Shotgun Pro Seat Fitting
The Shotgun Pro child seat is designed to fit mountain bikes with standard 1 ⅛ inch steerers. Fitting the Shotgun Pro involves swapping out a spacer on the steerer of your bike for a Shotgun Pro spacer.
For more help with regard to fitting and compatibility, please read the below, or visit your local stockist.
Will the Shotgun Pro fit my bike?
The Shotgun Pro seat is designed for use on analogue or electric mountain bikes only.
The Shotgun Pro seat is not suitable for use on:
- Bikes without front suspension (with the exception of fat bikes). This includes road bikes, gravel bikes etc. Refer to the ‘front wheel clearance’. section below for more information.
- Bikes without a 1 ⅛ steerer.
- Bikes with a Quill stem.
Fitting the Shotgun Pro requires your bike to have:
- A 1 ⅛ inch steerer.
- 10mm of clearance underneath the stem.
- A 50mm (or longer) stem.
- 14mm of clearance on your seat post.
Read on for a full explanation of these requirements.
Do I have a 1 ⅛ inch steerer?
To fit the Shotgun Pro spacer, your bike will need to have a 1 ⅛ inch threadless steerer. This is by far the most common type of steerer found on modern mountain bikes.
If you are unsure if you have this type of steerer, please follow the steps below:
- Go to the web page for the manufacturer of your bike (e.g. Trek bikes).
- Locate your model of bike (ensuring you are checking the correct model year).
- The steerer information is usually listed under the ‘Fork / Frame’ section.
If this information is not available you have a few further options:
- Reach out to your bicycle manufacturer’s customer support team for clarification.
- Take your bike to your local Kids Ride Shotgun stockist.
- Measure the size of your steerer.
Stem requirements
1. 10mm of clearance underneath the stem
The Shotgun Pro spacer is 10mm tall, therefore you need 10mm of space available underneath your stem to fit the spacer.
If you do not have space underneath your stem, but have surplus spacers on top of your stem, you may be able to reposition them in order to lift the height of your stem. This may provide the space required under the stem for fitting the Shotgun Pro spacer.
2. A 50mm (or longer) stem
To accommodate the Shotgun Pro front clamp, your stem will need to be 50mm in length.
- You can check your stem length via your bike manufacturers website (see above), or by measuring it.
If your stem is shorter than 50mm in length you can still fit the Shotgun Pro if:
- You have 20mm of space underneath your stem.
- You replace your stem with a longer one.

Seat post clearance
The Shotgun Pro attaches to your seat post and is suitable for dropper posts and all common seat post sizes, including 27.2mm, 30.9mm, 31.6mm and 34.9mm.
In order to attach the Pro seat to your seat post you’ll need 14mm of available seat post space.
- If you don’t have 14mm, you may be able to lift the height of your seat post, in order to provide the space required for fitting the Shotgun Pro child seat.
Proprietary headsets
Some bike manufacturers create proprietary headset systems, which differ from the standard.
We currently have adapters for the Trek Knock Block and Scott Syncros systems available. You'll need to purchase one of these to fit the Shotgun Pro seat if your bike has these systems. To check if your Trek or Scott uses one of these systems please visit your bike manufacturers website.
If you have a proprietary headset system from a different manufacturer (e.g. Focus CIS system), we unfortunately do not offer adapters for your headset at this time, and due to the intricacy and wide range of different systems available, we are unable to confirm if the Shotgun Pro seat will fit your bike.
We have however had customers report success with many different headset types. We suggest you speak to your local stockist to see if something is possible with your bike, as seeing the bike in person is key. Alternatively you could leave a question in our community Facebook page to see if other customers have solved the same issue for your specific bike.
Other fitting considerations
Flat or upward angled top tubes
The Shotgun pro mounts at the stem and seat post of your bike, the Shotgun Pro rail runs in a direct line between them. If you have a bike where the top tube is flat, or rises for a section, it may interfere with the path of the rail.
In this case, you may still be able to fit the Shotgun Pro if:
- You have additional clearance underneath your stem that allows you to position the Shotgun Pro spacer at a higher stack height, giving the rail more clearance.
Front wheel clearance
The Shotgun seat is not suitable for bikes without front suspension (with the exception of fat bikes). This is because clearance is needed for the passengers feet between the down tube of your bike and the front wheel.
If you have limited space available here, it is likely your kids feet will contact the front wheel when you turn your handlebars.
Fat bikes are an exception to this because they typically have significant clearance between the front wheel and down tube despite being rigid frames.
Shotgun Pro installation
This video is a helpful guide for setting up the Shotgun Pro seat, and may help clarify some of the points above.
If you are still unsure about fitting the Shotgun Pro to your bike please reach out to our customer service team who will get back to you as soon as possible.