no bar going from handles to seat. It only has the "female" style lower, angled bar for easier boarding. This child seat fits right onto the bar and supports itself without needing the bike to lean on at all. Also it somehow fits on just fine even with the big U shape handle bar. I worried the seat wouldn't possibly fit on a bike that was so different from the typical mountain bike style. What a thrill to make it fit (just barely). I wasn't able to get it on myself but my husband got it to fit by pushing a bit harder than I tried. This seat and adult trike combination lets me take my child bike riding with complete stability. We both feel totally safe. The chair and child really didn't seem to add any feeling of additional weight. My daughter took to it very well even from the first ride. She loves sitting in front. She loves holding the handle bars. She loves leaning back into me. Although I have to be aware of the seat, it doesn't interfere with my legs peddling to an inconvenient degree. It takes caution getting on the bike but once we are going, I feel totally comfortable with the seat and child. With the adult trike it is so stable that I can ride along with one hand on the handle bar and the other hand giving the child her juice cup. I never had this experience with my first child because I could never find a child bike seat that felt safe enough. The risk of accident always seemed too high to justify the fun of bike riding. I am so happy that after all these years, I finally found a combination of bike and child seat that lets me get out there on the trail with my kids. My first child is now 4 and learning to ride her own bike with training wheels. It is great for me to have such a stable bike and safe child seat to ride along with her and help her as needed. We get a lot of attention from people passing us on the bike trail as they admire our set up.Customer Review: So much fun!
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
Our boy is 16 months old and he loves riding in the iBert so much, we go for hour long rides daily. We just bought bikes a few months ago and originally we were recommended against a bike seat by our local bike store, they said it was super dangerous and if you fall the baby falls even harder, and that bike seats were even banned in some states. So we went with a trailer, but I don't know if it's his age/size or that he's just too fidgety and would get bored, but he'd escape from the straps pretty quickly and end up just rolling about in the trailer, the longest ride we could go on was 10 minutes, and even then the last few minutes we spent comically riding back through the neighbourhoods with a screaming baby in the back. It could well be that a trailer is safer, but the fact was that as long as we were using the trailer then riding a bike with our son wasn't really an option. So we did a lot of research and spoke with parents at the park and were pointed us to the iBert. We ordered it and when it arrived it installed itself in a breeze (see below), and immediately our son just loved it. He seems to love being up high and in front with the breeze in his hair so much more than being cooped up in a rear trailer. And it's also really special that he likes to hold his moms hand sometimes when riding. It hasn't been an issue at all getting him into the seat, I've been told that the rear bike seats require two people to sit and strap in the kid, but we've been able to set him up on our own. And it's been very easy to ride and steer with him sitting in it. Did I mention he just loves it? So much fun for our son and the whole family!
One note about installation. It installs in minutes, like maybe 3 maximum. From arriving home with the package sitting on our porch to riding down the street was a total turnaround of about 10 minutes, and that included changing a dirty diaper! It installs a bit lose which seemed weird, but then it says this clearly on the instructions, maybe it helps with shock absorption or something.
Customer Review: Great idea, best bike seat available
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
I'm giving this 5 starts mainly because my son and wife love it. I'd give it 4 for some of the functionality issues below.
I used to work in a bike store and we heard too many bad stories about child bike seats in general. They make the bike awkward to handle and if you should have some accident, the child is going down with the bike. We always recommended bike trailers instead. So when I had my own baby, I went right out and bought a trailer. I took my 12 month old son out in it about 2-3 times. I think he's just too small right now and didn't seem to love it. He can see out, but not great and he really likes to look around. For comparison, he likes to ride (or should I say "be pushed") on his Kettler tricycle a lot more than being pushed in a baby jogger, I'm guessing because of visibility because the baby jogger is a lot smoother.
So when my wife's friend told her about this, I was a bit skeptical. I can't say the iBert is any better as far as crash worthiness goes, but due to its position, there is much less impact on the bike handling. Plus my son (now 14 months) can look around easily and even interact to some degree with my wife. He loves going for rides in this. Installation was extremely easy (2 or 4 bolts, less than 5 min.), but if your stem isn't already in a good position for this, it would take a bit more work.
There are some downsides. First, the straps do not seem to fit very well. Our friend had this problem also. No matter how we position the adjuster, the straps seem to fall off his shoulders. I'm really surprised they couldn't come up with a better system than what they have, maybe something more like car seats with a chest buckle. The straps are just too wide where they attach to the seat near the shoulders. Second, there is some impact on riding the bike and I could see where some people on some bikes might have fit problems and hit their knees or something.