I've been running a LOCT seat on the Baby AC for some time now, replaced the Weeride seat as she had outgrown it. Still pick her up from school on the bike, not to mention the weekend trips.
More stuff fitted to the Moonlander. The LOCT seat for the pet monkey is a fantastic evolution from the Weeride. Very quick to mount and swap to different bikes if needed to, and leaves the rear of the bike to have a big rack for carrying more junk.
'Nuff talk, mo' pics.
So, from the pic above, you can see basically how the LOCT sits. I have dropped the LOCT as low as possible, the monkey is getting tall now and her helmet does sit close to my chin. I can still access the framebag. She does climb up herself, because the BB is 100mm wide, she uses it as a foothold, then next foot onto her footrest then leg over the saddle.
Seatpost/frame mount. Fairly straightforward CNC machined bracket, with brass bushes in the bolted junction to the stainless steel rails. Stainless bolts, supplied with firm rubber isolators to prevent clamp damage to surfaces.
Fork steerer mount. Remove some stem spacers, then slip the mount in between the stem and the headset topcap, replace spacers as required. This mount is plastic and is a basic bearing - the silver alloy bracket is firmly mounted to the stainless steel rails and the plastic rotates within the alloy bracket. Lube occasionally.
You can move the LOCT saddle forward and backwards on the rails, but the footrests are fixed in position, so you have to watch the positioning in relation to the front wheel. The original rubber toestrap was starting to fail, so I've added some generic plastic toe clips to keep her shoes firmly locked in place. The strap running from rail to toe clip is to keep the throat of the toe clip open, and prevent the clip rotating forward.
The footrests are height adjustable - you can see the bolt and multiple mounting holes just above the pedal. I had to shorten them for the Moonlander, so she rides a bit more like a jockey on this bike, but can stretch out on the long travel dually.
I've still got plenty of room in front of my seat, you do have to ride with knees out a little bit, I ride with cleats and NEVER had an issue with sore knees - even on long and multiple day rides. You can see the bartape added, the monkey can even steer the bike with me riding no hands.
The LOCT seat is a very well thought out product and very well made. Materials and small parts are first rate, had it on the Moonlander for a recent weeklong trip on the beach and it looked the same as when we got it years ago.
If I was to make any suggestions/mods from an out of the box purchase, it would be to change the footrest/pedal to include some sort of toe clip. The rubber toe/foot strap wears through from the childs shoe, if that failed on a rough ride the potential is there that the childs foot could wedge between the fork and tyre.
We used a cheap silicone gel saddle cover, the pet monkey complained the orange seat alone made her tushy sore, no complaints with the gel cover.
I'm a huge fan of front mounted kiddy seats:
- the weight distribution is superior with less load on the rear wheel
- improved handling
- safer cockpit area for the little one
- better view and interaction on the trail
We love it!
