Kids Ride Shotgun Pro Seat and Handlebar – Review
Smiles, giggles, chants of faster, faster, faster! There’s nothing quite like the sound of your young’un spurring you on down the trail. This is where the Kids Ride Shotgun Pro Seat and Bars comes into its own.
With your toddler perched in between you, your arms, and the handlebars, their view of the trail and engagement in the ride is second to none.
At the forefront of the early seats were two companies with differing approaches, one of which was Kids Ride Shotgun with the Front Mounted Seat. For full disclosure, this reviewer has been through them all. Wee-Ride in the early years, an original KRS and Bars, then to a MacRide (while still using the KRS bars), and now to the KRS Pro.
Once upon a time, if you wanted to ride with your child, the only option was a rear-mounted seat. While mostly fine for pure pavement duties, for the Mountain Biker Parent™ this becomes an issue of not only safety but ride comfort, view, and of course, engagement. Nothing bores a toddler more than staring at your crack back as you ride along.
Who is Kids Ride Shotgun?
Founded by Tom Hayward and Dan Necklen in May 2017, KRS is an independently owned business, with its shred-quarters located in Tauranga, New Zealand. Since launching onto the scene with the original Shotgun Seat, KRS has been on a mission to raise future generations of mountain bikers and provide parents with all the tools they need to get kids off screens and into nature.
Everything KRS do has been designed around progression for your child to develop the interest and skills needed to feel safe and confident on a bike and provide the freedom to ride as a family. From book to bike. KRS offers a range of products for mountain bike families with kids 0-5 years designed to spark the mountain bike interest in your child from an early age with products starting from books, activity packs, and t-shirts progressing to the Shotgun Seats and bars themselves.
Core beliefs:
- Getting kids off their devices and onto mountain bike trails
- Parents spending quality time with their kids
- Fostering a love of nature and the outdoors
“We believe that riding, and everything it offers, helps positively develop kids, and leaves a lasting impression on both parent and child. And we believe that this is genuinely good for the world.”
Kids Ride Shotgun
The world’s most adjustable child seat with fully adjustable saddle and legs,
Features
The Shotgun Pro combo is the ultimate setup for your mountain bike kid with a ton of upgrades from the standard Shotgun seat making it one of the most versatile on-frame seat products for your little one.
The KRS Pro Setup absolutely screams quality out of the box, louder than your kid’s worst tanty! The detailed approach to the packaging, layout, instructions and little extras means it’s an exciting process of unpacking and setup, not only for you but for your little one as well.
The original KRS seat was an amazing product and immediately engaged Little Miss in the trails more than the previous bucket seat. The primary drawbacks were the lack of quick change between bikes, and being a Double Mountain Bike Parent family meant one bike was always dedicated to the KRS. That lack of quick change also meant that the seat was either on, or off, but taking it off was more hassle than it was worth, which compromised everyday riding.
KRS has fixed this with the KRS Pro seat, which takes the segment-winning saddle from the original KRS and combines it with the ease and adjustability of a quick-release rail system, making installation/removal and bike changes a matter of seconds, rather than 10+ minutes.
Attaching and removing it from your bike is lightning fast and uses a zero-frame contact design, meaning there’s no risk of damaging your frame. The Shotgun Pro also has an adjustable leg width making it ideal for use on regular and electric bikes with wide downtubes.
Pro bars included. With lightning-fast quick-release fitting, and custom 19mm pro grips – the pro bars are the perfect partner for your Shotgun seat.
If you want to ride with your little one, and want them to experience the best seat in the house, you can’t go wrong with the KRS Pro & Pro Bars.
Zero frame contact. The Shotgun Pro attaches to your headset and seat post, meaning there’s zero contact with your frame.
- Designed for children 2 – 5 years (up to 60lb / 27kg).
- Lightning fast to fit, remove and swap between bikes. Zero frame contact. Folds flat for storage.
- Fully adjustable to fit all electric and regular mountain bikes.
- Fully adjustable leg length to grow with your child.
- Fits all mountain bikes with standard 1 1⁄8 steerers (10mm stem clearance required). Adaptors for Trek Knock Block and Scott Syncros headsets are sold separately.
- Pro bars fit 31.8mm and 35mm handlebar diameters.
Shotgun Seat versus the Shotgun Seat Pro
| Shotgun seat | Vs | Shotgun Pro seat |
|---|---|---|
| Suitable for kids 2-5 years (48lb / 22kg) | Suitable for kids 2-5 years (60lb / 27kg) | |
| Not suitable for E-bikes | E-bike compatible | |
| Frame mounted | Zero frame contact | |
| No bike modification required | Stem spacer fitting required | |
| Quick fitting and removal | Lightning-fast fitting and removal | |
| Fixed leg length | Adjustable leg length |
Once old enough and strong enough to get into the front, the front-mounted seats are a must for any mountain biker wanting to ride with their child.
On The Trails
The huge advantage of the KRS Pro Seat becomes apparent the first time your toddler sits on it. Having a padded saddle, plus the ability to easily adjust the angle means it’s set to go for any bike.
A lot of modern bikes with low-stack seat tubes and long dropper posts, mean the default angle on the seat (and that of the other brand) is enough for your munchkin to slide backward almost constantly, but with a quick flick of the lever and adjustment, you’ve got a level saddle that allows for longer rides in complete comfort.
With extension adjustment being a QR-style clamp and the stirrups being a 2-bolt arrangement, it is also noticeably quieter than the MacRide during everyday use. All the better to communicate with your little one as you ride.
This seat & bars have seen everything from tame as a zoo otter fire trails, literal zoo rides (Dubbo Zoo anyone!), gentle singletrack as well as some not-so-gentle singletrack (a combination of over-enthusiastic dad and daughter). As well as local trails and a few riding trips, it accompanied our family on a 9000km 4WD tour through the best Australia has to offer which meant many long walks were turned into great and exciting scenic rides.
The KRS Pro Bars are, quite simply, amazing and well worth the upgrade from their standard bars. Comfortable, adjustable, 5-second install/removal, and gives your little one their own bars, with nice grips, as opposed to leaning down to grab your bars, in what can only be described as the toddler version of Full Triathlon Aero.
Such a simple thought, but do you and your mini-me a favour and grab them. From a personal standpoint, Little Miss was also far less interesting in my shifter & brakes when she had her own bars to hold!
The only drawback we encountered is that the bolt system, while very secure, uses a 4mm for the steerer clamp and 5mm for all other bolts, meaning that if you’ve got multiple ‘Lil-shredders, you need to carry 2x Allen keys and there’s no quick way to adjust the stirrups and seat on a ride. It’s a couple of minutes’ work which, as any parent knows, can be the difference between the stoke remaining and the desire for Bluey kicking in!
With that said, if the steerer clamp bolt was changed to a 5mm setup, then only 1 Allen key is needed, which alleviates one of these (very minor) gripes. But if you’re a single-mini family, then you can forget about this last paragraph.
Conclusions
Without a doubt, the KRS Pro takes everything the company has learned and puts it into an amazing package for parents & little riders. Engagement is key for MTB parents and with the KRS Pro, you get not only engagement but easy engagement, as the question of “want to go for a ride?” is answered by Yes! and a 30-second install on your bike.
If you want to ride with your little one, and want them to experience the best seat in the house, you can’t go wrong with the KRS Pro & Pro Bars.
Where to Buy / Price
Shotgun Pro Child Bike Seat $400.00AUD
You can purchase the Shotgun Pro Child Bike Seat directly from the KRS website.
Find a local stockist here.
For more detailed information on fitting the Shotgun Pro, visit the Shotgun Pro frequently asked questions page.
