If you’re a mountain biker and a new parent, chances are your priorities have shifted. Early morning rides may give way to early morning feeds, but that doesn’t mean the riding has to stop. Enter the Mac Ride Child Bike Seat, a mid mounted, MTB friendly solution for getting your little one out on the trails with you. Designed for kids aged 2 to 5 and weighing up to 27 kg, the Mac Ride has earned a cult following among outdoorsy families. We tested it on everything from park trips to green trails to see if it really lives up to the hype.
Key Product Details of Mac Ride
- Product: Mac Ride Child Bike Seat
- Weight: 1550 grams
- Age Range: 2–5 years (up to 27 kg)
- RRP: $399.95
- Available at: mtbdirect.com.au
- Installation Compatibility: Requires 10 mm exposed steerer tube + 20 mm above seatpost clamp
- Tester: Hayden Wright
Let’s face it—having a baby with your significant other will have a massive effect on your mountain biking life. Thoughts that were once, “Where am I going riding this morning?” are now swapped for “Gee, I would love an uninterrupted night’s sleep.” Mercifully, the newborn phase only lasts so long, and soon your focus will shift to getting out and about with your little one, showing them the things you love. This is where kids’ bike seats come into play, giving you the opportunity to share your passion for riding and the outdoors with your child. Neck strength, coordination, and the ability to listen to (and follow) instructions are all required in different amounts, depending on the bike seat you choose. The Mac Ride sits at the most advanced end of the spectrum. Fortunately, my daughters have just developed to the point where this mid-mounted child bike seat is within their realm of capability, and we’ve been getting out on father-daughter rides together over the spring and summer months to determine if it’s worth your hard-earned money.
Setup: What to Expect Out of the Box
The Mac Ride is a mid-mounted child bike seat that spans between your seat post and steerer, rated for little rippers aged 2–5 and up to 27 kg. A market once dominated by the Shotgun seat now sees the Mac Ride emerge as a worthy competitor, with standout features that help this Canadian-designed, Taiwanese-made product stand on its own merit. The telescoping frame is made from aluminum, the legs from steel, and the saddle from plastic with a non-slip coating.
Unlike the Shotgun seat, the Mac Ride saddle is a bespoke design that minimizes stack height and maximizes support, increasing clearance between your child’s head and your chin by around 40mm. Based around a telescopic center piece, the Mac Ride offers adjustability for saddle length, saddle position, stirrup angle, stirrup length, and foot thickness. All of this is delivered in an adaptable, contact-free design that keeps your frame free from scuffs and scratches.
Included with the Mac Ride are two 1-⅛” front mount spacers, which are 10mm thick and have an outer diameter of 42mm. These act as a keyed anchor for the front end of the Mac Ride and must be mounted under your stem with no obstruction. The rear of the Mac Ride simply clamps to your seat post – whether a fixed post or the lower (fixed) portion of your dropper post – requiring 20mm of space above the seat clamp. With adapters available for bikes with a wider top tube and some bespoke steerer spacer setups, the Mac Ride fits most mountain bikes, assuming you have a minimum of 10 mm of exposed steerer tube. Riders with headset cable routing may also find that while the mounting spacer fits, the cables entering the head tube may clash with the mounting mechanism on the Mac Ride itself. This will depend on the specific setup. For reference, the mounted external diameter of the Mac Ride at your steerer is 62mm for anyone wanting to check clearance before purchasing.
How to Install the Mac Ride Child Bike Seat
The initial installation of the Mac Ride is a quick and easy job that any novice mechanic can complete. Removing your top cap and stem is all that’s required before replacing one of your steerer spacers with the provided 10mm thick, female keyed spacer. Since two are provided with each Mac Ride, I installed one on both my and my wife’s mountain bikes with no issue. From there, you simply slot the male key of the Mac Ride into the steerer spacer and tighten the bolt to 4Nm with a 5mm Allen key. The next step is to extend the telescopic main frame until the rear contacts with your seat post. Finally, you hand-tighten the rear mount – a process that takes less than a minute.
Once installed, the fit and finish gave me confidence that my daughters would be safe on the Mac Ride, so we took the time to adjust the saddle and stirrup position to suit their 2-year-old stature. To our surprise, both girls took to an ‘attack’ riding position naturally, with their knees bent and chin over the bars. Removing the Mac Ride is the same process in reverse, with the added bonus that by loosening the stirrup leg bolt, you can actually fold the Mac Ride completely flat for storage. Once collapsed, the total dimensions are 500mm long and 290mm wide – small enough to easily be strapped to the outside of a backpack.
On the Trail with a Toddler
Without a doubt, the first outing I had on the Mac Ride with my daughter Elizabeth was the most nerve-racking experience I’ve had in a long time. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, rolling down my driveway with her perched between my arms, softly holding onto my handlebars. With none of the usual straps and safety devices you’d associate with any toddler-based mode of transport, I was feeling uneasy, to say the least. What if she lets go? What if she loses balance? What if I have to stop all of a sudden? These were all thoughts spinning through my mind for the first minute or so.
Fortunately, the huge smile on her face made all those thoughts quickly disappear. Plain and simple, both of my daughters absolutely adore the Mac Ride. Once adjusted to suit, their seated position looks comfortable, with the bespoke saddle providing plenty of support—even when going up and down steep gradients. There’s also plenty of clearance between my chin and the top of her head, thanks to the low stack height of the saddle. With my shock locked out, the pedaling position was fairly comfortable, although I do need to widen my knee stance a little to avoid hitting the back of the Mac Ride with my kneecaps. This will be a particular issue for parents with a bike that has a steep seat tube angle and a short top tube.
Over the following weeks, our rides grew longer and longer, with my hydration pack now stuffed with nappies, snacks, and wet wipes. At every opportunity, I would choose the Mac Ride over a trip in the car or even on our e-cargo bike—such is the joy of cruising around on your favorite bike with your favorite person between your arms. Elizabeth and Matilda both preferred it too, yelling “MAC RIDE!” when we walked into the garage. The fact that they would occasionally go into a full-blown meltdown when we loaded them onto the cargo bike or into the car rather than on the Mac Ride shows just how much they loved it.
Once I built up enough confidence in both my and my daughters’ comfort on the Mac Ride, we began riding off-road. I’m fortunate to live within riding distance of some great trails, meaning that daddy-daughter time now consists of a morning jaunt down some singletrack. While we are just casually rolling down the smoothest green trails I can find, it’s still an amazing shared experience for us both, with the only downside being the dull knee strain I feel due to the altered pedaling position.
Important Riding Tips and Considerations
Riding with your little person does take a slightly different technique, with momentum required earlier to get up and over steep pinches, and more braking modulation needed on rougher sections to ensure things stay calm and in control. It’s critical to remember that while you have the foresight and coordination to hold on tight if things suddenly get a little out of hand, your toddler likely doesn’t. As such, any situation like this should be avoided at all costs. My wife and I also found that calling “bump, bump” before any rough section helped keep our daughters engaged and ready for the upcoming compressions. Finally, it’s best to put your dropper post down well in advance of any section where you might want to dab a foot or stop entirely. On a few occasions, my dropper post refused to compress, leaving me scrambling to get my foot down in a safe and controlled manner.
Our Verdict: A Must-Have for MTB Families
The Mac Ride is a must-have for any parent who wants to get out on the trail with their toddler. Furthermore, it has proven to be a fun and adaptable way to do trips to the park and daycare drop-offs. Assuming it’s compatible with your bike, there should be nothing stopping you from buying one – it’s as much for you as it is for your little one.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A fun and engaging way to get out on the bike with your toddler
- Elegant construction leading to quick and easy install
- Contact free design
- Adaptable to a variety of mounting constraints
Cons
- You can’t guarantee your kid is going to enjoy it
- Pedalling position can cause knee discomfort for some
