cycle-powered
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Munich Germany (formerly Portland OR, Texas)
Posts: 1,848
Bikes: '02 Specialized FSR, '03 RM Slayer, '99 Raleigh R700, '97 Norco hartail, '89 Stumpjumper
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yes, i have seen this a lot in Adventure Racing and 2 years ago my team used it for the running portion (in cycling we were all pretty close) and it worked GREAT!
also last weekend on a tour in the Alps i saw a dad on a bike pulling his maybe 11 year old son with a rope. it was unelastic so the kid got jerked pretty good as the dad had a lot more weight, but it seemed to work and the kid was handling it fine.
although i personally have not tried it, from what i have seen i think the best is:
* bungie cord or something with some elasticity soas to jerk the rider less and to take up some slack on downhills (if the rope goes slack and you run over it or it gets caught in the drivetrain = bad!) we used some kind of airplane or parachute shielded tubing - sorry i forgot what it's called and my teammate bought it, but it was strong and elastic and easy to work with. i think it's what they often use in bungy jumpy, but only a sngle strand --- oh, yeah, i think it's what the previous poster was meaning: nylon parachute rigging
* easily detachable and re-attachable
i have seen adventure racers mount a bar with a loop to the front of the frame near the headset (the bars causing more side-to-side pull) and then mount another bar on the seat tube of the puller and tie a bungie here and use a hook or carabiner to attach a bungie to the bike being pulled. the rider being pulled can decide when to attach -- he rides up behind the rider, unhooks the hook and attaches to his bar - then if it's downhill he can detach it. ---- actually i've seen it both ways: so that it stay attached to the puller and he wraps it around his seat or his jersey, or that the pullee wraps it around his handlebar when not in use. with your son you might choose the option of the puller so the kid doesn't have to deal with the rope falling into the spokes...
you don't want it too long - on the order of one bike length (3-6 ft)
and you should practice before doing any technical terrain.
and unhook on downhills.
and you must of course keep good communication and work together.
but i think it can work really well - especially if there are long extended climbs or long flat sections.