Trail-gator

Ekul Namsob said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers,
Luke

I know nothing of the trailgator. However, I may have a Burley Piccolo
going spare. This is a truly well engineered piece of kit.

Al C-F said:

Ekul Namsob said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Quoted message said:

I know nothing of the trailgator. However, I may have a Burley Piccolo
going spare. This is a truly well engineered piece of kit.

There are two things that put me off one of those at present: size and
cost. I'm attracted to the Trail-gator because it appears relatively
cheap and would make use of my daughter's own bike. In particular, this
would be beneficial when we go camping as the car is only so big.

Roughly how much might a Piccolo go for second-hand?

Cheers,
Luke

--
Lincoln City 0-2 Southend United (AET)
Swansea City 2-2 Southend United
We went up twice with Tilly and Brush

Al C-F said:

Ekul Namsob said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

Quoted message said:

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

Quoted message said:

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Quoted message said:

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

Quoted message said:

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Quoted message said:

Cheers,
Luke

I know nothing of the trailgator. However, I may have a Burley Piccolo
going spare. This is a truly well engineered piece of kit.

I had a giraf which is similar but not as good as a trailgator.

It is fine for a short journey but the joints were a bit slack, which
made it hard work in terms of not having the stability you may be used
to on a single.
If the child can ride their own bike happily then it is much easier
because they can balance. If they can't balance then they rely on you
for balance which is where every tiny bit of slack in the joints shows
up.

A good thing for pootling a couple of miles to the local park where
the kid can ride on their own but if you don't need an independent
kids bike then a trialer bike or tandem is much better.

...d

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Ekul Namsob said:

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year
old daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally
positive. However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may
have of using one on the road.

I bought one once - I gave it away for nothing. Connection and
configuration were less than good.

Google for Mission Piggybacks - imvho as good as they come.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

in message <[email hidden]>, Sandy Morton

(') said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Ekul Namsob said:

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year
old daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally
positive. However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may
have of using one on the road.

I bought one once - I gave it away for nothing. Connection and
configuration were less than good.

Google for Mission Piggybacks - imvho as good as they come.

Curiously, 'Mission Piggybacks' gets you nothing but space mission stuff.
What you need to google for turns out to be 'Mission Piggyback'
(singular). That finds this:

http://www.bikecare.co.uk/mission_piggyback_mk2.html

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

I'm fed up with Life 1.0. I never liked it much and now it's getting
me down. I think I'll upgrade to MSLife 97 -- you know, the one that
comes in a flash new box and within weeks you're crawling with bugs.

Quoted message said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers,
Luke

I have never used a 'Trail Gator' but have used an 'islabikes trailerbike'
when my children were young. It was one of the best pieces of kit I ever
bought when it came to taking my children out cycling, highly recommended.
It's not cheap but they hold their value well and can be sold on quite
easily.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/trailerbike.html

John

On 25 Feb, 17:45, [email hidden] (Ekul

Namsob) said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

I used a trail-gator for both of daughters and was very pleased with
it. For the period when the oldest still needed it and the youngest
was too big for a child seat we also had a Lidl version of the same
thing, which did the job but was much heavier, harder to fix and
rather floppy. The gator is a neat design and once you've got the
attachments onto adult and child's bikes it takes only a couple of
seconds to fit or remove.
The best thing about them is for when the kid is learning to ride, you
can trail them to the park, then detach and let them practise.
Similarly it is good for longer rides when they can ride a bit by
themself and then attach when tired or for busy roads.
Be aware that they don't work with normal stabilizers so if the kid is
using them you need to fork out for the special ones that fold, mess
around with spanners or get two bikes, in which case you loose most of
the advantage of the gator design.

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Be aware that they don't work with normal stabilizers so if the kid is
using them you need to fork out for the special ones that fold, mess
around with spanners or get two bikes, in which case you loose most of
the advantage of the gator design.

Stabilisers teach kids how not to ride a bike ...

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Be aware that they don't work with normal stabilizers so if the kid is
using them you need to fork out for the special ones that fold, mess
around with spanners or get two bikes, in which case you loose most of
the advantage of the gator design.

Stabilisers teach kids how not to ride a bike ...

I'm torn on this issue. Would it perhaps be fair to say that stabilisers
teach children to ride a bike in a different manner? i.e. My daughter is
learning to pedal before she learns to balance. Without stabilisers she
would learn to balance before she learned to pedal.

Cheers,
Luke

--
Lincoln City 0-2 Southend United (AET)
Swansea City 2-2 Southend United
We went up twice with Tilly and Brush

POHB said:

On 25 Feb, 17:45, [email hidden] (Ekul

Namsob) said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

<...>

Quoted message said:

I used a trail-gator for both of daughters and was very pleased with
it.

Thank you all for the advice. We've bitten the bullet and ordered one
from BikeCare along with some flip-up stabilisers.

Cheers,
Luke
--
Lincoln City 0-2 Southend United (AET)
Swansea City 2-2 Southend United
We went up twice with Tilly and Brush

Quoted message said:

I'm torn on this issue. Would it perhaps be fair to say that stabilisers
teach children to ride a bike in a different manner? i.e. My daughter is
learning to pedal before she learns to balance. Without stabilisers she
would learn to balance before she learned to pedal.

I'd say they're a stop-gap measure at best.

Santa brought our 4-yo a bike, and I was ambivalent about the
stabilisers. Yes, he needed to learn to put a bit of force into the
pedals, but it was effectively just an inferior trike. Mind you,
the stabilisers were made of cheese and bent on the first outing,
so I tried him without -- no go, wouldn't pedal hard enough, I got
tired of the sore back, repaired them and put them back on. After
another few outings they went again, and then he just learnt. Now
he's perfecting his dismount technique.

Stabilisers have a short term point -- they let the kid bond with
the new bike. But trying without them very early is good. It
requires some adult input, of course, but that's really part of the
fun.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

In article <1hu5sy8.uvb50zgx7023N%
[email hidden]>, Ekul Namsob
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>, POHB
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Be aware that they don't work with normal stabilizers so if the kid is
using them you need to fork out for the special ones that fold, mess
around with spanners or get two bikes, in which case you loose most of
the advantage of the gator design.

Stabilisers teach kids how not to ride a bike ...

I'm torn on this issue. Would it perhaps be fair to say that stabilisers
teach children to ride a bike in a different manner? i.e. My daughter is
learning to pedal before she learns to balance. Without stabilisers she
would learn to balance before she learned to pedal.

I'd rather get a bike they can scoot without worrying about the
pedalling first (which instantly rules out getting a bike for them to
"grow into" - another of the mistakes that people make IMO). I think
stabilisers may teach habits that make it harder to learn how to ride
properly.

Brendan Halpin said:

Quoted message said:

I'm torn on this issue. Would it perhaps be fair to say that stabilisers
teach children to ride a bike in a different manner? i.e. My daughter is
learning to pedal before she learns to balance. Without stabilisers she
would learn to balance before she learned to pedal.

I'd say they're a stop-gap measure at best.

Santa brought our 4-yo a bike, and I was ambivalent about the
stabilisers. Yes, he needed to learn to put a bit of force into the
pedals, but it was effectively just an inferior trike. Mind you,
the stabilisers were made of cheese and bent on the first outing,
so I tried him without -- no go, wouldn't pedal hard enough, I got
tired of the sore back, repaired them and put them back on. After
another few outings they went again, and then he just learnt. Now
he's perfecting his dismount technique.

Stabilisers have a short term point -- they let the kid bond with
the new bike. But trying without them very early is good. It
requires some adult input, of course, but that's really part of the
fun.

Brendan

allways thought the high handels that attach to the kids bike where a
very clever idea, save bending down so much. i guess probably only use
on trikes and bikes with sabilisers.

roger

Ekul Namsob said:

Al C-F said:

Ekul Namsob said:

Hello, I've been gone a while... (the best part of eight years according
to Google groups).

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Quoted message said:

I know nothing of the trailgator. However, I may have a Burley Piccolo
going spare. This is a truly well engineered piece of kit.

There are two things that put me off one of those at present: size and
cost. I'm attracted to the Trail-gator because it appears relatively
cheap and would make use of my daughter's own bike. In particular, this
would be beneficial when we go camping as the car is only so big.

Roughly how much might a Piccolo go for second-hand?

Good question. Wiggle have them new for £323.99
(http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?cat=cycle&w=0&ProdID=5300006317)

so somewhere around half that?

In message
<[email hidden]>, Ekul
Namsob <[email hidden]> writes
....

Quoted message said:

My wife and I are considering buying a Trail-gator for our 3.5 year old
daughter. Googling for advice, opinions seem generally positive.
However, I'm interested as to what experiences people may have of using
one on the road.

We have some good quiet streets around here and a couple of
reasonably-sized local parks on which to practise but I am
understandably cautious as to how well the Trail-gator might cope in
fast moving traffic.

Also, how quickly can the bar be connected to / removed from the towing
bike?

We tried one... briefly. But our daughter was a lot older than yours. We
had several happy years with a Trailerbike, but my thinking behind the
Trail-gator was that, now she was stronger, she could cycle part of a
ride herself then get a tow when she tired.

I guess we'd been spoilt by the Trailerbike but I found the Trail-Gator
really unpleasant by comparison. It flexes and sways all over the place,
and doesn't quite keep the towed bike upright. It's much heavier and
more awkward to tow than a proper trailer cycle. But I've had friends
who've sworn by it.

Also be careful to check that your daughter's bike will fit it. A
3-year-old's bike might not fit. The bracket that clamps onto the towed
bike's frame is quite bulky. I really would recommend a Trailerbike or
similar: you'll both enjoy the ride a lot more.

The bar can be removed fairly quickly - a couple of minutes' work -
leaving the mounting bracket permanently attached to your seatpost. The
bracket at the other end is also designed to stay permanently attached
to your child's bike.

Having said all that... we've still got the Trail-gator, very
little-used, so if you want to buy it get in touch (remove the bits that
need removing from the email address!).

I have just bought a Trail Gator from Ebay via a seller in the UK for
about €30. Apart from the fact that they took forever to get it in the
post it seems to work okay with me and my 7 year old daughter. I have
a couple of points that may be helpful:

1. It won't work with centre pull brakes on the front of the child's
bike. Trail Gators solution is to try and sell you an additional piece
of kit that somehow reroutes the cable. I can't see how this works
from the photos but it is frustrating that you have to buy an
additional 'bit' to get the thing working. Then again I don't know how
common centre pull brakes are on kids bikes. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Also the Trail Gator is made in Florida so maybe kids bikes are
different there. (I know a lot of US adult bikes have back pedal
brakes). I will fit some side pull front brake to my childs bike for
the time being as i have some on an old bike of hers.

2. It takes a time and perseverance to fit the bracket to the kids
bike in my experience and they recommend a torque wrench to tighten
the bolts as they need to grip the head tube VERY well. They hold the
front wheel of the kids bike off the ground and stop the bike turning
out of a straight alignment with the tow bar. This is VITAL and
probably should be done by a bike shop or a competent person with the
required tools.

3. The stay that holds the kids bikes handle bars straight and the
clip that holds the tow bar when the kids bike is detached, look weak
in my opinion and may not take to much abuse. Time will tell.

4. You can probably keep a back carrier on the adult bike and the tow
bar won't hit it (depending on the relative sizes and geometry of the
bikes) but you won't be able to put anything much on the carrier with
the Trail Gator in use.

5. They state in the fitting instructions that you should only use it
on a steel seat post on the adults bike. I'm going to risk it.

Other wise it seems like quite some work has gone into the deign. It
is relatively light weight and the flexibility of using the bikes
separately or together on the same trip is unique and a valuable
feature. Like a tag bike the kids bike can be towed behind you to
school and a young person picked up and towed home but in addition
they have the option to then ride home on their own bike
independently.

hope this help someone....

Andy Key <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Having said all that... we've still got the Trail-gator, very
little-used, so if you want to buy it get in touch (remove the bits that
need removing from the email address!).

Thanks for the offer but our Trail-gator arrived on Friday. We've not
had the chance to look at it properly yet, however.

Cheers,
Luke

--
Lincoln City 0-2 Southend United (AET)
Swansea City 2-2 Southend United
We went up twice with Tilly and Brush

Davesp said:

3. The stay that holds the kids bikes handle bars straight and the
clip that holds the tow bar when the kids bike is detached, look weak
in my opinion and may not take to much abuse. Time will tell.

The stay does look flimsy but ours proved robust. I never used the
clip, just put a bungy cord over the bar to hold it to my rear rack,
talking of which...

Quoted message said:

4. You can probably keep a back carrier on the adult bike and the tow
bar won't hit it (depending on the relative sizes and geometry of the
bikes) but you won't be able to put anything much on the carrier with
the Trail Gator in use.

Correct, but it works fine with panniers as long as they don't stick
up too much above the top of the rack.

"Davesp" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1173129723.206887.259070
@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

5. They state in the fitting instructions that you should only use it
on a steel seat post on the adults bike. I'm going to risk it.

Don't! you've just brought back memories of a couple of months ago on the
Camel Trail where I met a guy whose TrailGator sheared his (aly) seat post.