Recreational & Family - Trail-a-bikes: any buying/using advice?

Son #1 has just about outgrown the Burley trailer and is already a wiz on his own bike, but he's too young to ride on the streets independantly. I'm about to look into the "trail-a-bike" concept and I was wondering if anyone out there had some experiences and/or recommendations to share. I searched the forum and to my surprise I found no posts about these! Guess I'll get this topic rolling...

Well, okay I guess I'll start!

Got one for my son about eight years ago (son is now 14 yrs old and has outgrown it, but i still have the trailer!) and they're really fun to ride. The child can help out with the pedaling effectively under about 12 mph and sometimes I even let him pedal when I'm tired and we are going slow anyway. If the kid is a good rider you don't even know there's a trailer back there unless you're going uphill.

The only recommendation I have is, since the bike-trailer combination is very much like a tandem bike, make sure the child leans the same way you do when turning or cornering, otherwise the bike is hard to control. Don't worry, kids get used to it real fast.

My son just out grew his over the winter. Trailercycles help teach kids where to ride in the road, how a balanced bike should feel, road manners, and bits of bike maintence.

Use a MTB or hybrid comfort bike with good low gearing. Carry a spare tube for the trailercycle and a 15mm open end wrench, as it doesn't have a quick release. I used a small inexpensive seatbag on the child's saddle for the tube. After fumbling with water bottles, I bought my son a Camelback Skeeter hydration pack. The C'back had the added bonus of an eye catching orange panel.

If your using an MTB, find some nice, easy trails out away from the road. That's an experence you'll never be able to replicate once he/she grows out of the trailercycle.

(My trailercycle is NOT for sale. I'm saving it for the next child)

We have two trailer bikes. Both are Trek Mtn Trains. Last year there were only two color choices, but I think this year there are more. The Trek Mtn Train last year was the same bike as the Gary Fisher trailer bike for what it's worth.

The Trek has an adjustable stem that is a nice feature.

We've caught our five year old boy riding with his feet on the handlebars and trying to hop off before we are stopped, etc... so you may want to consider buying a rear view mirror.

I think there is a water bottle boss underneath the downtube, which we don't use. I just carry the bottles on my bike and we stop for water occasionally. I like the idea of a camelback that the earlier poster mentioned, but our kids would probably use them as squirt guns. :rolleyes:

We bought $10 bike computers for each of the trailer bikes. This not only provides something for the kids to do but is instructional as well. Since there is no front wheel you'll have to mount the sensor on the rear wheel. We just barely had enough cable to run back there.

My son did a lot of miles on his trailer-bike. I'm cheap, and just went with an InStep from Play It Again Sports. I used a C'Dale mountain bike with low-gearing as the tractor - and we did our local rails-to-trails in 10-20 mile increments, with one 32 mile jaunt. Had a lot of fun, and established our favorite places along the trail.

I got an adapter to mount a water bottle to the trailer-bike. We put it on the handlebars, so my son had easy access to cold water. I also noticed my son with feet up on the handlebars, or riding no hands / no feet. He also did the quick dismount on several occasions whenever he saw an anole or a skink running across the trail (he loves the lizards!). We're still working on the "let me know before you get off" thing.

We just went into a tandem bike this year. My son will be 8 on Friday, and was getting a little big for the InStep (but could definately still use it if we wanted to). We're having an easy time adjusting to the tandem.

I think there is a water bottle boss underneath the downtube, which we don't use. I just carry the bottles on my bike and we stop for water occasionally. I like the idea of a camelback that the earlier poster mentioned, but our kids would probably use them as squirt guns. :rolleyes:

Those bosses are for a splash gaurd. I run a rental shop and have a few Trek Mountian Trains. IMO, the Adams Trail-A-Bike is easier to maintain for fleet rentals.

Test. Test.

Dan,

Thanks for setting me straight on what those downtube things are on the Mtn Train.

Maybe next time we make a trip to Hunting Island State Park (a very nice beach) we'll leave the trailer bikes at home and try out your Adams bikes!

Sorry about the test. I believe I was experienceing operator error earlier when a reply disappeared.

Anyway, thanks for all the good info. I didn't even know Burley made a trailer bike. I'd love to get one but the budget probably won't go that far. I looked around for a used one to no avail. I'm going to go out and look at some diferent models locally and see where the best compromise might lie. One more thing before I go: I planned on doing a wacky bike--trailer bike--trailer convoy from time to time with my two sons (oldest, 4 yrs old, on the trailer bike and the 2 yr-old in the trailer), but my wife thinks that's crazy. Has anyone else done this three-part rig and was it successful?

--Chris

We got a Trail-A-Bike for our 4 YO (and the family) for Christmas. We took him to the Veloway and he had a blast, other than the one fairly steep short hill-it kind of scared him. I'm pulling him with a road bike, and we look forward to doing some paid rides this spring/summer. Start him out with some 10 milers and stop for a picnic during the ride. We got a folder, which is handy when it comes to traveling w/the bikes.

Toothpick,

A folding one? Who makes that? Now, that you mention it, I guess it would be tough to put one of these things on the roof rack. Are you satisfied with the quality of yours?

It's an Adams Trail-A-Bike. It's their mid-range model. The lower range doesn't fold, while the one up from ours has a derailer. I am satisfied with the quality of ours, but as you probably already know, they're heavy. The way it folds is, you pull out the seatpost and remove a sort of cotter pin which allows it to fold roughly in half. This would allow it to fit in a car trunk rather easily, and does not affect the stability of the bike. I tried to figure out something with a bike rack, but thus far have just set it flat in the bed of the truck. Hope this helps!

I also have the folder trail a bike and my daughter loves it (she is 4). I had to buy it because we now have three kids and the trailer only holds 2! Luckily the trailer hooks onto the end of the trail a bike. We get some funny looks but the kids love it. Of course we don't go very fast like that but it is a lot of fun. What I am going to do when the two in the trailer get too big for the trailer I don't know.

I also have the folder trail a bike and my daughter loves it (she is 4). I had to buy it because we now have three kids and the trailer only holds 2! Luckily the trailer hooks onto the end of the trail a bike. We get some funny looks but the kids love it. Of course we don't go very fast like that but it is a lot of fun. What I am going to do when the two in the trailer get too big for the trailer I don't know.

How about an adult tandem with a child stoker adapter and a tandem trailercycle? (Adams makes one) This set up may be kind of pricey.

DieselDan wrote:

"How about an adult tandem with a child stoker adapter and a tandem trailercycle? (Adams makes one) This set up may be kind of pricey."

Bingo for me! I'm looking for such a solution or set up for a 500 mile ride this July.

Here's a post I just made on the tandem forum hoping for some advice, but this thread is more on topic so I will post it and ask for advice here as well:

Wanted to ask if any of you have any experience towing a trailer bike behind your tandem with a child on it for a week long journey? I am looking at and thinking through a few options.

I currently have 2 tandems for our family, but we have some friends that will be making this 500 mile ride (RAGBRAI) with us this summer who will be coming from overseas (Vienna, Austria) and do not own a tandem - nor will the father and son be bringing their own bikes because they need to ride together on a tandem. Which means I am trying to make arrangements for wheels. This is a couple with their 10 year old son. I have found a local rental shop that can rent a low end, 21 speed 26" wheeled tandem for the week at a fixed price. I could just about double that price and pretty much buy the same low end tandem. :rolleyes:

I am also toying with letting the father and his son use one of our tandems so my wife could ride solo this year on her bike along with her friend (who is bringing her bike from Austria with her) on RAGBRAI. If we did that arrangment, it would mean I would have my 11 year old son as a stoker with me and would need to pull my 8 year old daughter behind us in some sort of a trailerbike. My 2 kids and the son of our friends could all rotate who rides where and take turns over the course of the day or week. That is if we go with a trailerbike option and my wife rides solo instead of captaining her tandem with my daughter. It is all still up in the air and we are trying to figure it out.

One of the more interesting (and costly) options I am looking at is a recumbent trailer bike to pull behind a tandem this summer for this 500 mile trip. It is made by a German company called Hase. It fits someone that is up to 5'2" which means the three children coming along on the 500 mile trip this summer could rotate or take turns sitting on the Trets behind the tandem.

http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/trets.shtml

The other option is something like the Burley Piccolo or one of the trailer bikes from Trek (either a 20" or 24" wheeled, geared version).

In all of the above options, gearing seems to be limited to 6 or 7 gears which probably means little contribution will be coming from the children in terms of providing any forward momentum, but would be better than nothing. In addition, it would be an expense for an item that for all practical purposes is not going to get used that much beyond the 500 mile trip. I can't find any of those options to rent around here.

Do those of you that may have ridden a tandem with a trailerbike have any suggestions? Or do any of you know any outfits that rent better than low-end tandems for a week's duration?

Is it even feasible to think that I could captain a tandem with a child stoker while pulling yet another child in some sort of a trailerbike?

Thanks for any input.

BB

BruceBrown wrote:
Do those of you that may have ridden a tandem with a trailerbike have any suggestions? Or do any of you know any outfits that rent better than low-end tandems for a week's duration?

Is it even feasible to think that I could captain a tandem with a child stoker while pulling yet another child in some sort of a trailerbike?

Thanks for any input.

I've never ridden a tandem, let alone towing a trailercycle. Your stoker will contribute to the towing power, and so will the kids on the trailercycle. You will most likly be slower. Just remember how long your bike will be when making tight corners.

The good news is that on RAGBRAI, tight corners are not much of a problem as the group of 10,000+ riders rides from one side of the state across to the other side.

Does anybody know if there is a trailerbike that comes with more gearing options than a 5, 6 or 7 speed cluster in back and a single chainring up front? It would be nice to have at least a double chainring up front for more gearing options.

BB

I have lots of experience with the Addams Trail-a-Bike and lots more with the Burley Piccolo. Both on a single. The New Trail-a-Bike offers a decent ride, but the hitch develops play over time, so it's not good in the long run. I scrapped mine after 1800 km (I should have done so at around 1200 - 1400 km, but it took 400 extra km for the Piccolo to arrive. The Piccolo is very stable (up to 70 km/h) and the hitch doesn't develop play over time. Last Summer, Ève and I did a 11-day 750-km tour in Québec that included some decent hills too. Even though the bike plus gear weighted 150 lb, we had no problems riding it.

BTW, at 4 and 5, Ève did not contribute enough, but at 5.5 and 6 she contributed her fair share and at 7 she contributed a bit more. IOW, last Summer, there were definitely quite a few times that we were faster than I would have been if I had toured solo.

If I remember correctly, the gearing of the Piccolo is 35 to 75 gear-inches, so it's not great for steep hills or fast runs with the wind at your back. The other aspect is that, even with lower gears (mine is re-geared with 27 to 85 gear-inches approx.) it's easier to climb very steep hills with the child walking that with both riders trying to co-ordinate their efforts.

I have used the Piccolo a few times so far with the tandem, and once I got used to it, it rides well, even in the wind. For a more thorough outlook, ask me in a few months, however...

Finally, other aspects to consider if you use a Trail-a-Bike:
- The Addams doesn't like tight turns, unless you have lots of space.
- You need some seatpost exposed (2", I think) to attach the Trailercycle. Could be a problem if you have a child stoking.
- The lower the bike, the less clearance you have for a rear rack. With my 25" frame, I could even pack the tent on top of the rack; at the other extreme, I have heard of women whose frame was so small the Trail-a-Bike didn't clear a rear rack (i.e. no pannier-carrying capacity).

I Recommend the adams, seems to track a little better. I have 1 now, my girl is now 5, we spent the summer of 2002 renting 1. We drented it for a total of 22 hours, 1-4 hours at a time. My daughter would rather ride with me than any other activity. She truly loves it. I had a bad back from a work injury, I would not ride alone, I was too weak to ride more than 5 miles, but with my little helper I did 15 mile rides daily. Our longest ride was 40 miles, and she wanted to keep going.

I have lots of experience with the Addams Trail-a-Bike and lots more with the Burley Piccolo.

(skip)

If I remember correctly, the gearing of the Piccolo is 35 to 75 gear-inches, so it's not great for steep hills or fast runs with the wind at your back. The other aspect is that, even with lower gears (mine is re-geared with 27 to 85 gear-inches approx.) it's easier to climb very steep hills with the child walking that with both riders trying to co-ordinate their efforts.

I have used the Piccolo a few times so far with the tandem, and once I got used to it, it rides well, even in the wind. For a more thorough outlook, ask me in a few months, however...


Michel,

Do you know if Burley sells the Moose Rack/Hitch for the Piccolo separately as well?

BB

Michel,

Do you know if Burley sells the Moose Rack/Hitch for the Piccolo separately as well?

BB

They do. You need to visit your Burley dealer, and if it si like here in Canada, they will have to order it. If I remember correctly, it was $120 Canadian (I bought it with the bike, so I forgot the exact amount).

Regards,

Thanks, Michel. I will visit my local Burley dealer for the Moose Rack. Does the rack come with that thing (whatever you call it) that sticks up where the Piccolo attaches to it?

BB

Bruce,

I am not sure exactly what is your question. The rack looks exactly like what is left on your current adult bike when you remove the Piccolo: There is the rack with 2 or 3 sets of struts to attach it to the seatstays (the different sets are needed because shorter struts are used with large frames and longer struts with small ones). The rack also has the threaded part in the middle (like a nut) which is the receiving end of the trailercycle hitch.

They made one slight improvement over the last 3 years: the new rack has a small tab welded in the rear, with 2 holes at 2 cm apart (from memory) to attach a light like the Vistalite Super Nebula or a reflector.

Regards,

Hi,
I have a 10 year old son who weighs 80 lbs. He has been trying to learn how to ride a bike but his balance is terrible and he has low muscle tone in his legs. It has been a few years of trying. I want to take the whole family biking with a bike trailer but I noticed they have a limit weight of 85 lbs. We don't want to be stuck at home just because he cannot ride a bike. Do you have any suggestions? Please help!
rcsmaj

rcsmaj - your son might be happier on a tandem bike. It sounds like he is right at the weight limit for a trail-a-bike, but with a tandem you have a lot of years and miles ahead of you. There are lots of options and price ranges for tandems - your best bet might be to rent one and see how the both of you like it. My son loves our tandem, adn enjoys the local rails/trails and the occasional ride home from school on the bike.

Maybe the other part of it is don't pressure your son if he has poor balance and muscle tone. Make it fun, and if he can gain balance and tone - he will.

I know it isn't prefered by many of you, but we love our Trail-gator. it is perfect for allowing independence as well as hooking them up again when the going gets tough. OUrs doesn't lean very much either. We use it on trails mostly.

I have used the Piccolo a few times so far with the tandem, and once I got used to it, it rides well, even in the wind. For a more thorough outlook, ask me in a few months, however...

Well, it’s a few months later, how’s your outlook now?

My situation: My wife and I are very avid cyclists. We have a daughter who will be four in a month and has grown tired of the Burley trailer.

We ordered a Co-Motion tandem which should arrive in about a month :) My plan is to use the trailer the rest of this year and buy a trail-a-bike for next year. OTOH, if my wife and I don’t get along on the tandem, I could go straight to the kid stoker kit.

A question for the group, what speeds do you feel comfortable with using a trail-a-bike? I’m concerned that the speed on the tandem will be greater than 20 mph on flats and 35 mph on down hills.

Does the Burley Piccolo work with a standard rack or does it require a rack from Burley? I would like to have the option of using the trail-a-bike on other bikes without changing the rack.

Finally, a comment on cost - the Piccolo might be more expensive up front, but they are selling for $275-300 on eBay so the end cost really isn’t that much more than other models.

-murray

RE: Speed; My son is 4 and the only time he doesn't particularly like it is on descents where I allow the speed to get to between 25 and 30. I don't really like to go that fast on the trail-a-bike setup anyway due to the safety factor. Your daughter may be different, but although he can ride his bike without training wheels and has had "some" time to get use to the trail-a-bike, he still gives a fair amount of side-to-side "wobble" when he's giving good pedal effort. There's also the attention span issue when he decides to look behind, which can also cause the bike to sway some. Usually at the top of hills I ask him to stay still and not "wobble" on the way down. Hope this helps.

RCSMAJ -- w/ 85# slightly off balance in back be sure you have the upper body strength (and maybe lower back) to handle it. I ride a tandem with my 80# almost 7 year old who is a good biker on her own bike ... but early on I had some lower back pain from balancing. I have since tweeked my set-up and worked up to the experience, but it is more of a workout than I expected. I'm a 42 yr old, 150# ... swimmer and recreational cyclist (I might do a couple hours, 20 miles on my hybrid as a big ride) ... so while I'm generally fit, I'm not a major jock either. Just to give the perspective! Good Luck. BTW, we have a Raleigh Companion and enjoy it very much. It does not cruise the asphalt like a dream, but it's a great starter tandem and handles a cut through the park grass fine in addition to the road. Also the stoker size is relatively small which we needed.

Again, good luck and happy cycling.

P.S. Can your son use a scooter? I saw someone who was having trouble with their kid balancing and the kid couldn't do a scooter. They worked on the scooter ... a regular razor type, roller blade wheels and handle. up and down the block. Once the kid had the scooter balance, the bike came right along.

Well, it’s a few months later, how’s your outlook now?
My situation: My wife and I are very avid cyclists. We have a daughter who will be four in a month and has grown tired of the Burley trailer.

I have gone over the growing pains. I have ridden the tandem 1000 km so far, including about 500-600 km with the trailercycle too. Once I had fine-tuned my position correctly, I find the bike almost as stable with the trailercycle as without. I am now ready to tour with it... both kids and 6 panniers.



A question for the group, what speeds do you feel comfortable with using a trail-a-bike? I’m concerned that the speed on the tandem will be greater than 20 mph on flats and 35 mph on down hills.

Almost as comfortable as with the single bike or the tandem by itself. Once I have dealt with the basic handling issues (i.e. 1-2 long rides), the limiting factors are:
- Stability/solidity of the child: No problem riding at 60-70 km/h with my then 7-year-old child who had ridden it for 3 years (3000 km per year), but I wouldn't do it with my 4-year-old child who is riding on it for her first summer.
- Smoothness of the ride: Bumps and potholes are sometimes hard. It's easy to see the rear end jump too high in the air. IOW, don't ride too fast if there are nasty potholes.
- Emergency stops ahead? I have ridden at 60-70 km/h a few times with the oldest child, but the road was smooth, there were no driveways, and I could watch for deers (or lack thereof) far enough.



Does the Burley Piccolo work with a standard rack or does it require a rack from Burley? I would like to have the option of using the trail-a-bike on other bikes without changing the rack.

It definitely needs its own rack. You can buy more extra racks; I think they are sold at $60-70 U.S., and their stability compares to that of a Tubus Cargo rack AFAIK. IOW, great touring rack.

You don't mention how old your son is, but by the fact that he is whizzing around on his own bike makes me guess that he is 5 or 6. If that is the case, you might want to think about getting a trailerbike with a 24" wheel, instead of the 20" that most trailerbikes come with. That way he won't outgrow the trailerbike until he is about 8 or 9.

I would also definitely recommend a model with gears, as the single speeds are not geared for the kid to help effectively on hills. Believe it or not, a child as young as seven can really be a help pedalling, given the proper gearing. My son's only complaint about the trailerbike was that he could not help out as much as he liked on starts and hills, because the pedals couldn't go around fast enough. We tested and they were in the range of the 6th or 7th gear. I ended up building a wheel around an old 3-speed hub just to get him the gearing that he wanted.

Our trailerbike is a Trek Mountain Train 241 (http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2004/kids/find_right_bike/ages6-9.jsp?selectedbike=mttrain241), but I'd get the next model up which has 6 or 7 speeds.

Mark Stoughton
BikingWithKids.NET (http://www.Bikingwithkids.net)





Son #1 has just about outgrown the Burley trailer and is already a wiz on his own bike, but he's too young to ride on the streets independantly. I'm about to look into the "trail-a-bike" concept and I was wondering if anyone out there had some experiences and/or recommendations to share. I searched the forum and to my surprise I found no posts about these! Guess I'll get this topic rolling...

Just got our Adams Trail A Bike today and put 17 miles on it. I have a 4.5 year old boy and he was game for going that distance (we previously went 10 miles on a beater trail a bike). We made frequent stops every 6-7 miles or so. He has his own Camelbak (Skeeter) and we take plenty of snacks for both of us. He told me several times that this was his "best day ever." We got the Starter model and it actually has a larger chainring and smaller freewheel than the beater = a smoother pedal stroke in the back! I adjusted the rear hub and the bottom bracket (both too tight, but I'm anal). We have slicks all around and the ride was sweet (I'm pulling with a mountain bike). Thanks to all the contributors in this thread.

Just to chime in here on this interesting thread...

we have used a trailer (Bell) and our daughter got tired of it very quickly so we went cheap and bought an InStep tag-a-long (I believe from Target)... she loved it but due to its attaching mount (on the adults seatpost) it had a lot of sway as our daughter would shift around looking at the sights.

We then went up a notch to the Adam's and while better we found it still wasn't rock solid.

Finally we bite the bullet and bought the Burley Piccolo... amazing difference.

It's rock solid, stable when she decides to move around... the rack mount is beefy and doesn't move (as in feel wobbly).

We are so impressed that it's what we will be using on our multi year tour. We are having a framebuilder do some slight alterations to it... adding 3 bottle cage mounts, a custom front and rear rack as well as build up a custom rear wheel that's beefier.

In the end... you get what you pay for.... buy the Piccolo, pay the xtra $$ and when it comes time to re-sell it you'll get your money back for the most part.

RE: Speed; My son is 4 and the only time he doesn't particularly like it is on descents where I allow the speed to get to between 25 and 30. I don't really like to go that fast on the trail-a-bike setup anyway due to the safety factor. Your daughter may be different, but although he can ride his bike without training wheels and has had "some" time to get use to the trail-a-bike, he still gives a fair amount of side-to-side "wobble" when he's giving good pedal effort. There's also the attention span issue when he decides to look behind, which can also cause the bike to sway some. Usually at the top of hills I ask him to stay still and not "wobble" on the way down. Hope this helps.

LOL, I have a 5 year old daughter who rides a Trek Mountain Train trailer bike behind me. She has ridden several rallies with me. I think our top speed we reached was 32mph going downhill. She thought is was cool - "Faster daddy..." I have to laugh about the wobbling around part. Her balance is not great - she has her own bike but cannot ride it without training wheels. Sometimes it feels like I have someone on the back just trying to make me wreck! Fortunately I outweigh her by about 180lbs... On the last rally we did, at one point she decided that all the cracks in the pavement that were patched with tar were in fact LASERS!!! to be avoided at all costs, she would heave violently side to side in an effort to avoid being struck by the LASERS! I talked her into calming down, but the thought did cross my mind as we were descending @ ~32 mph that "I hope she doesn't see any LASERS!!!!" LOL...

I think the trailer bikes are great, we have had a lot of fun.

Interesting to find this thread and read the information here. We're totally new to the trailer-bike realm. Just bought a used Kent Co-Pilot this weekend and have been enjoying it. I realize that's not a top-notch brand/model, but I think it's going to work for us for a while. We shall see. I never dreamed until reading this thread that a trailer-bike could mount in any way other than to the seat post! I'd welcome whatever comments or experience anyone wants to share related to Kent Co-Pilot trailer-bikes.

I've found the Trek Montain Train's stability to be directly related to how tightly the quick release is set. The tighter the better. The mount is designed to allow horizontal and vertical pivoting of the trailerbike, for terrain changed and turns, but the twisting motion allowed is minimal if the bike is attached tightly. If the quick release is set too loosely, twisting can and does occur.

Mark Stoughton
BikingWithKids.NET (http://www.bikingwithkids.net)



Just to chime in here on this interesting thread...

we have used a trailer (Bell) and our daughter got tired of it very quickly so we went cheap and bought an InStep tag-a-long (I believe from Target)... she loved it but due to its attaching mount (on the adults seatpost) it had a lot of sway as our daughter would shift around looking at the sights.

We then went up a notch to the Adam's and while better we found it still wasn't rock solid.

Finally we bite the bullet and bought the Burley Piccolo... amazing difference.

It's rock solid, stable when she decides to move around... the rack mount is beefy and doesn't move (as in feel wobbly).

We are so impressed that it's what we will be using on our multi year tour. We are having a framebuilder do some slight alterations to it... adding 3 bottle cage mounts, a custom front and rear rack as well as build up a custom rear wheel that's beefier.

In the end... you get what you pay for.... buy the Piccolo, pay the xtra $$ and when it comes time to re-sell it you'll get your money back for the most part.

I too bought the starter trailer bike, and found that the gear ratio was too large for effective stoker pedalling. I ended up building a wheel with a three speed hub. I've posted two articles on my solution (with pictures) on my web site at Tale of a Trailer Bike (http://www.bikingwithkids.net/Dad's%20Articles/tale_of_a_trailer_bike.htm) and The Making of a Trailer Bike (http://www.bikingwithkids.net/Dad's%20Articles/making_of_a_trailer_bike.htm)

Mark Stoughton
BikingWithKids.NET (http://www.bikingwithkids.net)


Just got our Adams Trail A Bike today and put 17 miles on it. I have a 4.5 year old boy and he was game for going that distance (we previously went 10 miles on a beater trail a bike). We made frequent stops every 6-7 miles or so. He has his own Camelbak (Skeeter) and we take plenty of snacks for both of us. He told me several times that this was his "best day ever." We got the Starter model and it actually has a larger chainring and smaller freewheel than the beater = a smoother pedal stroke in the back! I adjusted the rear hub and the bottom bracket (both too tight, but I'm anal). We have slicks all around and the ride was sweet (I'm pulling with a mountain bike). Thanks to all the contributors in this thread.

We've been using a trail-a-bike for our 4 year old daughter for the past four months.

We use it around 4-5 times a week for inner-city errands, going to the park, and biking around the bike trails here in Vancouver.

She loves it and has a great time on it. My wife and I each have a trail-a-bike mount on our seatpost so that we can transfer the unit back and forth. My wife's bike is a commuter hybrid and mine's a road bike.

My daughter insisted on getting her own horn, which she uses to great effect at all of the intersections. She has a small hydration pack on her back to let her drink whenever she wants to, and the trail-a bike has an LED backlight so that we can be seen at night.

It's the best biking investment that our family has made this year.


George