Pilen Lyx and Yepp Mini

This is the bike that i posted a photo of yesterday. It has arrived in it's new home and we have all spent time admiring it. T went inside and found his helmet as soon as he saw it and insisted on going up into his seat. I can safely say that he approves of the bike. He spent a good 15 minutes playing with the windmill that Peter had thoughtfully attached to the handlebar. He also practiced ringing the bell and holding onto the adult handlebars.

I intend to ride this bike LOTS over the next few years, and will be updating here with a review after I have had a chance to really get to know her. What follows is just a few impressions of the Yepp seat based on the few test rides T and I were lucky enough to have before we decided to buy.

The seat is attached to the handlebar, with a quick release switch that means that it is extremely easy to remove the seat if you are not going to be taking the baby with you on a ride. There is also a lock so that thieves don't just walk away with the seat, not a major concern in Australia where the seats are not all that common, but useful in the bike-centric environment where these were developed.

I was concerned that T's weight would make steering twitchy, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely noticeable, in that I found I was reluctant to take my hand off the handlebars to signal, but it didn't really change the way the bike rode. I was also concerned that the position of the seat would make it hard for me to ride without bumping my knees. Again, that didn't actually turn out to be a problem. I did turn my legs out just slightly from the position I was riding in without the seat, however the change was natural and didn't cause any issues for me.

The seat has a small handlebar area for the child to hold onto while you ride. T liked to hold it, but also spent much of the time playing with and ringing the bell, and waving his hands in the air. We borrowed the sleep pillow attachment which fits over the handlebars when we tested this set up. I know people like this attachment but it seemed that if we has the seatbelt tight enough T couldn't really lean forward enough to lay his head on it.