This post is part of the Sizzlin’ Summer Sweeps – 31 Days of Giveaways for July 2010, brought to you by Crazy Coupon Mommy and Sisterly Savings! Make sure you check out all the other awesome giveaways you can enter!
We live in a beautiful little “bubble” in Los Angeles – a fun beach town where most people ride their bikes everywhere in the summer. We are only 5 blocks to the water and there are 3 different piers within 4 miles (Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan). They each have their own “vibe” about them and its fun to just leave the car parked at home for the weekend and ride bikes to everything and anything we want to do.
Some silly summer fun on bikes (yes, those are wigs and we’re in costume for a birthday party!)
At least, that’s what we did before Whistler arrived :) I haven’t been on my bike since I couldn’t see my feet anymore when I was pregnant. But now that the baby is getting bigger, we’re excited to start getting out more with him and I’ve been researching ways to help get him mobile with us on our bikes.
I always thought the only child bike seats available were the ones we had when we were kids…you know, you sat on the back, behind the rider and were bored because there was nothing to see except someone’s back side! (unless you brought along a Sharpee…)
Then we were riding back from a volleyball game (a couple months before I had the baby) and I saw someone with a front mounted seat. The child looked like he was sitting on the handle bars and he was facing out over the handlebars and sort of leaning back a little. Looked like he was having a blast, but I wondered about the safety in that. I liked the fact that the child had the best view and was in front so that you could keep an eye on them, but knowing a little bit about physics, this mounting position did not seem like a very good idea for stability.
When we got home, I immediately started looking online for what that was and to find out more about it. That’s when I discovered the WeeRide Kanagaroo Carrier LTD- a front (center) mounted child seat. Like the front handlebar mount, I had never seen this style before either, but reading about all 3 mounting styles (rear, handlebar and center mounts), I decided that this product would not only be the best for baby’s enjoyment, but also the SAFEST.
When I opened the package box, there were only 3 pieces inside and a baggie with an allen wrench, a mini wrench and two extra bolts in case you have a larger front bike tube than normal.
In my true Crazy Coupon Mommy methodical style, I noted the time I opened the box and got to work on the assembly.
Putting together the seat was quick and easy – just remove a bolt from the pedestal and attach it to the pre-assembled seat and then replace the bolt and tighten. That literally took 2 minutes. Everything else about the child seat is ready to go – the shoulder pads are in place, the 5 point harness is locked and loaded. The only adjustments that need to be made are the size of the straps and moving the feet rests up/down to custom fit your little one. The padding on the seat a pedestal are nice and plush and the seat looks very comfy to sit in!
The support bar comes fully assembled as well. You just need to remove the front and back brackets by unscrewing 4 bolts total so that you can place and secure onto your bike frame. The illustrations in the manual are fairly easy to follow.
I have a beach cruiser (yes, it’s the Nirve Hello Kitty Special Edition Retro Kitty Women’s Cruiser Bike
I think I could have done it faster, but I tried to take a “shortcut” by only unscrewing one bolt and just “sliding” the rear and fronts into place with one bolt still attached. Let me recommend to you upfront that if you are thinking the same thing – don’t do it. Just unscrew ALL 4 (2 in front and 2 in back) and it will go much quicker and easier for you!
One of the things I really really like about this seat is that its removable for when I want to ride without the baby. (no empty ghost riding baby like with those rear mounted carriers!) Also, I don’t think the center support bar looks all that bad there by itself. Do you? Especially with such a cute bike, I’m really happy that adding a child seat doesn’t ruin the way it looks!!
Next step was to get baby in the seat and go for a ride! Well, not a real ride. Unfortunately, my little nugget is a wee bit small for this WeeRide :) The recommended age is 1 year old (or when your child can site unsupported and bear weight of a bike helmet too) and Whistler is only 7.5 months. He can definitely sit unsupported, but the infant helmets just don’t fit him yet.
So what we did was go for a bike “walk” where I just sat on the seat and walked my feet on the sidewalk. When we started heading down the block, he started laughing out loud – which was great. He was really loving sitting up front and looking at everything. At the same time, he felt reassured because I was “wrapped” around him with him being in the center in front of me. Sometimes we would hold onto my arm, but mostly he tried to touch the trees and flowers as we walked by. The padded pedestal in front of him is great for him to hold on to or lean on (I’ve seen a baby sleeping on this on the WeeRide website!) I was just as thrilled as he was!
I did not feel any balance issues with the placement of the seat and his weight. I did try to pedal just to see what sort of adjustments I needed to make, and really, all I had to do was turn my knees out a bit so as to avoid hitting them on the seat.
Just as we were walking back, Ben came home. Whistler was a little surprised to see his dad in sunglasses (hence the puzzled look on his face), but we had a great time and I can’t wait to go on a real ride with the munchkin as soon as a helmet fits him! I’ll be sure to post a video of that!
If you guys are looking for a child seat for your bike, I highly recommend the WeeRide Kangaroo LTD :) You can buy it online here.
Wanna win it?
The folks over at WeeRide have generously offered a giveaway for one lucky Crazy Coupon Mommy/Sisterly Savings reader to win!
One WeeRide Kangaroo Carrier – LTD Edition ($79.99 value!)
How do I enter?
PLEASE follow directions!! Entering the giveaway is not hard – but if you do not complete the MANDATORY entry FIRST, your comments/entries will be deleted. If you have any questions about how to enter, please contact me…or just look at the comments above you and you will get the idea!
Just complete each of the following tasks and leave a comment for your entry(s)! Please leave one comment per task completed. (ie, if you do three of the following, you should leave three SEPARATE comments) Must be over 18 to enter. US residents only.
MANDATORY ENTRY – You MUST do this FIRST. If you do not do this, none of the other entries below will count and they WILL BE DELETED.
- “Like” WeeRide on Facebook AND be sure to let them know CrazyCouponMommy.com sent you and thank them for sponsoring this giveaway by leaving a post on their wall!
If you don’t use Facebook, thats ok. Just let me know in a comment and complete 1 AND 2 below instead as your mandatory entry – thanks!
LOTS OF WAYS TO GET BONUS ENTRIES!! Once you have completed the above mandatory entry, you can do as many of the below as you like for extra entries 
Good luck!
(If you already are a subscriber, follow on Twitter or like on Facebook, that counts as one entry, so be sure to leave a comment saying you already do so!)
- Please visit the WeeRide website and leave a comment below letting me know why you like this child bike seat above the rest!
- Subscribe to Crazy Coupon Mommy via RSS Reader or email
- Subscribe to SisterlySavings via RSS Reader or email
- Follow CCM on Twitter
- Follow SS on Twitter
- Tweet about this giveaway (just click on the retweet button at the very bottom of this post just above the comment form. You can do this daily for extra entries! Just leave a comment each day you complete this task)
- “Like” SS on Facebook
- “Like” CCM on Facebook
- Vote for me on TopMommyBlogs (just two clicks!) (You can do this daily for extra entries! Just leave a comment each date you vote.)
- Share this giveaway on Facebook by clicking on the Share button below in the comment form!
- Share this giveaway on Google by clicking on the Buzz button below in the comment form!
- Vote for Whistler here (You can do this daily for extra entries! Just leave a comment each date you vote.)
- Become a public follower of Crazy Coupon Mommy (Scroll all the way down to bottom of this page and look for this button
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your blog post (this earns you 3 entries! Be sure to leave a separate comment for each!)
- Got a blog or webpage? Place my link button on your site and leave the URL of where I can see it.
***IMPORTANT*** You need to leave a separate comment for each of the above that you complete. Each comment acts as one entry, so if you only leave one comment saying “I did 1-3 above” then you’ll only get ONE entry instead of the 3 you deserve!
Contest will end 7/31/ 2010 at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be chosen randomly via computer using “And the Winner is…” WordPress Plugin or Random.org. Winner will be notified by a blog post (so be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so that you don’t miss the winner announcement!). Winner must respond within 48 hours or another random winner will be chosen.
Many thanks to Kent International (WeeRide) who provided me with a sample for the purpose of this review, as well as one to giveaway to a randomly selected winner. I was not required to write a positive review and no other type of compensation was received. My reviews are always 100% honest and 100% my own.
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About Crazy Coupon Mommy
I did #3
I did #2
I like that it is not hanging off the back of the bike- feels safer that way.
I like them on facebook and posted on their wall
I liked WEERIDE on FB and left a comment.
bambi2 at windstream dot net