Trail Gator Tow bar and Accessories

I wanted some way to bring the kid along on longer bike trips, but she's barely out of training wheels and her kid-sized, fixed-gear bike with small wheels was never going to let her keep up. The tagalongs seemed like a possibly solution, but they were big, heavy, expensive and then she doesn't get to ride along. Then my wife found the Trailgator and it works like a charm. I connect the kid's bike, she gets on, I get to take her through traffic and at speeds she could never reach by pedaling and when we get to the bike trail we uncouple and she bikes on her own until she's tired. Then I take her home again - no muss, no fuss. Coupling and uncoupling takes about 30 seconds, if that. The connection is sturdy (as is the whole Trailgator) and the towed bike is exactly where it should be. You definitely notice the extra weight and you'll need to take corners more carefully, but it's really not a problem. The kid's pedaling doesn't seem to help at all, but it may make them feel like they're doing something. Hills are a challenge and you may want to ensure you've got low gearing if you're tackling a bunch of them. But in general I don't feel any major issues no matter how much my kid is shifting, pedaling or looking around behind me. Just be aware you're towing about 80-100lbs of combined bike and kid behind you. Installation is not as difficult as some people are complaining about. The instructions are pretty clear, especially if you carefully read them and look at the accompanying diagrams. The design of the whole thing is actually pretty clever. I borrowed a torque wrench, but in retrospect I didn't really need to bother as long as I cranked things down as tight as I possibly could. Some points: - Make damn good and sure your seat height is where you want it before you start because you will NOT be able to lower it after the Trailgator is installed. - Find something to use as non-slip padding under the mounting bracket for the kid's bike. Someone else suggested an old inner tube and I ended up using a rubber backing for carpet. Either way, you are going to be cranking down those curved U-bolts as tight as you can and you do NOT want them to slip. This will prevent damage to the paint on the towed bike and keep anything from slipping - which is where I think most of the complaints are coming from. Tighten your damn bolts, people! - There are a number of variable parts that support different bike shapes and sizes. Again, read the instructions carefully and use the options you need to fit your bike. The shims for the mount on the towed bike are going to be essential to get the correct ride height and you may have to test that front mount a couple of times to get the angle correct. A power nut driver with a deep socket is ESSENTIAL for this! Same goes for the shims that fit around the seat post and front forks. Try to see what fits and be prepared to backtrack if it isn't working. - The front wheel stabilizer seems to be easier to install on the handlebars, rather than the front fork but YMMV depending on the towed bike. - You may have to think a bit outside the box. For example, I found it easier to connect the storage bracket to a hole for mounting a carry rack rather than to my rear wheel bolt since the quick-release got in the way. That took an extra washer or two to get the spacing right, but it was simple enough and the bracket is rock solid. Overall, the whole thing adds about 20lbs to the towing bike when stored, but it's not particularly noticeable. You will not be able to use this with any sort of of rear carrying rack, though. Overall, this is a fantastic item and worth every penny. I particularly like the fact that when by daughter outgrows her current bike and moves up a size, I can just move the mounting bracket over and continue to tow her for a few more years. I found it pretty easy to install and it works better than I expected. Excellent product with a very clever design.

I am quite a handy person. Even built a loft from scratch with my 6 year old for him. With all the raving reviews I had to have this product now that he can ride by himself but not for 12 miles. First the directions aren't very good, second they forgot to give me a bag that had a bracket that with my mount I didn't need but could have. It took me over 2 hours of trial and error to get this right. First problem was his bike is a 20" and on my wifes bike her seat isn't high enough to elevate his front tire. That was after monkeying with his mounting bracket and spacers for 30 minutes. Then mount it onto my bike. Then back to an additional 20 minutes of getting his spacers right again and the 4 bolts. The support arm to prevent his handlebars from moving pops onto a little ball and works when it stays connected. We did a test run around the block and the little guy thought this was great. Following day we meet up with 20 people after an hour drive for a nice Memorial Day 12 mile ride. The kid starts out riding himself and after .5 miles is upset there are so many people on the trail and wants to be attached. Ah HA this is perfect and I am a great Dad for having this all taken care of. We get rolling and he doesn't like how wobbly it is (We have a Wee-Ride tandem he has used for years and loves). I calm him down and not .75 mile later the handle bar stabilizer pops off and he freaks out. We stop. Spend 20 minutes talking him back into having confidence in this product because the reviews were so good. I make an adjustment while the other 17 people on the ride continue on. He gets back on and within 1 minute pops off again and he is done. We end up having to walk back that 1.5 miles to the car and drive to meet the rest of the group for lunch. On the way back he swapped with his little brother and rode the Wee-Ride back and had a great time. We bought a second for another friend who was doing this ride with us. After 2 hours of them trying they gave up and didn't even bring it with. Big dissapointment since the up side is great but the execution was lacking. Nice sturdy steel but when you have too many moving parts you are bound to have movement. This will definitely be going back. I'm just glad he didn't get injured.

Used it 4 times now, around 16 miles of riding and it works great! It was mildly difficult to assemble but once assembled easy to hook up and has worked as expected. There is a slight give in the piece that attaches to the adult bike that causes the kids bike to sway back and forth. Nothing major. My 3 year old daughter just got started on trailing wheels and was comfortable with the tow bar after 2 slow rides.

I was cautiously optimistic about purchasing this product based on some of the other reviews that I read on Amazon. Having used it several times now, I like it very much. It is not without its drawbacks, but is a reasonable variant of the numerous "trailer bike" type solutions in the market. It fulfills my main requirement of getting my young son and his bike from my house to an area that is more friendly to him riding on his own. I did not encounter the problem some people noted about the connecting pin in the bar being loose. The one on mine has a very tight fit and has no slop. There is a small, but acceptable amount of slop where the bar connects to the bracket on the child's bike. To be clear, I was able to mount the bracket to the child's bike very securely. This is slop between the bar and the bracket and is mitigated by the quick-release bolt that goes through this connection. The weakest point that I see with this design is the bracket that attaches to the child's bike. I had to tighten this several times over the course of a few test rides. The problem is that if the bracket is not tightened sufficiently, then the child's bike will start to pivot in the bracket. This might not have been an issue if I'd had a torque wrench. I see this as a necessary evil in the design. A purpose-built trailer bike will not have this problem since the towing arm and the childs bike are a single unit. Having this bracket allows me to tow a real bicycle. As a competitive cyclist who does their own bicycle maintenance, I found this product to be relatively easy to install. The bracket will damage the paint on the child's bike. This was not an issue for me. I also used a spare "heavy duty" seat post to attach the bar on my bike because I was nervous about scratching the paint on my "good/light" seat post. The bracket that stays on the adult's seat post has some mass, so this solution has the added advantage of allowing me to trade seats/seatposts depending on whether I plan to ride by myself or with my child. Pros: * Allows me to tow a child's bike with or without child on it. * Can connect/disconnect bikes without a lot of effort. * The price was reasonable. Cons: * It's heavy, but I suppose that means it's sturdy. * Quick release bolts go through holes, so connect/disconnect is more work than changing a bicycle wheel that has a quick release. Again, this makes for a more solid connection, so I can live with this.

Our family doesn't have a car we walk or use bikes everywhere we go. Our son, 4yo, has reached the maximum weight for most child bike seats, except the bobike junior. We wanted him to start riding with us on his own bike so he would be able to learn to ride to get used to running errands as he grows up. The adult bike carries the bar when not in use without being obstructive to the bike's function. Both bikes are always read o ride together or apart. The problems with having him ride with us are that four year olds are VERY sloooow, lol! Also, they get tired very quickly, and also don't know the rules of the road. Before we got this Trail-Gator we had to drive exclusively on the sidewalks with him for his safety because our city's streets are very busy. We were about to get the boBike Junior child seat, but gave one more look into trailers for children because of the capacity of cargo they can hold. Then we found this! The trail behind bikes weren't an option for us because we needed a way to put our bikes on the city's bus's bike racks to get father across town. I'm very excited to have the Trail-Gator tow bar because it solves all of our current family biking problems. I'll list the problems and how the tow bar has helped them below: 1. Slow riding of younger children- This tow bar is great because you are pulling your child behind you and they go as fast as you. They can help pedal and everything! Going up hills is easier because two people are pedaling. I'm a 5'4" non-athletic girl but I can barely tell a difference when he's attatched (unless he squeezes the breaks! But, we have talked about that now with him. lol) I don't think it affects how fast I ride very much at all. 2. Tired children can't ride very far- With the tow bar the child doesn't need to pedal when he's tired, yet he still gets to bike like a big boy. Honestly, I can't tell when he's pedaling or not, except on very steep hills. This gives my son the grown-up feeling of running errands with the family, but without overwhelming him by needing to be able to make it all the way by himself. Also, my son LOVES riding together on it so he perks up anytime we do go for a ride. 3. Small children can't safely drive on the road- For me it's hard to even have my son drive on the sidewalk knowing he could just pedal off into the road on accident. Also, it's much faster to drive on the road to get most places because roads are simply made to go places. Also, not everywhere has sidewalks. With the tow bar my son doesn't need to know the rules of the road because I already know them. Also, an added benefit here is that he gets to learn how to safely drive on the road firsthand. 4. Most other child biking options that would work for bikes wouldn't work for buses and trains- The tow behind tandem style bike attachments, which only have one wheel, can't be put on a bus's bike rack. Child seats allow bikes to go on a bus's rack, but most have a 40lb weight limit. Big pull behind cargo style trailers need to be detached then pushed onto the bus, taking up a wheelchair spot, and the child doesn't get any riding experience. Since the Trail-Gator quick releases from the child's bike and has a storage clip for the adult bike so the bikes can be detached fairly easily and then put on a bus or trains racks separately. The biggest unforeseen benefits of the tow bar are that the kid can learn to ride without training wheels because the adult bike holds him up, but still allows a little wobble, and that the child can get first person instruction from the adult on how to navigate biking safely through the streets. Actually the child seat allowed for instruction, but not while my son was riding too. Also, people love seeing the bikes together in action. Lot's of questions of where we got it, "whoa, that's cool!", horn honking, etc. Hopefully, seeing us bike encourages people to bike more often to things nearby. If you are a worried caregiver who wonders about the child falling off while riding Amazon also has a child bike backrest with a seat belt for sale. As a preschool teacher I don't think a back rest is necessary for ages 3 and up because they can usually understand that adults provide them safety and they need to listen to them so they wont lose focus easily while riding. If you are wondering, get the bar first and test it out for 15 minutes or so before taking any itineraried adventures. We've had it for over a month now using it almost everyday and we haven't had any problems with it so far. Also, the bar is attached to a cheap walmart mountain bike so I'm confident it will work with most bikes.

For those with kids who are between the bike seat stage and sustained, independent riding stage, this seems like the perfect stop-gap solution. Your kid can ride independently for a time and then link up with you when they get tired. It's a really brilliant idea. The problem is, as many others have noted, the connection between the tow bar and the trailing bike is simply too unstable. First off, there are multiple points between the trailing bike and towing bike where just a little bit of play between the parts can get get compounded to a major side-to-side wobble that my son experienced while he was seated on his bike. This left him feeling very unsecured. The bigger issue, though, is the connection between the tow bar and the trailing bike. On our very first ride, despite tightening the bolts as best I can, the tow bar receiving piece on my son's bike twisted so that my son's bike collapsed to the side and he fell off (I saw what was happening and stopped in time, so he was not seriously hurt). I have since made multiple attempts to find ways to get the connection solid--including using a piece of rubber bike tubing to increase the friction, which a reviewer mentioned here--but I have just found nothing that works. We did use the tow bar a number of times over the summer, but I have just not trusted it for any significant distances or speeds. I finally ditched this tow bar and bought my son a tag-along trailer (when I finally found one in stock) a couple of weeks ago. It is much more stable and I am happy with that purchase. I would suggest most people should go that route and skip this tow bar.

This thing is awesome! We have been using the trail gator for a week or so now and we love it. Our 4 year old does great sitting on her bike and pedaling (when she wants haha). The directions are a teeny confusing but if you read one step at a time and refer to the pictures it’s not so bad. It took me a couple of hours over a two day weekend to get everything installed just right. It’s also very important to tighten everything like the directions say. Otherwise there will be swing and movement that other reviewers mentioned. We did a test ride and some things moved so I readjusted and tightened everything extra and on the second test ride everything stayed put. So tighten, tighten and tighten some more! I have the tow bar installed on my scwhinn and I did have to make sure my seat was back where I wanted it because I won’t be moving this until we are done with it! I definitely won’t be moving it from my bike to hubby’s bike. It took too long to get it all set up correctly to move it. Especially with how tight everything needs to be. I did have to move my rear reflectors but I got it to work just fine. I did use some rubber covering on my kid’s bike so that the hardware won’t scratch the paint on her bike, I think it also helps with any slippage and keeps everything firmly in place. I saw some other reviewers do the same thing. We do take the training wheels off to use the tow bar and just put them back on when she wants to ride solo. But the directions do say not to use the training wheels while using the tow bar. It’s helping my daughter learn to balance quicker on her own and get the feel of a two wheeled bike. We have had no issues with the bar twisting or turning. My kiddo stays straight in line behind me right where she should be. It’s pretty easy to hook on and unhook for when your child wants to ride solo or be towed. Takes just a few minutes with the bolts. I do notice a difference when she is pedaling vs when she is not haha but her bike wheel spins freely if she decides not to pedal so it works great. The tow bar itself stows nicely to the side when the kid bike is unhooked. My only issue is the clamp doesn’t fit because the stabilizer bar for the kids front wheel gets in the way. Otherwise I would highly recommend this if you want to be able to tow your child and their bike for longer rides. We have not had any of the issues that some of the lower reviews posted about, I read a lot of reviews on this before purchasing and as long as you follow the directions and tighten everything appropriately then the issues those reviews mention shouldn’t be issues.

**Mine was missing hardware when it arrived. I purchased the quick release pin and a few other parts separately, and Amazon gave me a discount, so I will not let that effect my review otherwise, but its worth noting** Installation takes for ever. I'm a fairly competent weekend warrior mechanic, and this took me a couple hours to get the torque specs right, adjust, readjust, etc.. Directions are terrible (mine were torn). If you use common sense, they eventually become coherent. The idea behind this product is brilliant. Its one of just a few out there that will let your child ride his/her bike and then reconnect them when they get tired. I didn't want a Follow-Me product because they cant ride independently. Love the idea of this, but its a little on the cheap side and flimsy. Lots of folks complained about the part that connects to the child's bike frame coming lose and turning. I stuck anti-slip rubber pieces under and torqued to spec with a torque wrench and I didn't have any issues. However, I do have the leaning issue that many complain about. I've read that if you change the rotation of the seat post connection piece that should minimize or eliminate the lean. I have had little luck after readjusting a few times. I'll give it a go once more, but I think its just a matter of fact with these. Either way, both my 3 year old and 5 year old boys love riding behind me. We just took this on the Peddlers' Jamboree in Iowa (22 miles each way) and they had a blast. The lean is a little annoying and can make steering a little awkward for the parent. I hit the gravel a couple times because my kids were leaning back and forth (intentionally). They didn't complain about it being uncomfortable or annoying, but its there. Its less pronounced with the lighter child. Its quick and easy to switch from towing to independent riding. Just undo a few quick release pins and you can switch in 2 min flat. No problem and I'm impressed at how easy it is, and how well it stays put on my bike when not in use. With that said, we're keeping it. Not the best, but fun and works well enough.