[Closed] FollowMe or Trail-Gator ?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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].

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.

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.

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

It's your seatpost... 😀

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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...

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 😉

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

I still don't know what a Caternary is! Thought I'd covered it with "straight and secure" 🙂

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

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!?" 🙂

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.

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

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

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 😉

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

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

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

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.

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

Still going ok? Going to order mine today.

Have managed to set up my trailgator on several bike combinations. You just need to follow the instructions and use a torque wrench, always seems to work well for me.

Having said that I have seen lots that are poorly set up, probably because:

[i]This is not a rocket ship, nor rocket science, how hard can it be?

Who needs instructions, I have achieved that heightened state of enlightenment as to how things go together because I am a (insert one of the following):

rocket scientist,
designer
engineer
mechanic,
expert DIY’er,
just smarter than the average bear

I do have a “man card,” after all, I should know how to use tools and put things together

I wouldn’t even consider that this could go together any easier than how I would do it[/i]

Haven't used it since... Has done a fine job of sitting in the shed though. 🙂

I definitely think it's good though. Could be a bit cheaper, but life's too short to worry too much about that. We're taking it down to the Camel Trail on Thursday. Should be ace.

Was ace on the Camel Trail, by the way. Rode with some friends who had Trail Gators, and was glad that we'd invested in the FollowMe!

Good to know. Mines in the shed waiting for some spanner time. Wise to do a couple of test rides before setting out on a proper ride?

Nah, as long as you do it up tight enough it'll be fine. I haven't had to adjust anything since I wanged it on. I guess it could depend on how the kid takes to it. When I took Peter round the block after fitting ours he was laughing his head off the whole way.

One tip though: if you take the kid's bike's pedals off for transport, then make sure you do them up properly before riding 5 miles towing the (kidless) bike to meet the family. Otherwise you might look a bit daft when someone asks why it only has one pedal. Luckily we were not far from a bike shop!

One final tip: for the first ride take ear plugs if your kid is a "screamer". I know when my youngest went on it the first time everyone within half a mile knew about it... (in a good way!)

Ah right, just tried installing it and the front axle on the frog bike has bolts that screw in, no threads to attach the big nuts on to. Do I need some sort of adapter for that then?

Still can't quite figure out how the front wheel gets suspended off the ground either. What stops the follow me just rotating around the towing bikes axle?

Yes, you need the quick release adapter set.

Re. Rotating around the axel, there is a u shaped bar which attaches to the bracket you fit on the down tube of the childs bike

Thanks. Though I think I should have brought the Islabike version, bit of a pain. Might give them a call on Monday.

Ah I see the Islabike one is just the normal one with that bolt through kit. Looks like I need to order that. Thanks.

Yep, we have the Islabike one - just adds a skewer thingy for hollow axles (on front of kidbike).

Finally got the new skewer through the post on Saturday. First trip out along the canal to a local festival thing with my boy on the Follow Me and my girl in the Hamax on Mrs B's bike. Boy loved the Follow Me experience. So popular was it that I ended up having to take his friends for laps of the park on the follow me too! Big grins all round 🙂

Still very happy with the Follow Me, great bit of kit. Good times 🙂

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Is it my dodgy eyes or is the bit attached to the kiddy bike down tube the 'wrong' way round? Actually I've a vague memory that that's allowed if it clears better that way, so maybe ignore me!

It just fits better that way. I think the guide shows the other way round but says whichever way fits best.