If you ride bikes or understand about it...

[Anonymous]

which one would you choose?

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/recreation/navigator/navigator_2_0_wsd#/us/en/model/fit_sizing?url=us/en/bikes/town/recreation/navigator/navigator_2_0_wsd

or

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1093737_-1_20000__400604

I went to two different stores today (perfomance, where the second one was sugested and I liked the ride) and the one in Reston Town Center where the first one was suggested - I also liked it but it costs U$500+

Also, I would like to use a child front carrier: http://www.rei.com/product/815610/yepp-mini-front-bicycle-child-carrier or http://www.rei.com/product/812749/ibert-safe-t-seat-child-carrier or http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6212&cmSource=Search#ReviewHeader

The first one seems the best, but it is also kind of hard to fit most bikes.

Tia for any help!

[Anonymous]

What are you using the bike for? What are your goals? How often will you use it? What surfaces/terrain will you be biking on? What distances are you expecting to travel?

For instance, I use my bike to commute 30mi round trip to work a few days a week. Speed and distance is important so I picked a light Jamis road bike.

[Anonymous]

My advice is to get a carrier/trailer not a child bike seat like those-- the trailer is much safer.

[Anonymous]

Could ask you a million questions about your riding experience and likely future riding, but to skip all that....

Trek is more bike, has suspension seat post, go for it.

Yepp mini looked best of those choices.

[Anonymous]

Before you purchase either make sure you can install the child bicycle seat on it.

I purchased a bike last year and they needed to do a lot of adjusting to get the bicycle seat installed. Also - there are a lot of opinions on what is safer for your child but I do not think there are a lot of studies done. So go with the one that you are most comfortable with.

A tip someone gave me was to fill up a back back with books and ride around with it before putting your child in. The weight really changes the balance.

[Anonymous]

Love my Trek bike! I would advise against the front child carrier though. Read through some bike forums and overall they tend to agree that the front mounted carriers tend to have more risks than the trailers/

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I will be using the bike for short errands and leisure rides around here (Reston). Nothing too far and always paved. About the child carrier, trailer is not an option because we live in a condo (space issue) and the first seat I linked (and the last one too) were invented and are used A LOT in the Netherlands and apparently, they are experts in the subject.

Both bikes are comfort hybrids btw.

[Anonymous]

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/2449520494.html here's one on craigslist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/2449520494.html here's one on craigslist

Thanks pp, but that is a mountain bike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. I will be using the bike for short errands and leisure rides around here (Reston). Nothing too far and always paved. About the child carrier, trailer is not an option because we live in a condo (space issue) and the first seat I linked (and the last one too) were invented and are used A LOT in the Netherlands and apparently, they are experts in the subject.

Both bikes are comfort hybrids btw.

My take on it is--by order of safety--trailer, rear child-seat, handlebar mounted child-seat.

Having a front-mounted child-seat adversely affects the handling of the bike to a much greater extent than the other two options, and frankly, for all the talk about how great the handle-bar mounted seat is, it's dangerously distracting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. I will be using the bike for short errands and leisure rides around here (Reston). Nothing too far and always paved. About the child carrier, trailer is not an option because we live in a condo (space issue) and the first seat I linked (and the last one too) were invented and are used A LOT in the Netherlands and apparently, they are experts in the subject.

Both bikes are comfort hybrids btw.

My take on it is--by order of safety--trailer, rear child-seat, handlebar mounted child-seat.

Having a front-mounted child-seat adversely affects the handling of the bike to a much greater extent than the other two options, and frankly, for all the talk about how great the handle-bar mounted seat is, it's dangerously distracting.

Not to mention the first thing many do when they crash their bike is fly over the handlebars, which would send all your weight plowing straight into your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. I will be using the bike for short errands and leisure rides around here (Reston). Nothing too far and always paved. About the child carrier, trailer is not an option because we live in a condo (space issue) and the first seat I linked (and the last one too) were invented and are used A LOT in the Netherlands and apparently, they are experts in the subject.

Both bikes are comfort hybrids btw.

My take on it is--by order of safety--trailer, rear child-seat, handlebar mounted child-seat.

Having a front-mounted child-seat adversely affects the handling of the bike to a much greater extent than the other two options, and frankly, for all the talk about how great the handle-bar mounted seat is, it's dangerously distracting.

Not to mention the first thing many do when they crash their bike is fly over the handlebars, which would send all your weight plowing straight into your kid.

New poster here. This is what I'm afraid of. I think balance wise the front mounted is best, but accident wise the back seat or trailer is best. The concept of the front mounted seats is cool, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it (or even if it would work for me - I'm short).

Like the OP I've been considering starting to bike for a while. My new job may land me just a couple of miles from work, and I'd love to be able to bike back and forth. However, trying to figure out solutions for kids and storage seems complicated.

[Anonymous]

OP one reason I recommended the trailer is that you obviously don't do a lot of biking. I understand that you might not have room for a trailer but the fact that something was invented in the Netherlands doesn't mean it's a good idea for you.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the feedback everyone But I hardly got any input about which model to get (only one pp said to get the Trek).... Any insights regarding the model and brand of the bike? And if you would like to suggest something else (hybrid comfort) I would appreciate it as well.

[Anonymous]

If you aren't going to be doing any "road" cycling, and will really just be using it for errands and leisurely- I would not spend the $$ on either; we have a "fixie" that we use for around town and it has been great (and ALOT less expensive). We too have limited space but after doing some research we realized that the back mounted and front mounted are extremely dangerous and that the bike trailer was worth the investment; if you do end up with a back or front mounted child seat, please please make your LO wear a helmet...you may be stable on the bike but it takes one inattentive texting driver to hit you and your LO...