Tag alongs

[Johnno260]

Hi has anyone had experience with these:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-accessories/child-bike-seats-trailers/trail-gator

My little daughter is desperate to come out with me but she is still on stabilisers, there is a nice cycle path near me, the Cuckoo Trail and it goes from near my home the the coast.

I’m tempted by this as it looks fun, and the additional weight will be a good work out haha.

I linked the Halfords one only for reference.

 

[Johnno260]

Well tried the trail gator and the bracket won't stay stable on the front of her bike, it keeps slipping no matter what position I try.

So I will take it back and consider a full tag along .

 

[Dan B]

Have you considered the Followme Tandem? It's about 4x more expensive, but vastly more stable (and probably resellable if daughter has no younger siblings extant or planned)

 

[Johnno260]

Have you considered the Followme Tandem? It's about 4x more expensive, but vastly more stable (and probably resellable if daughter has no younger siblings extant or planned)

Cheers I will take a look, this trail gator just wants to pitch to one side all the time, I checked the seat post clamp and it’s straight.

And the front tube clamp is inline and as tight as possible but still it wants to pitch, worst part is my little one was so excited about it.

It’s ok if I have the stabilisers down but that seems to be a big no no as they need to lean with the adult bike, not that I would be going at any hard pace.

Halfords said they have a 30 day returns if it doesn’t fit so I will be going back I think.

 

[cyberknight]

Daughter hated the trail gator to and she didnt like the tag along either so no if we want a family ride its limited to the local trail now she is big enough to ride unaided.

 

[Johnno260]

Daughter hated the trail gator to and she didnt like the tag along either so no if we want a family ride its limited to the local trail now she is big enough to ride unaided.

I'm in the process of taking away her stabilizers at the moment, she is ok but tires quickly but is desperate to go on rides with me, hence the Trail-Gator.

I don't mind using the cycle way it's very nice and scenic she is actually better on the return on a slight up hill incline than downhill.

I totally took the whole assembly apart and re-assembled it and it actually seems pretty solid now, the front tube on her bike, the paint works scarred really badly I'm pretty annoyed about that I should've used some old inner tube.

I think the issue was I didn't have the seat post clamp totally straight, and I mean within a tiny tolerance.

she is still nervous when the bike leans a little, but I explained this is how it works, and it wont tip now.

 

[Time Waster]

Still look at the followme-tandem. Seriously good bit of kit. We toured with a 4 year old using it. Stable and allowed use of full pannier rack. Although it was a battle getting him on it because the routes in Holland are so good for free ranging kids.

If there wasn't a risk we'd still need it I'd consider selling it on. He's still young enough to have to go on it for safety I think.

 

[Johnno260]

Still look at the followme-tandem. Seriously good bit of kit. We toured with a 4 year old using it. Stable and allowed use of full pannier rack. Although it was a battle getting him on it because the routes in Holland are so good for free ranging kids.

If there wasn't a risk we'd still need it I'd consider selling it on. He's still young enough to have to go on it for safety I think.

I'm seriously having a look at one of those, they look so solid.

 

[Milkfloat]

Trailgator worked for me after I tightened it beyond 'bastard tight'. First time at normal tightness we had a good 45 degree lean after a couple of miles. I found the key place for bastard tightness was at the headtube.

 

[Johnno260]

Trailgator worked for me after I tightened it beyond 'bastard tight'. First time at normal tightness we had a good 45 degree lean after a couple of miles. I found the key place for bastard tightness was at the headtube.

Same the head tube paint work is wrecked, also seat post needs to be tight and straight as an arrow I found.

 

[Time Waster]

They are solid but don't expect perfection. You'll be surprised when your little one shifts weight and it actually is very noticeable. We toured fully loaded and it was always on my bike. Great when he's free ranging. When attached you feel every bit of his efforts.

Seriously, he used to get out of his saddle and give it some effort. Only 4.5 years old but it was enough to feel his extra effort. Then when he leaned to look ahead, I'd feel it and have to make a mini - adjustment. We learnt to have fun by making sudden sideways movement when the other person wasn't expecting it.

It is however not like the faults I've heard about trail gator. It's more about unavoidable facts of shifting weight when the attached bikes are so firmly attached.

BTW I found out that it's easily switched from one towing bike to another with a simple switching of the QR. Wheel size isn't critical between 700c and 26" which surprised me. I thought we'd have to adjust the location of the towed bike bracket up the down tube to lift the wheel to the best height for the switch to 26" towing wheel. Or just get two QRs so you don't have to switch one between bikes.

I'm thinking if using it on my recumbent. That will be interesting.

 

[Dan B]

We have our followme attached to the christiania currently (24" wheels). I wondered if we'd have trouble with it grounding out on speedhumps or something, but no issues yet. It used to swap between that and a 700c bike but the latter got nicked.

 

[User10119]

Daughter hated the trail gator to and she didnt like the tag along either so no if we want a family ride its limited to the local trail now she is big enough to ride unaided.

We never tried a trailgator/follow-me or anything like that, but got on reasonably with a tagalong - it was a rather splendid islabikes one though, which seemed like a much better design than the seatpost-mounted ones to me. However the game-changer for my youngest and I was buying the Helios. Best thing I have EVER bought.
We love our bike!
View attachment 410844 View attachment 410845

 

[cyberknight]

[QUOTE 5254654, member: 10119"]We never tried a trailgator/follow-me or anything like that, but got on reasonably with a tagalong - it was a rather splendid islabikes one though, which seemed like a much better design than the seatpost-mounted ones to me. However the game-changer for my youngest and I was buying the Helios. Best thing I have EVER bought.
We love our bike!
View attachment 410844 View attachment 410845 [/QUOTE]
My daughter doesnt like exercise enough to justify anything else TBH , should see the moans i get when she has to walk home from school although when her school friend wanted to play tag much running ensued with no complaints

 

[Black Sheep]

My daughter doesnt like exercise enough to justify anything else TBH , should see the moans i get when she has to walk home from school although when her school friend wanted to play tag much running ensued with no complaints

My daughter is 4 and 'doesn't like walking' but suggest going to the pub through the woods and she'll go get her hiking boots, the issue is walking following a road to get somewhere is quite repetitive and boring, going through the woods or even up the top of the moor is enjoyable.