The Mac Ride child seat is literally my favorite thing that I have ever bought! I've had this seat for over a year now. I tried several other child seats before finding this one, but none of them were fun to ride with. This thing is expensive, and there's nowhere to demo one, so it was a big leap of faith. I got it, installed it, and put my son on it, at which point he freaked out and said he didn't want to go on it because it's scary. My heart sank and I thought I just wasted $200, but I told him we'd just go 10 feet and if he still didn't like it, I wouldn't make him ride it. My wife stood 10 feet away and we rode toward her. After about 2 feet he started yelling, "Faster! Faster!" We haven't looked back. We ride a couple hundred miles a month together and it brings me so much joy to spend such fun, quality time together. You do have to ramp up use though, just like with your riding. I went from mostly 5-7 mile rides with him to a 25 mile ride and he was walking like a cowboy for 2 days. He was really suffering, we had to take him to the doctor, and I felt horrible. It's not a passive riding experience, and your kid has to work relatively hard to stay on. Also, his butt takes even more of a hit than yours does because he can't anticipate bumps like you can. I now say, "bumps" when the trail looks rough and he can gauge how his butt feels and if he wants to stand through the section. We had to practice this technique and he seems to know what he needs, as he sometimes sits and sometimes stands when I say "bumps". If you're on the fence about buying one of these, don't wait. I'm going to be so sad when he outgrows it. I wish I had bought it a year earlier!
