Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini Review

If you’re nervous about trying a child bike seat for the first time, the Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini is one of the best on the market. If only we had recorded a video of our baby squealing with excitement on her maiden voyage, that’s really the best testimonial we could give you.

The Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini is an update to the original Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini (which is still available). These seats are very similar, and you’ll see images of both in this review. In addition to being high-quality seats with lots of features, the quick release mounting bracket allows you to get it on and off your bike in just seconds. Read the full review below!

Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini vs. Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini – What’s the difference?

Before we jump into the details about the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini, with the older version still available (and cheaper!), we’ll first go over the difference between them.

These seats are remarkably similar and functionally mostly the same. Same mounting system, same harness system, same uber-cool magnetic buckle. So how are the Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini and Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini different?

With modifications made are to comply with new European safety standards for child bike seats, the only difference the average consumer will notice is the shape of the seat.

The seat back is a bit wider and the sides are contoured. The overall effect is more protection for your child’s head, arms, and legs. While you may still be able to find the original seat for sale in the US, we recommend the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini because of this added protection.

Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini – Results of our Test Rides

We have used and loved the Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini for many years. This review reflects our experiences starting with our initial test rides with the original version of this seat, all the way down to our most recent tests with the updated Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini.

Adult Rider Experience and Comfort

As a pretty anxious parent, I was quite nervous to strap my baby to the front of my bike and take her for a ride. Turns out, baby bike seats are completely awesome, much easier to use that you’d think, and epic entertainment for little ones.

After I quickly conquered my initial bout of nerves, the Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini became a staple in our family bike life. From long family rides on our local paved trail system, to quick jaunts to the school bus stop to pick up big brother, this seat was a daily game changer.

As an outdoor product that is so lightweight, so easy to store, so easy to transport, so simple to use, and so clearly focused on comfort and safety, we were constantly finding more and more excuses to use it.

At the very real risk of sounding cheesy, the Yepp Nexxt Mini was the source of a ton of unforgettable mommy-baby bonding moments. Having this little nugget on my bike right in front of me, truly experiencing the ride together, was hands down one of the greatest joys of life.

Aside from the great emotional benefits, this seat also has a lot of functional benefits for the adult rider’s comfort. If you’re debating between a front and a rear child bike seat, the front-mounted Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini is significantly easier to manage than a rear seat.

Having tested over 50 child bike seats, we speak with many, many miles of experience under our belts. With the weight of the baby and the seat in front of you, a bike is generally much easier to handle without awkward added weight in the back.

That weight distribution also makes it far less awkward to get on and off your bike, and much easier to load and unload your baby. If we could use a front seat forever, we would. Unfortunately they typically max out at 33 lbs.

Adult Fit

We initially tested the Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini back in 2018. In 2024, even with a slightly wider design than the original (for more coverage and protection for your child), we found the updated Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini to be about as non-obtrusive as a front-mounted seat can be.

As a tall woman (5’10) on a bike with a medium-sized frame, I need to scoot back a bit on my saddle so that front-mounted seats don’t hit my knees. Even when my knees did hit the Yepp Nexxt (and Nexxt 2) on occasion, the seat is narrow enough that it really only hit the inside of my knees. I was able to easily adjust my pedal stroke to make my  knees slightly wider to prevent interference.

Rider space is a very common issue with front-mounted seats. Front-mounted bike seats take up about 10″ of space between the stem and saddle of the bike.  

If your top tube (the distance between your handlebars and seat tube) is less than 20″, you will likely have difficulty riding with a front-mounted seat as your chest and knees could both hit the seat. I had no issue at all with my chest coming into contact with this seat.

Size and Age of Child

Front-mounted seats are smaller than rear-mounted seats because they have to fit between the adult rider and the rider’s handlebars.

All of Thule’s front-mounted seats are designed for babies and toddlers 20 – 33 lbs, or 1 – 3-years-old. Rear-mounted seats can be bigger because there’s more room in the rear of a bike, so they typically fit kids longer, up to 40 pounds.

Be aware that many seats, including the Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini, say they can fit children as young as 9 months old. This is very common in Europe, but in the US, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until 12 months old.

Many states actually have laws prohibiting the use of a child bike seat until a child is a year old. In the end, ask your doctor if you’re concerned! We prefer to err on the side of caution and don’t test child bike seats with children under one year of age.

Our primary tester was 12 months old, 22.6 lbs, and in the 82nd percentile for height and weight when she first rode in this seat. Even though she’s a pretty solid kid, she didn’t max out the 33 lb. weight limit until she was about 2.5 years old.

We also enlisted the help of another 2.5-year-old who weighed 30 pounds. She was growing out of the seat, but she still fit the seat just fine.

Size Comparison – 12 Month Old (22.6 lbs) vs 2.5 Year Old (30 lbs.)

From an adult rider perspective, I could tell I was carrying a heavier load with older and heavier riders (under 33 lbs!), but it didn’t bother me. The only slight irritation was that with taller toddlers, the top of the child’s helmet was in my line of sight the whole time, but it didn’t actually obstruct my view.

Compatibility – Will the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini Fit on Your Bike?

Since the Yepp Nexxt Mini 2 release in 2024, Thule updated its mounting bracket in 2025 to be compatible with a wider range of bikes. Unlike the older bracket, the new bracket attaches to either threaded or threadless headsets, making it compatible with most commuter, cruiser, and hybrid-style bikes.

However, it cannot be used on bikes with suspension forks or carbon frames as the footrests of the seat hit the crown of the suspension fork.

If your goal is to hit mountain bike trails with your younger toddler, the Shotgun Pro EVO is still the only front-mounted option we’ve found that truly works.

If you have a bike with a threadless headset it’s also very important to make sure you purchase a seat with the new mount which has the Thule logo in black on the front of the mount. The older version (which is shown several times in this review) has Thule in white and is not compatible with threadless headsets.

How to Tell Which Headset You Have

If you are not sure what type of headset your bike has, it’s pretty easy to tell. A threaded headset will have a locknut just above the frame of the bike and at the base of the handlebar stem. The stem will also be narrower. A threadless headset does not have a locknut and it typically wider at the base of the handlebars than threaded setups.

With both styles of headsets, you will also need to make sure you have enough room beneath the handlebars to add the mounting bracket. For the bracket to mount, you’ll need roughly ¾ inch of open head tube.

• On threaded headsets, you can usually create extra room by loosening the top bolt and gently lifting the bar/stem assembly.
• On threadless headsets, you must have at least ¾ inch of spacers under the stem. To allow the mounting plates to slot between those spacers, expect to raise the stem by about 3 cm during installation.

Using the Mounting Bracket

In order to allow for compatibility with both headset styles, the mounting bracket on the Yepp Mini has two removable spacer. Bikes with threaded headsets use the spacers; bikes with threadless headsets do not.

In the photo below, you’ll see how the setup looks in both configurations. On threaded systems, the spacers remain in place and the mount clamps around the stem. On threadless setups, the metal mounting plates (the plates are hidden when the spacers are installed, which is why they must be removed first) slide between two spacers .

Quick Release Bracket

Once you have the bracket installed on the bike, the bike seat itself can be mounted or dismounted from that bracket easily via a quick-release lever. So while you leave the mounting bracket on the bike permanently, the bike seat can be removed in just seconds.

The seat easily snaps on to the large lip onto the end of the mount (red arrow). The seat can then be released via a lever on the bottom of the seat (yellow arrow).

This allows you to ride with or without baby at your whim! This is a standard feature with high-end front-mounted child bike seats.

Fitting Your Child on the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini

Knowing how to make a few minor adjustments to your Yepp Nexxt Mini will ensure the safest and most comfortable ride for your littles.

Shoulder Straps

The Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini’s five-point harness system features non-slip shoulder straps. They’re solid-quality, soft nylon with non-slip padding, and we had no difficulty adjusting them on our youngest tester. For our older tester, it was a bit more challenging, but we finally got it right.

No Height Adjustment

Like all front-mounted bike seats currently offered in the US, the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini’s shoulder straps are not height adjustable.  Ideally, the shoulder straps should fit like a car seat – a range from slightly below to slightly above the shoulder.

If a child is too tall and the straps start significantly lower than their shoulders, the straps have a much higher chance of sliding off. Because a front-mounted child bike seat is only used for about a year and a half, this potential sizing problem is less of an issue.

You can see in the image below that the should strap is just above our 12-month-old tester’s shoulder. It fits perfectly and keeps her snugly in place. We had a much harder time fitting the straps to our 2.5-year-old tester. The shoulder strap starts significantly below her shoulder and we were less confident in them staying put.

Shoulder Straps are a Better Fit for Younger Riders

That said, they did stay put during our ride. You would never buy this size of bike seat for a child her size. This is just to demonstrate the scenario if your child has used this seat for about a year and half and is ready to move on to a rear-mounted bike seat in the next few months.

Foot Rests

The foot rests on the Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini are continuously adjustable in height for a super-accurate fit for your child.  The foot straps are easy to secure, but like most foot straps we’ve seen, a squirmy child can possibly remove their feet.

Those little feet can end up on your handlebars, which happened to us the very first time we took our 12-month-old tester out for a ride.

This isn’t an issue that we’ve seen anyone able to solve completely, so just know that little feet on your handlebars is a potential downside for any front-mounted seat.

The best thing you can do is make your child wear shoes. Once we put shoes (instead of just socks) on our baby tester, the added bulk kept her feet contained under the strap and we didn’t have any further problems.

Other Features of the Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini

Magnetic Buckle

Of all the Thule seats, the Yepp Nexxt has the coolest buckle. Can a buckle be cool? Actually, yes. It’s a two-handed, child-proof, magnetic safety buckle. It’s kind of parent-proof at first too (haha!), but once you figure it out, it’s simple to use.

The gray triangles “eyes” click in place to lock, and by pushing down and over on the gray “smile”, the magnet releases. It definitely takes two hands and adult coordination.

Seat Construction

Material/Venting

The Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini’s seat is made of a firm, durable foam very similar to the dark gray foam core you find in bike helmets. It’s surrounded in the back by a hard plastic shell, and the bottom is lined with soft, high-quality, weather-poof padding.

The black foam is a bit rougher than you would expect, and could potentially annoy the backs of a sensitive child’s arms. The very first Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini we received in 2018 was a much smoother foam. Every Nexxt seat we’ve received after that (2 more in 2018, and 2 in 2024), has this rougher foam.

While we’re a bit puzzled about the change, we’ve never had a child complain about it.

There are two large holes in the back of the seat for venting, which is significantly more venting than most seats have.

Seat Height

The seat height came to the top of the shoulders of our 12-month-old tester. It’s high enough that the shoulder straps stay securely in place, but not so high that there’s any interference with a child’s helmet.

Most rear-mounted seats are taller and need a helmet recess so a child’s head doesn’t get pushed forward by the bulk of the back of their helmet. This is not an issue with any front-mounted seat we’ve seen.

Side Wings

The updated Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini 2 (right below) has a frame shape that envelops the child more than the original Yepp Nexxt Mini (left below). The contoured sides are similar to “side wings” that were previously more common on rear seats.

Yepp Nexxt Mini vs. Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini

Side wings with bumpers are more common in rear-mounted seats because they can protect little hands or arms from getting pinched when a parent leans the bike against a wall. With a front-mounted seat, the bike’s handlebars will always be leaning against the wall, so it would be pretty difficult for a child’s fingers to get pinched between the seat and the wall.

But while we don’t really see much purpose to side wings or bumpers in the traditional sense on front-mounted seats, they do help contain a child’s body more. And we’re certainly going to give a thumbs up to additional protections for our littlest ones.

Suspension

Suspension isn’t found on any front-mounted child bike seat, but the Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini does feature a shock-absorbing foam and seat padding, which helps to dampen bumps in the road.

The pad, however, is stiffer than we would like. If you have bumpier roads, the Yepp Mini 2 offers a bit more cushioning.

Handlebar

All of Thule’s front-mounted seats come with a handlebar. While babies and toddlers love having something to hold on to and play with, it’s a nice to have but not a deal breaker.

Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini vs Thule Yepp 2 Mini

Thule makes two different front frame-mounted baby bike seats. The names can be a bit confusing, as can the slight differences between them. So why would you choose the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini or the Yepp 2 Mini?

While the older versions of these seats had more differences, the Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini and the Yepp 2 Mini are very similar. There are four reasons we found that you might choose one over the other.

1. Preference in visual styling
2. The Yepp Nexxt’s magnetic buckle requires two hands to lock or unlock, the Yepp’s only requires one hand
3. The Yepp Mini has slightly more shock-absorption in the bum area
4. The Yepp Nexxt is lighter by 1.3 pounds

Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini Bottom Line

The Thule Yepp Nexxt 2 Mini is a compact, super lightweight, and easy-to-use front-mounted bike seat. If you’re nervous about trying a child bike seat for the first time, or just want one that’s minimally obtrusive, the Yepp Nexxt 2 is an excellent choice.

FTC Disclosure: Affiliate links are included in this review.  No monetary compensation was provided for this review, however, the reviewed product was supplied by the manufacturer or distributor to help facilitate this review. All opinions and images are that of Two Wheeling Tots LLC.  All content and images are copyrighted and should not be used or replicated in any way. View our Terms of Use.