When I think of child carriers for bikes, I think of bulky, uncomfortable, not too good looking seats. Ones that attach to your seat and throw your balance in every which way. Needless to say, I have not found one that seems easy to use. The Yepp child seat is different in that it is made with lightweight materials and has several features to make it easy to take your child on a great ride, that you love too!
Last year, after we had our third child, my wife and I started to think about how we were going to get out on long bike rides. Our Charriot bike trailer would hold two kids but we needed room for three. We started to think of all of our options to solve our problem. Then came the Yepp Bicycle child carrier. We can now take all three kids on longer rides and not have to worry about them being too tired to ride home. We thought about buying another trailer but didn’t want to spend that much. Also trailers are big. I know they fold down but they take up a lot of room when traveling to your next destination.Getting a child carrier that just attaches onto the bike seemed like the best option. And luckily enough for us Yepp was kind enough to send one out for us to test.
Yepp make two main types of carriers. One attaches on the front of the bike and the other attach behind. We received the Yepp Maxi Standard which is attached to the seat tube. The nice thing about the Standard is that is comes with everything you need to attach the Maxi to your bike. It took me about a half an hour to assemble, from the moment I opened the box to the moment I took off on my bike for a spin. I consider myself fairly handy so it for some it might take a little longer to set up, and I am sure there are people that could do it faster. I suggest reading the instruction before trying to attach the carrier.
The Maxi Standard comes with the seat post adapter that bolts on the seat post with 4 easy bolts. This is one of the nice features about the carrier is that you don’t have to leave it on the bike at all times. The seat post adapter make it a breeze to take the carrier on and off. The other nice thing that they added was a lock so others can’t take it off.
The Maxi is made of a rubber material that is lightweight and durable. The material not only looks great but contains great safety features. It absorbs lots of the shock and makes for a very smooth ride, both for parent and child. Also it is a very easy material to clean, it does not discolor and looks great.
The 5 point harness is a great safety feature, as well as the foot straps for your child. These features are necessary for the safety of your child, but can sure be a pain in the neck when you are trying to balance your bike, hold your child, and buckle them into the seat. You get used to it, but it takes a while. The straps are fairly easy to adjust, but I would suggest that the first time you use the seat, you have another adult to help hold your bike as you make adjustments to the straps and the location of the seat. Still my only complaint about the seat is the difficulty of the latch system. It is very hard to do with one hand. This is good and bad. Older children will have a very hard time unbuckling themselves (which is the whole point), but mom can’t get them out of the carrier without some struggle. Again, this may be something you get more used to with time. Rather the safety than ease, but would love to have both!
The seat is adjustable front to back. Every bike is different and the seat will fit differently on each bike. The seat on my bike sits just a bit too close so that I occasionally run my feet into the carrier as I am pedaling down the road. Because I am on my bike, I can’t tell if this is the seat I run into, or my daughter’s foot that sticks off the seat a little more. I am glad for the foot straps so that I can’t be kicked in the butt as I am riding. It makes for a much better ride for sure! This is not much of a complaint, more of an observation. The ride with the Yepp much outweighs any other observations.
I must say that while I am riding, I can’t hardly feel a difference with my 35 lb daughter on or off. The Yepp really does absorb enough shock to make a very smooth ride. I have also ridden several times without a child on the seat and you can’t tell it’s there. It is very lightweight, doesn’t rattle, and a great seat overall. For a great ride with a great little companion, I would recommend this seat to all of my friends and we hope you do to yours!
• MSRP: $219.98
Product provided for free by the manufacturer for review purposes.