Tag a-longs???

[ridenread]

Hi I am a relatively new riderwho has been lurking here for the last month or so.I have been getting back into riding over the past few months and am loving it. I have a few different bikes my recent love being a KHS FLite 300. Problem is I have a six year old who is not all that enthusiastic about riding which limits my riding time. I always rode as I kid and would love for him to find the joy in riding as well. He has a bike with training wheels and is still trying to master it. He is definitely having problems with balance. So.....I was wondering if he would be more successful with a tag a long attached to my bike. I have never used one and was wondering if any one could share their experience with them. I know once he feels and sees what a bike can do he will love it as much as I do but for now he is just frustrated and not all that interested. Any insights who be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[fastdogs]

I'll be watching the responses too, I have an older gary fisher trail a bike that I got used but have never used. My son is 4 and can't reach the pedals yet. He also rides a bike with training wheels, but not fast enough to stay up with even a very slow rider like me, and he still gets very distracted by everything as we're riding. He doesn't like riding in a trailer, though, so we don't even take it out any more.
My concerns with the trail a bike is that it might be hard to handle if he shifts his weight- there is some play in the connection, so the bike can sort of shift side to side kind of like he does with the training wheels.
vickie

[ridenread]

Thanks for responding Vickie. My son is very slow riding with the training wheels In fact,I walk beside him. He has trouble on even the slightest incline. When he picks up speed going down even the slightest hill, basically what most people would refer to as flat, he tends to panic and either brakes or falls over. I don't know if he could manage a trailer but am thinking that I would provide most of the balance but really don't know how sturdy they are. Again any help would be appreciated. thanks

[IGGY]

Hi guys-my neighbor has the "bike on a stick" where it basically attaches their bike to yours, you do all the work, they sit back there and pedal or not and hold on. A lot of the autisitc kids I teach use them because they are very proficient riders, but no sense of danger. My 4 year old who is very slow on her training wheels took a spin on it the other day and was frantic. However, her friend who is a good rider, LOVES IT, and that family goes all over-they are constantly stopped and asked for photo ops and questions about it.
I think if we were to take it to a parking lot and just toodled around a flat area for a good while, and she got a feel for it, she'd eventually like it. She wants to ride with mom, so she does have some motivation.
My husband took my 8 year old on it, (she's a good rider, just not a lot of stamina) and he said she was really wiggly and he could feel her moving around a lot. In her defense she has long legs, and looked really cramped. Her knees were coming up really high.
Take all that info. for what it's worth!

[DebW]

We got my nephew on one of those last year when he was 4. He did great on it after a a little practice. The adult's bike does tend to lurch when the child moves, so I recommend using it mainly when you have a wide lane and room to manuever.

[ridenread]

Thanks for the input. I was thinking we would use it mainly on paved bike paths without much traffic until he gets the hang of it and I get the hang of towing. Before I get one I am trying to get as much info as possible to see if it would be worth the expense. I am also going to check the LBS that does bike rentals , to see if they might rent them out to give it a try.
Thanks

[Irulan]

We got my nephew on one of those last year when he was 4. He did great on it after a a little practice. The adult's bike does tend to lurch when the child moves, so I recommend using it mainly when you have a wide lane and room to manuever.

I know of more than a few people who use these on easy singletrack.

[nic840]

I use mine all the time. I have a shorter almost 5 year old and she has been on it for about 4 months. We love it! You just have to get the hang of tilting it over when they dismount and just giving them cues on what you are about to do.
We have the single burley trailer attached to the trail-a-bike so it is a triple train. We take it to the grocery store, soccer practice and soccer games. The girls love it! I did attach two long neon flags to the trail-a-bike and to the Burley so we get noticed.

If you are purchasing one I would recommend buying either an Adams brand or Trek. The cheaper ones you get at Target (Schwinn) are not as sturdy and harder to find replacement parts for. Craigslist is a great way to find one. They don't get abused like normal kids bikes and are usually in almost new condition.
Have fun!!!

[kie_fujo]

my 8yr old is terrified to learn to ride her bike and we have been using our tag a long a lot. it did take some getting used to but you do adjust. i think they are great!!

[ridenread]

Thank you all for the input. Looks like something we will persue

[runnbike]

Sorry I'm a little late getting in on this thread, but my son is now four and we tested him on a friends tag, he LOVED it. Problem is I don't. I've been pulling him in a Chariot Carrier for years and it's fantastic. The tag makes my bike VERY unstable. I'm 5'2" on a 51 cm Specialized Ruby Comp WSD. I purchased a new Burley Picallo which uses a rack mount and I am hoping will lower my center of gravity back to a managable area. I'd like input on a few things...
1. Should I be concerned pulling a bike with a carbon frame road bike?
2. I'm having to get creative mounting the rack since the bike was not designed for them. Anyone else have experience with this?

[featuretile]

I just bought my little grandson (2 years old) a running bike or balance bike. I saw a video of kids on this. It is a bike with no cranks that teaches balance. The child walks the bike and eventually picks up his feet and glides when he runs with the bike. The seat and handlebars go up to accommodate bigger children. I would have gotten one for my son if they had been around back then. Apparently, the pedaling gets in the way of learning balance. The literature says that once they master balance with this bike, they don't even need training wheels and go straight to a regular bike. Here's a link to Amazon with a picture. It might help kids who are afraid of bikes. We'll see how long it takes a 2 year old to learn to glide. He looks like he is really enjoying just walking on this 'big boy' bike (which is all he is doing so far).

http://www.amazon.com/Strider-Sports-PREbike-in-Orange/dp/B001SRRWKA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1262743380&sr=1-3

[pinkbikes]

Sorry I'm a little late getting in on this thread, but my son is now four and we tested him on a friends tag, he LOVED it. Problem is I don't. I've been pulling him in a Chariot Carrier for years and it's fantastic. The tag makes my bike VERY unstable. I'm 5'2" on a 51 cm Specialized Ruby Comp WSD. I purchased a new Burley Picallo which uses a rack mount and I am hoping will lower my center of gravity back to a managable area. I'd like input on a few things...
1. Should I be concerned pulling a bike with a carbon frame road bike?
2. I'm having to get creative mounting the rack since the bike was not designed for them. Anyone else have experience with this?

I towed my daughter on a tagalong for a few years. But I must say I didn't ever do it with my road bike and I don't think I ever would. I used my hybrid, which was a lot more forgiving of the movement out back (being a less flexible frame and heavier) and had nice fatter tyres and more substantial brakes.

Depending on the hitch system, where you locate it on the seatpost and the frame configuration, the loads can be close to point loads at the frame nodes, so they are not inherently bad. This is especially so on a bike which has been designed with some redundancy to allow for carrying loads (ie touring/hybrid bikes that you would expect to fit with racks and panniers and load on up).

But I would probably be quite concerned about loading up a road bike which is probably a more optimised design, and not set up for all of the additional loads being transmitted through parts of the bike where they are not intended. I would worry even more-so if you are being creative with mounting it in such a way that the loads may transmit twisting loads through the frame.

As for not enjoying the towing experience of the tagalong - you may be finding it unpleasant in the same way it is unpleasant towing a big trailer with too light a car - the trailer steers the car. There is a reason why towing laws (here anyway) state that the mass of the towing vehicle must be a certain percentage of the towed vehicle! I suspect the same should probably apply with taglongs to prevent the tagalong having too much influence over the ride on the tow-bike! They can be a bit deadly when the kids get all boisterous!:)

I have also helped a friend adapt her daughter to the same tagalong I used (a few other riders have used it in between) and the biggest thing is to train the kid that riding is a little bit serious. I sort of rode shotgun for the first little while to try to get the munchkin to sit evenly on the tagalong, keep both hands on the handlebars and look ahead. It makes a huge difference to the comfort of the tow-rider and stops them having that awful "tank-slapper" feeling when the kid suddenly whips around on their seat to point at something behind them that caught their attention.

Of course she was doing really well when I ruined the whole effect by singing the "there was an old woman who swallowed a fly" song to her as we rode along. When I got to the verse about swallowing a spider "who wriggled and giggled and jiggled inside her" the munchkin wriggled violently and nearly tossed her mother off the tow-bike!:o

That being said, mother and daughter (5yo) completed 4days of the Cycle Queensland without killing one another, so we did ok. CQ is a 9day tour of 500-700km depending on route.