Kids trailer bike (Adams Trail A Bike)
Discussion
Hoping to get some info from PH cyclists who ride with kids in tow (literally 
)
I'm trying to get my 6 year old in to the joys of cycling, but at the moment he's not keen on riding a bike of his own (have tried and tried to teach him, but he just doesn't get it).
Not wanting to persist with getting him to ride his own bike, and perhaps putting him off completely - we thought we'd try a tag-alone/trailer bike. Found an Adams "Trail A Bike" locally on Gumtree. It's basically a kids bike without a front wheel/forks, with a long metal "arm" that you attach to the seat post of the adult bike.
I thought that he could experience being on a bike without actually having to worry about pedalling or staying upright.
However, with it attached to my mountain bike, its affected the handling somewhat - almost to the point of being what I would consider to be dangerous. Basically, it seems nigh on impossible to stay in a straight line. Every time my son moves slightly in the saddle, or tries to pedal, my bike seems to move sharply to the left or right.
I'm guessing this isn't right - and on checking the thing over, I noticed that the bolts/metal block that forms the "hitch" seemed to have quite a lot of play in them (although still secure). I can't seem to adjust it any tighter, so I suspect this might be contributing to (or causing) the handling issue.
However, although a replacement block complete with bolts seem to be readily (and cheaply) available as a spare part in the USA, I can't find anywhere in the UK that has them.
Just wondered if anyone had tried one of these tag-along bikes before, and is dodgy handling an unavoidable trait?
And, does anyone know where I might be able to buy Adams spares in the UK?
Thanks!
)I'm trying to get my 6 year old in to the joys of cycling, but at the moment he's not keen on riding a bike of his own (have tried and tried to teach him, but he just doesn't get it).
Not wanting to persist with getting him to ride his own bike, and perhaps putting him off completely - we thought we'd try a tag-alone/trailer bike. Found an Adams "Trail A Bike" locally on Gumtree. It's basically a kids bike without a front wheel/forks, with a long metal "arm" that you attach to the seat post of the adult bike.
I thought that he could experience being on a bike without actually having to worry about pedalling or staying upright.
However, with it attached to my mountain bike, its affected the handling somewhat - almost to the point of being what I would consider to be dangerous. Basically, it seems nigh on impossible to stay in a straight line. Every time my son moves slightly in the saddle, or tries to pedal, my bike seems to move sharply to the left or right.
I'm guessing this isn't right - and on checking the thing over, I noticed that the bolts/metal block that forms the "hitch" seemed to have quite a lot of play in them (although still secure). I can't seem to adjust it any tighter, so I suspect this might be contributing to (or causing) the handling issue.
However, although a replacement block complete with bolts seem to be readily (and cheaply) available as a spare part in the USA, I can't find anywhere in the UK that has them.
Just wondered if anyone had tried one of these tag-along bikes before, and is dodgy handling an unavoidable trait?
And, does anyone know where I might be able to buy Adams spares in the UK?
Thanks!
I can only really advise on what I've got which is this: http://www.followmetandem.co.uk/
It's brilliant though not the cheapest thing around. Means I can tow my lad around and along the roads to somewhere he can cycle safely then unhitch him and away he goes. Also if he gets tired I can hook him back up again and carry on.
Never had any concerns with how it handles or instability. Works well for me except when the little monkey has decided to drag the brake on his own bike to make Dad do some extra work.
I think the fact that he's on his own bike really helps too though he's been pretty good on the cycling front, got his first Islabike for his fourth birthday having been on a balance bike up until then. Rode the new bike around the car park second time of asking, never used stabilizers. Looks like his sister is going the same way as she's got pretty good on the balance bike.
It's brilliant though not the cheapest thing around. Means I can tow my lad around and along the roads to somewhere he can cycle safely then unhitch him and away he goes. Also if he gets tired I can hook him back up again and carry on.
Never had any concerns with how it handles or instability. Works well for me except when the little monkey has decided to drag the brake on his own bike to make Dad do some extra work.
I think the fact that he's on his own bike really helps too though he's been pretty good on the cycling front, got his first Islabike for his fourth birthday having been on a balance bike up until then. Rode the new bike around the car park second time of asking, never used stabilizers. Looks like his sister is going the same way as she's got pretty good on the balance bike.
C0ffin D0dger said:
I can only really advise on what I've got which is this: http://www.followmetandem.co.uk/
It's brilliant though not the cheapest thing around. Means I can tow my lad around and along the roads to somewhere he can cycle safely then unhitch him and away he goes. Also if he gets tired I can hook him back up again and carry on.
Never had any concerns with how it handles or instability. Works well for me except when the little monkey has decided to drag the brake on his own bike to make Dad do some extra work.
I think the fact that he's on his own bike really helps too though he's been pretty good on the cycling front, got his first Islabike for his fourth birthday having been on a balance bike up until then. Rode the new bike around the car park second time of asking, never used stabilizers. Looks like his sister is going the same way as she's got pretty good on the balance bike.
Thanks, that looks great - and I'd especially like him to be able to use his own bike.It's brilliant though not the cheapest thing around. Means I can tow my lad around and along the roads to somewhere he can cycle safely then unhitch him and away he goes. Also if he gets tired I can hook him back up again and carry on.
Never had any concerns with how it handles or instability. Works well for me except when the little monkey has decided to drag the brake on his own bike to make Dad do some extra work.
I think the fact that he's on his own bike really helps too though he's been pretty good on the cycling front, got his first Islabike for his fourth birthday having been on a balance bike up until then. Rode the new bike around the car park second time of asking, never used stabilizers. Looks like his sister is going the same way as she's got pretty good on the balance bike.
He struggles with the whole balance thing, and is scared to go at a pace that's quick enough to aid balance. We'll get there eventually, but I've resigned myself to having to wait until it becomes "his idea"
vetrof said:
We actually did try a Trail Gator once too, and I found a similar "wayward" handling issue. Beginning to think perhaps the problem is with my mountain bike or the seat post or something I have a tandem Adams trail-a-bike, we had some stability issues and if my boys want to rock the boat they can still cause problems. I bought a new hitchblock and that took some of the play out of it. Ours is very old (90's maybe), I got it from a colleague who'd worked in the states and brought it back with him when he came back, I was expecting to have to do some bits and bobs to it to get it in order.
In your situation I would definitely go with a trail-gator though. We have one of those as well. That way if the mood takes him you can un-hitch and have him try riding solo once in a while.
I have 3 sons.
My eldest now 7 didn't take much to get him going, he had a balance bike (actually a normal bike I removed the cranks etc. from) and went straight from that to riding normally with no real bother. He only went on the trail-a-bike once or twice.
Middle son is 5, he wasn't confident at all in having a go at riding his bike, spent a lot of time on the trail-a-bike. He was ok on the balance bike, but as soon as he had one with pedals he'd switch off and not seemingly even try to balance. He insisted on having stabilizers which I'm not a fan of, but reluctantly fitted the ones that had come with the bike. Finally this weekend he has managed to get some balance and can now ride along, though he can't yet start off himself and rarely stops gracefully, normally falling off. The trick that worked in the end with him was having the neighbours 8yr old try to teach him and she managed it in under an hour! For months I'd been trying to push him around various fields etc. with him flopping to one side or another. I think she had him on a slight slope in their garden where he could freewheel a bit and not worry about pedaling.
Our youngest is 3, he is using a balance bike atm (specialized hotwalk). His technique is to walk along not sitting on the seat pushing the handle-bars, it's painfully slow, but hopefully he'll get the idea over the summer.
All three have the same bike mad Dad but they are still completely different in how they respond to teaching and how they learn, it's so hard not to pressure them to the point you put them off and arguably I've not managed that with the middle one, lucky there was a more patient teacher next door.
Good luck - I hope you can get out on the trails a bit sometime soon, we have had some really memorable days towing all three of ours along between my wife and I.
In your situation I would definitely go with a trail-gator though. We have one of those as well. That way if the mood takes him you can un-hitch and have him try riding solo once in a while.
I have 3 sons.
My eldest now 7 didn't take much to get him going, he had a balance bike (actually a normal bike I removed the cranks etc. from) and went straight from that to riding normally with no real bother. He only went on the trail-a-bike once or twice.
Middle son is 5, he wasn't confident at all in having a go at riding his bike, spent a lot of time on the trail-a-bike. He was ok on the balance bike, but as soon as he had one with pedals he'd switch off and not seemingly even try to balance. He insisted on having stabilizers which I'm not a fan of, but reluctantly fitted the ones that had come with the bike. Finally this weekend he has managed to get some balance and can now ride along, though he can't yet start off himself and rarely stops gracefully, normally falling off. The trick that worked in the end with him was having the neighbours 8yr old try to teach him and she managed it in under an hour! For months I'd been trying to push him around various fields etc. with him flopping to one side or another. I think she had him on a slight slope in their garden where he could freewheel a bit and not worry about pedaling.
Our youngest is 3, he is using a balance bike atm (specialized hotwalk). His technique is to walk along not sitting on the seat pushing the handle-bars, it's painfully slow, but hopefully he'll get the idea over the summer.
All three have the same bike mad Dad but they are still completely different in how they respond to teaching and how they learn, it's so hard not to pressure them to the point you put them off and arguably I've not managed that with the middle one, lucky there was a more patient teacher next door.
Good luck - I hope you can get out on the trails a bit sometime soon, we have had some really memorable days towing all three of ours along between my wife and I.
Edited by idiotgap on Monday 10th April 17:33
Edited by idiotgap on Monday 10th April 19:16
We bought 2x Wee Hoo for our twins so my wife and I could still do some mild mountain biking and they could tag along. We've used them quite a bit e.g. in the Brecon Beacons and in Jersey. They love them, but ours where 4 when we bought them (they got too big for the D'Lite Burley bike trailer). So not sure if yours is 6 years old you would get much use out of it, although does say up to age 7.
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