Review of CoPilot Limo Bicycle Child Seat

CoPilot Limo Bicycle Child Seat
By: CoPilot Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 23
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Great child seat for your bike

On: 2010-01-17

Super easy to get on your bike. My son loves riding in it. Super comfortable with all the padding and the adjustable feet settings as he gets bigger. Would advise anyone with kids to get one.

Firsthand account of just how SAFE this keeps your child!

On: 2009-11-10

Today, after clipping a bush on a bumpy sidewalk, I lost balance and my bike fell on its side with me on it and my 13 mos old in the Co-Pilot. I struggled to gain balance, but couldnt and took the brunt of the fall on my knee and my poor twisted back. After a panic, I jumped up and quickly assessed my toddlers condition. There she sat snuggly in the Co-Pilot, with her pink bunny Giro Infant Helmet (which I also highly recommend) without a clue that anything was wrong. The seats lap bar and harness held her in place and not a single inch of her came near the pavement. Thank God! She just looked at me like I was crazy. LOL!

So despite a funky installation manual and some tweaking to accommodate the bike I had, this product is worth every penny. Its comfy, quality, safety and ease of use are worth 5 stars. I hope no one else has to learn that the way I did though! Ha.

great child seat

On: 2009-10-31

this is a great buy!
there is a lot of protection for the childs head and sides incase of a fall.
the front bar is great to have, although its not secure so the child (if old enough) will have no problem pulling it up.
the pads on the sides arent very secure either and although they stay in place because of their stiffness, my daughter likes to pull them off from the sides.
it does recline and this is nice because if it didnt i doubt i would like it. we keep it in the reclined position always.
it is very easy to install onto the bike rack and also easy to take off. it is also very secure!
it is very light weight and can easily be carried with one hand.
the seat belt is not as secure as i would like. probably because of its small width. there are 3(?) adjustment holes for it. when we got it our daughter was about 1, and if i remember correctly, we had to put the adjustment to the highest level. our daughter is a tall girl, but not that tall.
it is much sturdier than the cheaper childs bike seats you can buy at like walmart and like i said, much more protection around the head and sides! for your childs safety, this is worth the price.

this is a great buy. our daughter is 2 and she still fits very easily in it. well be using this for all of our kids, as long as it holds up, which im sure it will :)

Rack doesn't fit all bikes

On: 2009-09-02

The Blackburn rack that comes with this seat doesnt fit all bikes. Neither of our commuter bikes worked with the rack. I called CoPilot and their customer service person was extremely rude and unhelpful. Our local bike shop said that people often have to buy longer length stays to get the rack to fit. While it is understandable that it would be difficult to make a one-size-fits-all rack, it would have been nice to know the models of bikes with which this rack would fit.

I hope to be able to provide a more positive review and info about a workaround when we get this sorted out.

Great Seat, Bad Instructions, Doesn't work with all bikes

On: 2009-08-18

I bought the CoPilot Limo after spending hours and days researching both front mounted and rear mounted bike seats. Once it arrived I was so excited for my husband and I to take our daughter on her first bike ride. However after spending some time trying to figure out the instructions we began to think the seat was not compatible with my husbands bike. After calling the 800 customer service number our fears were confirmed. I was quickly told that if our bike had a quick release seat and/or a rear suspension the seat would not be able to be mounted. My husbands bike has both. My complaint is....it would have been nice to know this BEFORE I purchased the seat. I did not see this information disclosed anywhere, maybe I missed it. Its probably a wonderful bike seat, but we wouldnt know since we are not able to use it.

Perfect Protection

On: 2009-08-14

I bought this for our seven month old... We put it on the back of my Trek mountain bike and hit some nicely paved greenways. I pop this seat on and off, as needed. She buckles in well... but like any product of this nature, you have to fiddle with it to get good. The seat harness dimensions... you have to tighten for your little one. And you get better at all the nuances... My child really enjoys this seat.

I know that she is safe back there. I feel comfortable, knowing that even in a fall... she is very secure.

I would recommend getting a rear view mirror, to see her expressions and ensure she is okay.
And a cargo net to hook a bunch of baby junk to the back of the seat...
As well as a great helmet... I bought the Giro Me2 Infant helmet

And you are ready to go...

Very easy to use

On: 2009-07-30

My almost two year old loves riding in this seat.

General info about bike seats
I agonized over the trailer vs. mounted bike seat choice, and now Im glad I chose the seat. With the bike seat, my son and I are able to talk about what we see as we ride along together.
It took a couple of outings before I was fully comfortable with loading and unloading my 30 lb. son by myself and the different handling when he was behind me, but now its all good.

Info about this product
After reading about others complaints about frustrations with installing the rack, I paid my local bike shop $15 to install the bike rack.
The seat goes on and off the bike rack very easily, in just a few seconds. This is a great product for people who plan to install and remove the seat frequently.
My son seems to find the seat comfortable - no complaints even on rides over an hour.

No problems

On: 2009-07-04

We gave this seat to our son-in-law for his birthday so he could go riding with his two-year-old. SIL had no difficulty with attaching the seat to his bike (unlike some reviewers). The seat was very lightweight compared to ones we used a generation ago. The grandson, who barely tolerates a carseat, loved being in this seat and fought when he had to get out. I cant give 5 stars because Im not the one using the seat, so I have to have a little wiggle room.

copilot limo bike seat

On: 2009-06-01

I love this bike seat. The seat reclines so my son does not have to sit up so straight. I like that the seat has foot rests so he has a place to rest his feet, and has strap to tie his feet so he is not kicking me in the back. The armrest for him is also a nice feature. I did not have any problems with it going over his head even with his bike helmet on.

Excellent product; only issue is shoddy screws

On: 2009-05-13

I was given a bike seat as a hand-me-down (another brand..). Didnt like it due to safety reasons so I decided to research online the best child seat while also minding price as much as possible. I narrowed it down to this one seat.

PROS:
1. Very sturdy - seat mounts to a free mounting rack that is supplied. It fastens securely to the mount and is also tethered to the bicycle seat bar as well. Very smart idea.
2. Secures infant very well - your child is secured down by the ribbon that goes over their chest as well as the horizontal bar that further secures them in the seat. There are even velcro ties if you want to tie down their feet if need be.
3. Free bike rack!
4. Interior of seat is very well cushioned for easy riding for your child.
5. Literally seconds to remove the seat. Dont be concerned it requires a few steps to accomplish this.
6. The seat is quite high - so as to keep your child safe while riding.
7. Middle of the road price.

CONS:
1. Shoddy supplied screws. They easily will strip if you are not careful. I actually discarded mine and used some other ones that I had that worked (same thread and length).
2. Instruction manual leaves a lot to be desired.

IN SUMMARY:
If you are looking for a seat that is safe and secure, not too costly and is great looking then I highly recommend this child bicycle seat.

Great seat, better than the standard taxi seat.

On: 2009-04-27

I consider myself fairly handy with tools, but installing this seat was much harder than I thought. The mediocre instructions are the culprit.

Once I did install it, all the trouble was worth it as it is very sturdy and keeps my son safely secured. I was going to buy the slightly lower price model, but the extra features of this one really make a difference. The higher side protection and the bar protector really keep him in place even when he gets squirmy in an area where I cant pull over right away.

I bought this during winter so its only now that Ive been able to take it for a spin a few times. Just remember to adjust how you ride to compensate for the extra weight in the back. Basically if you stand to pedal, lean forward more than you normally would.

Good seat, bad installation manual

On: 2009-01-26

I just installed this seat today and took my 3 year old out for a short test ride before it started raining. While I dont have experience with day-to-day usage yet, I would like to comment on the instruction manual for those parents considering this product and hopefully the manufacturer will read this, too. In short, the manual is unclear from step 1 onwards. Theres no explanation of what a "seat stay" or a "braze-on" are, so if youre unfamiliar with these terms, you may have difficulty with installing this seat. More and bigger illustrations would be appreciated. It took me about 2 hours, mainly because I had to take the rear wheel of the bike off because theres not enough room between the smallest cog and the inside of the dropout. The manual also mentions a CG (Center of Gravity) hash mark thats supposed to help with alignment, but I couldnt find it.

One side note: I almost bought this seat from craigslist. "Almost" because the seller was honest enough to tell me that she doesnt have the installation manual anymore, and warned me about the installation difficulty.

I went to various bicycle shops to check out 3 different child seats (Limo, Taxi and one whose name I dont remember) and like this the most. Despite the comment above, which is just a one-time hassle, I still think this is among the best seat on the market. Time should tell whether its worth the price. I also considered the iBert Safe-T Front Mounted Child Bicycle Seat, which I couldnt find in any local bike shop. One salesperson told me they dont carry that product because they feel front mounted seats are just not safe for children. Most accidents are head-on collision and children are better protected when they sit behind an adult.

satisfy

On: 2009-01-09

i got it for over 6 months now and it works fine. i had no problems so far with it. installation was easy. i would recommend it.

Great Seat for the Price

On: 2008-10-28

We purchased this seat for my 13 month old, who is a little small for his size. That said, he fits great in this seat. He is able to see over the sides and appears comfortable on fairly long rides (as he has fallen asleep on many occasions). It is definitely a plus that the seat reclines for better positioning depending upon if he is sleeping or awake. Also he can rest his head comfortably with his helmet on. Since the seat attaches to a bike rack this fits excellent on my husbands Trek bike. Initially, we had purchased a more expensive seat that did not require a bike rack but it did not fit on his bike because of the angle of his frame. The only reason I did not give this a 5 star rating is because the foot rest is a little flimsy and the bolt on the back (where you adjust the height of the footrest) came loose and fell off during a bike ride from my son moving his feet while strapped in. The other reason is no storage...there are other seats that provided some storage for essential baby items :o)

Child Seat

On: 2008-09-15

Easy enough to install and a very safe seat. A friend has one and he had a bike accident carrying his 2 year old. The child did not touch the ground, not a scratch. Seat came through okay, too. It sold me, I ordered one the same day.

Nice seat - really hard to install

On: 2008-08-19

I have this seat as well as the iBert (front mounted) bike seat. One of the big pros of this seat is that I feel its a little safer because of the high back and sides. (knock on wood) Ive never been in an accident or had the bike fall with one of my girls on the bike, but if we were, I feel that they would be fairly well protected. Another pro is the fairly high weight limit (40 pounds) and that it is very roomy. My 3 year old fits in it with no problem. I will say that we removed the adjustable feet height thingies because with them in, there wasnt enough width in the space for their shoes.

The biggest downside of this seat is the installation. It is a big pain. On the upside, the rack that the seat snaps into can be used for other things once youre done with the seat. Another upside is that if you have multiple bikes, you can install the rack on each of them, and pop the seat from one bike to another with no problem. For instance, in a two parent household where each parent has a bike. But that rack is a nightmare to install. It took me multiple hours to get it on the first bike. The second went slightly faster because Id done it once, but since it was a different bike, it had some different issues, and it was still over an hour to get it on, plus I had to get extenders for the metal brackets, which my neighbor also had to do with one of his installs, each of which was lengthy, too. So definitely set aside some time for this install. In other words, dont tell your kid, "Oh, the bike seat is here! Let me put it on real quick and well go for a bike ride!"

All of that being said, it is a nice seat, and we like it, and Id have no problem recommending it to anyone.

Not worth the money

On: 2008-08-18

CoPilot Limo Bicycle Child Seat
This seat was great... while it lasted. The rear security catch snapped off after just 18 months, which is not what I expected considering the cost. I dont think the design is great to have a flexible piece of plastic taking a lot of force. If I was buying again Id look for something cheaper and simpler.

Safe and secure

On: 2008-06-03

This seat is easy to slip on and off and seems very comfortable for my 9 month old son. I love the fact that my husband can take a turn riding with him (with an additional rack purchased seperately). He always falls asleep when we go on a ride! The seat makes it easy to ride with him in tow, you hardly notice the additional weight. It is easy to load him onto the back while holding the bike. I like the easy to use strap and the safety bar that lowers in front of him. It also keeps him far enough behind me to keep him from messing with me when we are on our ride. It easily allows for his helmet too. I cant think of any complaints...

mother of three

On: 2008-05-03

the only complaint I would have is it sits too close to my seat on my particular bike (schwin). The exta rack is a must if your spouse rides. It makes it a BREEZE to put the seat on another bike, done in literally seconds.

Great bicycle child seat

On: 2007-07-31

My son enjoys riding within the carrier and I feel that he is safe within it. It is easy to install, easily detaches from the bike, and is sturdy. I would recommend using a helmet that is flat on the back for toddlers.

Very good child seat!

On: 2007-04-26

I bought it a couple of months ago. I have 2 kids and I take my 2-year son to the day care every day. I ride with the 2 kids (a 10-month daughter also) in a hanger one way, leave one kid and the hanger and ride back home with the little one. Its very easy to adjust/switch the harness from one kid to the other, it only takes 1min. The back-rest can be inclined -true but I wouldnt suggest it for kids more than 12kg maybe.. Itd rest all the weight in the back and makes riding a bit harder.
We live in Denmark and in the winter when heavy shoes are required we could use a little more space in the foot rests. However, I give it 5 stars!

Great Seat!

On: 2006-09-24

We have this seat on our bicycle and the grandparents bicycle and love it. I gave it 4 starts instead of 5 only b/c we have had to make a few very minor modifications each time we installed it. On the grandparents bike we had to bend a piece of metal (this may have been designed to be bent as needed though). On our bike we had to take a hack saw and cut off the very tip of 4 thin bars. Not difficult and didnt compromise the safety of the seat in the least. Id say overall the seat has many great features, is easy to install comparatively, and our toddler finds it to be a comfortable ride.

Great Seat!

On: 2006-09-23

We have this seat on our bicycle and the grandparents bicycle and love it. I gave it 4 starts instead of 5 only b/c we have had to make a few very minor modifications each time we installed it. On the grandparents bike we had to bend a piece of metal (this may have been designed to be bent as needed though). On our bike we had to take a hack saw and cut off the very tip of 4 thin bars. Not difficult and didnt compromise the safety of the seat in the least. Id say overall the seat has many great features, is easy to install comparatively, and our toddler finds it to be a comfortable ride.

great seat for a large child

On: 2006-05-02

We got this for our three year old, who is 35 pounds. He fits in it with room to spare. It reclines backwards to allow him even more room between him and his mom, who rides with him. The feet strap in so they dont get caught in the spokes. The sides and back have openings which allow our son to look all around him. This is our first bike seat, and it wasnt cheap, but it is really, really nice.