What is it?
The Shotgun Kids MTB seat is a new take on the child’s seat, built specifically for mountain biking. There’s a lot to like about this seat; it only adds a couple of kilos to the bike, unlike a trailer you can ride singletrack, the weight of the kid is kept in the middle of the bike for a better ride for both you and them, plus with the child up front they get a good view and you can yell “yiiieew!” in their ear as you ride.
Will it fit my bike?
Probably. The Shotgun seat is designed for the tubes of mountain bike frames – it’ll fit top tubes from 30-58mm and down tubes from 30-80mm. So just about every bike, with the exception of some really wild carbon frames or e-bikes should be ok. The rubber coated construction is claimed to be safe for carbon frames, but I couldn’t get our heads around the idea of clamping it onto my carbon bike, so I popped it on an alloy bike (Specialized Stumpjumper) instead. We’re sure it’s fine, we’re just a bit cautious!
The Shotgun seat is designed for kids from 2-5 years, up to 22kg.
We do recommend reading the instructions! We didn’t and wasted time. And once you’ve got the install/removal down pat, you can whip the seat off in seconds. Unlike other seats, there aren’t any brackets or mounts left on the bike once it’s removed too.
How’d it go?
The Shotgun seat is designed for kids from 2-5 years, up to 22kg, and my two-year-old has taken to it like a duck to water! From our first ride, it was just easy, he jumped right on and we did a cruisey 20km ride with him constantly yelling “faster” and “like it” as we shredded the trails. He honestly didn’t want to get off, the huge grin on his face was priceless and I knew I had given him the MTB bug!
He honestly didn’t want to get off, the huge grin on his face was priceless and I knew I had given him the MTB bug!
You can get optional handlebars too, which just bolt onto your bike’s bars, giving your kid something extra grippy to hold onto. I didn’t have these (they’re an extra $49), so my boy was just holding onto the bars either side of the stem, which was fine really. Even though your child isn’t strapped into the seat at all (their feet just rest on the foot pegs) I never felt like there was a risk my kid was going to fall off, though I’d say you still want to stick to the B-Lines and avoid too many hucks! This seat has really opened up a whole new world of adventure that we would have otherwise had to wait several years for, it’s so fun and easy to hit the trails together now!
It’s so fun and easy to hit the trails together now!