Trail Gator

White Horse

Are there any other brands of tow bar avaialble for towing a kid's bike?

I don't need it much but would like to have one but the cheapest I can find the TrailGator is just short of £50 delivered. I was stunned in Halfords when they wanted £80 for what is a metal post with a clamp on each end, particularly given that my hard-floor trailer that seats 2 kids was only £130!

baudman

Not that I know of.

FWIW, it's a VERY solid unit. And not something you'd want to fail.

The way I substantiated it was instead of a Tag-a-long (or, bike-and-a-half as my 4 yr old calls them). So, in essence, we have a tagalong, but also she can ride her own bike. The options it gives you for planning where you want to go, and what you want to do, are great.

SlowingDown

Delivered for £44.90 at DiscountBicycles.co.uk and £41.50 at buybikesnow.com

Not used either website or the product itself but, well, what baudman said...

redvee

Trade price on Trailgators 10 years ago was around the £35 mark.

shaw8670

V.versatile piece of kit, takes no storage space and you can unhook the childs bike and let them ride about at your destination. I expect safety testy and development must have put quite a bit extra on the cost.

secretsam

Look on E-Bay, we're looking to buy two (twins) and they can be had for around £35 each plus postage - say £40 all in.

fnegroni

They are also available from Tesco Direct: £55, but you can use Tesco vouchers, like we did, and essentially get them for free.
Nectar points are also now (since April 1st) worth double, so it is worth using those if possible too.

White Horse

How rude of me! I forgot to post a thanks to all those who answered my question. So thank you all. I have decided to wait until the eldest is off the stabilisers to get one of these.

Thanks again.

baudman

If that's all that's stopping you, (and it would help you getting about) they also sell 'flip up' stabilisers, so you can use a trailgator with them flipped up, and then flip them down once you detach.

Oh, and for getting the eldest off stabilisers - http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12640536

White Horse

I've gone for it. £40.99 delivered from Rutland Cycling. The same shop is selling them on e-bay (that's how I found them as I was looking at 2nd hand-ones but most of them were going for about £30 plus up to a tenner for P&P!!) for £34 plus £7.75 P&P (£41.75 in total).

Eldest is starting to lose the stabilisers by removing the pedals & stabs and scooting around so I'm hopeful she won't need them for much longer.

Shaunw1973

Do you have to leave these things attached to your bike. I can see they're great for towing the kids around, but I don't fany the extra weight when the little on isn't with me.

White Horse

You do, pretty much. Which is why when I received it and looked through the instructions, I duly packed it up and returned it.

You have to remove the seatpost and put a big clamp on there and that stays there. For storage, you unhook it from the child bike and it clips in to a housing that goes on the chain stay. I think you can unhook at the seatpost end and leave attached to the child bike for storage but then you're left with the clamp on the seatpost so if you've got a mudguard or saddle pack on, there's not a lot of room (i.e. not enough!)

baudman

I can take a better pic tomorrow if you like



Now, I'll be the first to say, the geo on this bike is a tad weird, and I do have a long seatpost. But... there's heaps of room for both the trailgator clamp, and my Topeak clamp-on rack.

I tend to ride this bike only when I have one, or both of the girls onboard/attached. To detach the bike from the rear, it's a QR, and the trailgator telescopes in on itself and attaches to a small clamp at the base - that clamp is on the rear axle - but really it sorta sits where your seat stay is.

To remove the trailgator completely, it's another (beefier) QR. But, as White Horse says, the big, beefy, bolt-on clamp is best kept on your seatpost. So if that worries you, then this probably isn't the solution for you. For me? Meh - like that bothers me? I prefer the smile on my daughter's face. And it's on an old heavy ChroMo MoFo anyway.

Shaunw1973

Thanks for the reply. I feared that was the case. It's a shame, would have been perfect for our needs. However, I don't fancy hanging extra weight onto my Spesh.

SimonAH

Just my twopence on the trailgator - I set mine up onto an old seatpost and saddle. On the rarer than not days when i want to use it I just swap over seatposts, two second job and no extranous weight on the bike at other times. Simples.

NormanPrice

I've just got one for my new bike.

I didn't fancy a) clamping it to my lovely carbon seatpost and b) lugging it round with me when my daughter isn't in tow.

If it's just the latter that bothers you then you can remove all but the seatpost clamp and just ride round with the clamp in situ.

If however, the clamp bothers you, which it seems it does, then you could do what I've done. An additional seatpost and saddle.

I've got an an alloy post which the clamp is attached to. When I haven't got my daughter in tow I just whip the alloy post and saddle out and replace with my lovely shiny carbon post and saddle.

I have to say though. I'd say that the trail gator alone adds about 50% of my bikes weight. When my daughters bike is attached this is more like 150%!!!

Shaunw1973

Thanks again. I don't mind spending a bit on an extra seatpost and saddle. I was under the impression there were other attachment points on the adults bike.

SimonAH

Only the clip that holds the bottom of the pole when you have it in the detatched position, and this just clamps under your rear skewer so if you want to take it off it's just a case of flick the quick release, remove the bracket, re-tighten the quick release. You don't have to remove the wheel or the skewer completely, just loosen it for a second.

fnegroni

Shaunw1973 wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I feared that was the case. It's a shame, would have been perfect for our needs. However, I don't fancy hanging extra weight onto my Spesh.

Sorry to come across as paternalising, but this is the 'family' forum.
A spesh is hardly the lightest bike in the world. Half a kilo is hardly going to make a difference.
If you are that much into bikes, surely you have two?
My commuter has even got full mudguards and a pannier rack at the back.
My racer's frame, OTOH, is so lightweight it would crumble if it was to tow another bike...

baudman

NormanPrice wrote:

I didn't fancy a) clamping it to my lovely carbon seatpost ...

I've got an an alloy post which the clamp is attached to!!

Just a comment for others that may be reading this thread.

I would NEVER attach anything to a carbon seatpost. They're not made for that. And, especially something like a trailgator or other tagalong, where you can have lot of torsional stress on it.

What Norman, and the other suggest, is a great idea. QR on the seatpost. Swap out your nice one for an alloy one. Done. 2 seconds. (OK... 11 seconds)

Shaunw1973

fnegroni wrote:

Shaunw1973 wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I feared that was the case. It's a shame, would have been perfect for our needs. However, I don't fancy hanging extra weight onto my Spesh.

Sorry to come across as paternalising, but this is the 'family' forum.
A spesh is hardly the lightest bike in the world. Half a kilo is hardly going to make a difference.
If you are that much into bikes, surely you have two?
My commuter has even got full mudguards and a pannier rack at the back.
My racer's frame, OTOH, is so lightweight it would crumble if it was to tow another bike...

I am perfectly aware this is a family forum, which is why I'm here. I want an option for when my little girl is tired. Also, at what point have I stated I'm 'that much into bikes'?. I wasn't aware that these forums were for hardcore cyclist only. While my Spesh may not seem much to you, it was a lot of money for me to spend on a bike, so I'd like to look after it, and no, I only have the one bike as it's all I need and can afford.

If only you'd been as helpful as everyone else...

baudman

Went for our regular ride today.


I reckon I 'sold' two of them - if you get one, be prepared to answer questions . And, I noticeda brand new one at our local ChildCare centre through the week (where ours is a frequent visitor) 8)

Based on the suggestion in here, I'm contemplating procuring a spare seatpost, and getting another clamp, so I can attach it to my new bike too. That'll mean I can easily do longer distances with Thing1, should we have the need.

baudman

At childcare this morning. (Ours is the one at the rear).

nicklouse

lets hope they were not learning about the Knights of old.

redvee

How many Trailgators could you get away with if you put them onto the back of the kids bike you're towing

fnegroni

I didn't mean to come across as a knob, unfortunately I did, but please let me explain my reply:

Shaunw1973 wrote:

I am perfectly aware this is a family forum, which is why I'm here. I want an option for when my little girl is tired. Also, at what point have I stated I'm 'that much into bikes'?.

Most cyclists who care about a bit of extra weight on their bikes are known as 'weight weenies'. I am one of them to some extent.
They usually are bike geeks.

Specialized's are nice bikes, don't get me wrong, but they are not feather weight and can take a few pounds on the seat post (as most bikes do anyway), so you shouldn't care, unless you are a weight weenie, or a bike geek, which means you are into bikes.

If you are into bikes then surely you don't just buy the best bike you can afford and use it for everything...
I am sure you can buy an old steel framed bike for a mere £20 at the local police auction.

While my Spesh may not seem much to you, it was a lot of money for me to spend on a bike, so I'd like to look after it, and no, I only have the one bike as it's all I need and can afford.

I didn't mean to say the Spesh is not good. I meant to say what I said: they are not the lightest/flimsiest bikes around, and therefore will have absolutely no problem having a bit of extra weight round the seat post.
Looking after it doesn't mean you can't install a bracket to the seatpost.
Isn't your daughter worth it? I am sure she is.

You can even buy an extra seatpost and saddle and use that when you tow your daughter around.
The only part that stays attached to your bike is the bracket. The actual bar can be unhinged from your bike or left on the child's bike when parked up.

little wiser

Hi been reading all your posts and very interesting, me and my partner are torn between a tag along and trail gator but would like the trailgator only problem being im not sure it would attach to my sons bike, can any one post up some pics of the clamp that goes onto childs bike?.
I have been looking and it looks like two u-bolts go around head stock?, if this is the case dont think it will fit :? .
Thanks.

baudman

This is a pic I took of one at our pool, for precisely that reason - to check it out prior to purchase.


Two U bolts, around the head. The thing to note, however, is the U-bolts have kinks in them, to allow you to angle them to suit. So, you can position the actual ends of the Us up, down, closer, or further apart. Undoubtedly, there's probably a few bikes they wouldn't suit, but prob not that many with the variations this provides.

I thoroughly taped around Thing1's bike, so hopefully it won't have scratched it up too badly (if at all). Time will tell, but at the end of the day, meh. It's function first for something like this.

Oh, and at the risk of repeating myself... think of the increased opportunities the ability to detatch and still ride provides, over the straight tagalong. Many ppl with tagalongs who see mine are quite annoyed they didn't know TrailGators existed.

(And no... I don't sell 'em or anything)

Lemme know if you'd like any more pix, and I can take from diff angles etc (the above pick was just a quick one with the phone).