Afternoon all,

Been using a follow me for the last year or so with my son. He can ride fine but needs help on the hills and the Follow Me gives me confidence he’s not going to wander into the road when doing the school run. The road is waaay too busy for him to ride solo and we go on the pavement (it’s the A26…)

However, I’m thinking at some point it might be time to move on to the Towhee type set up. Anyone got any tips on when to know it’s time?

The Towhee helps them uphill but gives you zero control so they need to be competent at not crashing (into you, or the road or from stopping when you haven’t – immediate catapult moment).

I’ve only used it for hills when MTBing – my six year old son is pretty competent but I’m not sure I’d trust him to stay focused on the school run, especially homeward.

I’ve used a tow rope loads, but wouldn’t dream of it on a traffic road.

Ok, sounds like I should stick with the Follow Me for a bit longer.

Can’t help but feel someone could do a better/lighter version of it. It’s a great tool for riding with my kids but F-me is it heavy!

I’ve got a follow me it’s been out on loan to some friends but due back for no 2 soon. It’s a great idea but I’m sure its made of lead and how I haven’t chopped off my fingers in it yet I don’t know. I reckon someone would clean up with a modern alu version.

I had a bolt on gator thingy that I tried once and was awful. For the school run I bought a Thorn Voyager kiddy back tandem and have just moved onto a Polygon Expression AX now wee nipper is 8.

For busier roads and big rides a tandem is brilliant, we still get out the individual bikes for offroad and shorter back lanes.