Seatpost Attachment

[dasgeh]

We have and (theoretically) love our WeeHoo iGo. We (try to) use it with our Biria Citibike (which, BTW, is a great, cheap, dutch style bike). The Biria has a rack, and apparently a very rare seatpost that seems to be 1 1/8″ in diameter when measured, but magically becomes skinnier when riding.

To attach the WeeHoo to the Biria, we have tried using various bushings from WeeHoo. But, even with the smallest bushing, the bushing just slips down the seat post, making everything screwy (when not held up high enough with a bushing, the bar attaching the trail-a-bike to the seat post slips down, but then hits the rear rack. This causes all sorts of issues).

What am I missing here? We’ve tried wrapping packing tape around the seat tube to fatten it up, but that doesn’t seem to work. Any other ideas? We don’t want to take the rack off, because we use the Biria to run errands (with and without WeeHoo). We don’t want to make any permanent changes to the Biria, but long term ones are fine.

Thanks!

Topic

[DismalScientist]

How about cutting some rubber sheeting like used when putting clamps on seat posts for rear lights?

[btj]

Maybe a seat post clamp/collar to attach halfway up your seat post with the WeeHoo bushing above it? The clamp below comes in a 28.6mm size. That is still a hair larger than 1 1/8″ but hopefully it could be tightened up enough so that it doesn’t slip. Less than $6 shipped too.

http://amzn.com/B001DOXIE2

[ronwalf]

Huh. 1 1/8″ is much bigger than the smallest bushing size they offer. Other than that, I’ve had good luck using short pieces of inner tubes to help shim things that clamp on my seat post.

[mstone]

I’m not entirely following. Are you saying that you want the weehoo bushing to keep the weehoo halfway up the seatpost? Because it’s not supposed to do that; all it’s there for is to keep the collar from wobbling on the post. You could try putting one of the extras upside down on the seatpost before putting the correct one on the right way round, which would add the spacing it sounds like you’re looking for.

[dasgeh]

@mstone 52776 wrote:

I’m not entirely following. Are you saying that you want the weehoo bushing to keep the weehoo halfway up the seatpost? Because it’s not supposed to do that; all it’s there for is to keep the collar from wobbling on the post. You could try putting one of the extras upside down on the seatpost before putting the correct one on the right way round, which would add the spacing it sounds like you’re looking for.

Yes and yes. Using others as spacers is a great idea. Thanks, and thanks to others for the other ideas. I’ll give an update when we figure something out.

[ronwalf]

Ah ha! It’s not clamped on at all, it’s supposed to turn with the bike! I like btj’s solution, then. You could also use seat post clamps for old lights.

I’ve been pondering preschooler transport for the last year, and I keep waffling between a Kona MinUte and the iGo.

[hozn]

Yeah, we (my son and I, anyway) do love the iGo. It is much heavier than it should be (e.g. than a Burley) but it works well and the participation aspect is great. My soon-to-be-3 son knows that once he starts pedaling forwards (instead of backwards) then he is eligible to get a big-boy bike with pedals

[dasgeh]

@ronwalf 52787 wrote:

Ah ha! It’s not clamped on at all, it’s supposed to turn with the bike! I like btj’s solution, then. You could also use seat post clamps for old lights.

I’ve been pondering preschooler transport for the last year, and I keep waffling between a Kona MinUte and the iGo.

Yeah, the silver part turns so that the iGo isn’t always directly behind the lead bike. But the bushing should be tight against the seat post, and it has a lip at the bottom so the silver part doesn’t slip below it. I just want it to stay above a certain point on the seatpost so the whole thing doesn’t hit the rack and screw everything up.

Aside from this making-it-work-with-a-rack issue, we’re very happy with the iGo, and our toddler seems to LOVE it. Asks for it all the time.

At the ABCs of Family Biking, there were lots of happy owners of long tail bikes. There is currently a MinUte on CL: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/3815594465.html For us the issue was compatibility with little kids — you’d need another seat. But once you can trust them not to be strapped in, kids seem happy on the board.

[mstone]

The other option is N+1: mine works fine with my rack, probably this is because the top tube is higher. I’d have to look at my wife’s bike to see if a rack would fit under her weehoo hitch. I suppose it might turn out that the solution is to be taller, for which I have no suggestions.

[baiskeli]

Make sure that when you tighten it, that little gap in the bushing isn’t closed so that the two ends are touching. If it is, that stops the bushing from closing further and squeezing the post. I had to cut the gap a little wider in a bushing to get it tight enough.

Then you just have to tighten it down hard. I have a hex bolt kit with a handle attachment that lets me get lots of leverage for jobs like that.

Also, try cleaning the bracket and seat post clear of residual grease.

You don’t want the bracket too high or it could bend the seat post.

[fongfong]

My 4 year old and I are I Go lovers and have had the same problem with the same size seatpost. The solution is a lot of trial and error of putting just enough clear plastic packing tape on the seat post so you can just slide the plastic bushing and the metal over it. It will never be completely wackle free because of the need for it to turn. Agree, there should be a bushing that fits this seatpost perfectly, but there just isn’t.

[Author]

Replies