itChair child seat for Brompton

S$487 incl shipping and the itChair arrives at my doorstep. So much money for a bent pole. Maybe can recoup a bit when I sell used in a couple of years' time. lol. When I opened the packaging, I really scrutinized it to see why would the manufacturer charge a price enough to buy a whole bike for a bent pole. But then again, some wallet cost more than luggages...

It is light. Very light. When it comes to price tag, light is the new heavy. Costly because of the light weight material used? Maybe. But I do not know the name of the material. Could be some sort of aluminum alloy to make it strong and light. Btw, the model I have is the newer model. Pictures of itChair on the web currently are all the old model. They are differentiated by the foot rests. The old model has foldable foot rests while the new model has non-foldable ones. I thought "foldable" = technologically advanced but turns out that good design is not about technologically advanced or not but being practical and functional.



Old model (picture found off the net) with foldable foot rests.



New model (picture of my itChair) with unfoldable foot rests.

I was really hunting around the product to see if I can find another reason why this cost so much. Nothing comes up in particular. So I went ahead to install the itChair. Installing is real easy. Set up your brompton, rest the bottom of the itChair to the brompton main hinge, tighten the top of the itChair to the seat post.



The bracket to tighten the itChair to the seat post seems to be torque set. You cannot over tighten, i.e. the knob will still turn but the bolt will no longer move. At this maximum torque, I still feel it is a bit loose but I did not tighten it further with a wrench though I am sure the bolt will go another full circle easily. So the top is tightened "loosely" and the bottom just rest on the main hinge. Hmm. I really doubt it is secure. So when everything done, I tried to wobble the itChair. I expected it to wobble but it did not. It is steady and firm. Surprised but still apprehensive. Cos my dear child will be using it.



Time to go for a test ride. Khai khai (youngest boy) was afraid of the height and refused to mount. I then took out a "horizontal bar" known as a Brompton XBAR, to fix onto my handle bar. Bought this earlier to mount accessories but did not use it earlier.



XBAR picture grabbed off the net.

With the XBAR, I tried setting Khai again and thankfully, he was willing to mount now that there is something for him to grab onto. In case, Khai did not want to ride for long, we went to the nearby Bishan Park to test the itChair. Oh, and also with Yang yang too, with his usual trailer.



I think Khai khai likes his new place on our cycling trips. We can now bring him along on future rides.



Back home, keeping the bike indoor at the usual corner is done with the itChair still connected to the brompton. I think the real value of the itChair lies in its ability to fold with the brompton and still stick to the small folded profile. Functional and convenient.



So all is good? Maybe I still have one concern. Long distance rides. As Khai khai has fallen asleep on rides before!