Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 57 total)
  • FollowMe or Trail-Gator ?
  • mrblobby
    Free Member

    FollowMe worth the extra?

    Thanks.

    rossburton
    Free Member

    Oh God that FollowMe looks rather over-engineered. I had a Trail Angel, resold in the UK by Raleigh a few years ago. It looked to have a better connection than the Trail Gator and disconnecting the two bikes and riding independently is easy.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Thanks, hadn’t seen the Trail Angel.

    Do quite like that the FollowMe would still let me run the Hamax seat so I could do both kids. That wouldn’t be possible with the Gator or Trail Angel.

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    bella
    Free Member

    Not used trailangel. Have a follow me and it is a top piece of kit. Only downside is it is heavy when folded up onto the parent bike so a bit odd to ride but not an issue on most terrain. Would definitely recommend.

    sweaman2
    Free Member

    I’ve yet to see a trail gator where the passenger wasn’t leaning over to one side or the other…. sometimes at crazy angles.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    I’ve yet to see a trail gator where the passenger wasn’t leaning over to one side or the other…. sometimes at crazy angles.

    Read that if you do it up really really tight then you might be lucky and it’ll be ok!

    Garry_Lager
    Full Member

    If you can sell the follow-me on for a decent price then it’s probably worth it. The trail-gators are quite rudimentary in design (although they work).
    If you can’t then it’s a bit of a fatuous expense IMHO – we didn’t get a particularly long window of opportunity towing our kid before she was just riding on her own anyways. Young kids have a mental limit on bike rides regardless, so towing is not as versatile as you might think [although great fun for a bit].

    gray
    Full Member

    We bought a Follow Me a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t used it yet. Some friends have one and like it. We’ll hopefully try ours at the weekend. You’d be welcome to come and check it out if you’re interested enough to come over to Oxford.

    gray
    Full Member

    Part of the reason we wanted one was for use on roads where it’s not a good idea for a 4 year old to ride solo,but with easy detachment for when we get to the better bits.

    sweaman2
    Free Member

    Read that if you do it up really really tight then you might be lucky and it’ll be ok!

    It’s your seatpost… 😀

    al2000
    Full Member

    FollowMe is a bit of a contraption and initial setup is a pain, but once that’s done it’s great. Attaching and detaching the kids bike is quick and easy, and towing with it attached feels fine – having it attached at the dropouts makes a real difference. They’re pricy, but I like ours a lot and would happily recommend.

    iain1775
    Free Member

    Have a Trail Angel here
    It’s okay, better than a TrailGator but find I can’t fold it up onto parents bike when little one wants to go solo, it tends to flop back onto top of rear wheel, therefore very rarely use it with kids bike disconnected

    Would love a FollowMe, they look the only real solution that works 100% of the time with minimal faff
    Have been looking for a 2nd hand one on ebay for nearly 18 months, they still go for very good money

    Saccades
    Free Member

    I have 2 trailgators (Thanks GerryLAger), I use an old road tyre to save the kids headtube and the seatpost. I do have an old sacaficial seatpost for each bike (with comfy saddle), but mainly because the bolts can stick out a bit and I prefer not have the weight on the back of the bike if I’m not towing. TO swap over takes 30 seconds a bike.

    It massively extends the range you can go with kids (literally) in tow.

    My 8yo is good for a couple of miles before she is tired and the 5 year old has just learnt how to cycle. So we tow them to the local trails/pub/skatepark/wildlife place, let them cycle around until tired and then tow them back.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Part of the reason we wanted one was for use on roads where it’s not a good idea for a 4 year old to ride solo,but with easy detachment for when we get to the better bits.

    Pretty much my thinking. I’m down in Newbury so if I’ve not brought one soon I may come check it out!

    Have been looking for a 2nd hand one on ebay for nearly 18 months, they still go for very good money

    May just go for it based on that! I should get a few years out of it with a 4yo and a 2yo.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    A few questions for FollowMe owners…. Just wondering how the FollowMe attaches to the back of the bike? Is it just through the QR? What stops it rotating around that? And can I use it with horizontal dropouts?

    eulach
    Full Member

    I’ve got a trail gator and it’s a bugger to set up. It needs to be REALLY tight on the head tube and everything lined up to the millimeter or the child goes sideways as mentioned above. It has a strange use of QR’s to fix it together. I hate riding with it – never with the road bike, I need the wide bars and tyres of the mtb to keep balance when the child suddenly leans unexpectedly to one side.

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Follow me is an outstanding bit of kit. A faff to set up but once done it’s done until they go up a wheel size. Easy to get bike in or out, very stable and doesn’t screw up the balance of the grown up bike in a levering it all from side to side way. Handy if your other half isn’t bike confident but still needs to do towing duties.

    gray
    Full Member

    You can get special nuts for solid axles. I got some to go on my Alfine, but they come in more normal threads too.

    iamtheresurrection
    Full Member

    Had a Trailgator, it was okay. Junior1 thought it was pretty much okay for a ride to the duck pond too.

    Bought a FollowMe after watching him at 25degrees off centre on a ride and not looking over comfy – he loved it immediately (at about 3 years old). Now on a FollowMe with Junior2, and he loves it too. We can do up to 12 miles or so along bridle ways/railway lines (me, 6 year old and 3 year old) and everybody is happy. Really happy.

    Can’t recommend a FollowMe highly enough. It’s too heavy to leave it on the the bike without a kid’s bike attached though…

    smurf
    Free Member

    Picked up a followme on ebay a while back. Youngest is nearly old enough / good enough not to need it but somedays she’s “too tired daddy”.

    Did take a while to fit and it does change the CoG far further back than normal but it’s well made, quick to fit the small bike and towing is easy.

    I think there is a limit up to 20″ wheels though – just a heads up in case you’ve tall but slow learners

    StirlingCrispin
    Full Member

    I’ve had both.

    Trailgator was crap. Took hours to set up and never got it right. Then Thump overtook me on the inside and fell off.

    Follow-me is excellent – and does bikes up to 20″. Boys loved it and they were secure when being towed. We did many trips using it around town and out to parks. Only problem was it’s a bit of a pain to carry when the child is cycling free – and off-road clearance is minimal so you won’t do any real MTBing with it on the back.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Think I’ll order the FollowMe, thanks all 🙂

    One other quick question. The boy is still on the stabilisers, can I get some that flip up easily?

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Order a spare metal strip when you do (the one that goes round the down tube with the holes in) I very nearly cut mine in the wrong place and the second will be handy when they go up a wheel size as they have to be cut pretty precisely to the tube size. Take your time getting it just right.

    al2000
    Full Member

    Order a spare metal strip when you do (the one that goes round the down tube with the holes in) I very nearly cut mine in the wrong place and the second will be handy when they go up a wheel size as they have to be cut pretty precisely to the tube size. Take your time getting it just right.

    All very good advice.

    Also ensure you have have a comprehensive dictionary of profanity to hand, and consider growing a few extra arms to assist with fitting the bloody thing.

    That said, once it’s all setup the FollowMe is really quick and easy to use.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Also ensure you have have a comprehensive dictionary of profanity to hand, and consider growing a few extra arms to assist with fitting the bloody thing.

    I’m reasonably handy with a set of spanners but shall heed the advice and make sure I’m not trying to get it set up with my 4yo present, trying to assist, and asking if it’s ready every 10 seconds 😉

    DezB
    Free Member

    Put a wanted on the classifieds and get which ever one turns up – pretty sure I gave my Trail Gator away to a stwer when I’d finished with it. Only once did the kid go sideways (and get dumped off onto a (luckily quiet!) road), but its only cos I didn’t do it up right. Once properly straight and secure its a decent little device. So easy to detatch the kid so they can ride solo. Had a good fun week’s hol using it.

    goby
    Full Member

    lol, yeah i can related to a 4yo help! Look forward to hearing how you get on as intrested in getting one. Going to be for taking to school duties.

    ransos
    Free Member

    Does anyone have a Weehoo Igo trailer? Would you recommend it?

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    That reminds me, I bought a Trailgator from someone on here a couple of years ago and I never used it. I should stick it back on the classifieds.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    The trailgator isn’t just about being tightened correctly, the angle between the attachment to the bikes must also be good. Done correctly the armature and the childs bike produce an almost semi-articulated Caternary where the attachment between the childs bike and the end of the arch is the self-centring point of the assembly.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    I had to read that a few times for it to make sense!

    DezB
    Free Member

    I still don’t know what a Caternary is! Thought I’d covered it with “straight and secure” 🙂

    gray
    Full Member

    Fitted ours today. It came with a spare metal strip thing. Bit of a faff to fit but not that bad. First outing tomorrow…

    gray
    Full Member

    Had a short test ride. Boggins thought it was amazing! He was excited the whole time. “We’re going on a bike trip Daddy! This is brilliant! We’re going extraordinary fast aren’t we Daddy!?” 🙂

    igm
    Full Member

    We bought an early (for this country) FollowMe about 6 or 7 years ago and it’s still going strong for our second child having been loaned out in between.

    You can alter the ground clearance a bit by changing the child’s bike downtube connection point ( closer to the headtube lifts the front wheel IIRC). This is a compromise as it lifts the centre of gravity, but we did a little of the Dalby red.

    One thing to note, if the child’s bike has a screw-on freewheel make sure it’s on tight. Little legs don’t tighten the screw as much as adults and the freewheel can undo as the child will effectively freewheel for long period (your speed will be higher than the child’s pedalling speed). Happened to us with a Cnoc14. But that’s true of all the tow the child’s bike solutions.

    leffeboy
    Full Member

    At last I know what those things I’ve been seeing around are – they are FollowMe’s and the look brilliant. I’ve yet to see a trailgator properly setup although I’m sure it’s possible. Wish I’d known about them 8 years ago

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    All sounds great, shall be getting one soon. Anyone order them from the Germans? They’re a bit cheaper there.

    igm
    Full Member

    I got mine from Cyclesense in Tadcaster before they were an importer.

    They’re a proper LBS – talk to them nicely and you might get a nicer price.

    ‘Course if you’re going German , do it before Thursday 😉

    gray
    Full Member

    We got ours from http://www.followmetandem.co.uk

    First proper outing today. Was excellent – rode the Phoenix Trail.

    al2000
    Full Member

    That’s where we got ours too – think that’s CycleSense. Anyway, they were really helpful following my initial enquiry, and were a pleasure to deal with all round.

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