traigator tow bar

Neil Smith said:

Dear All,
recently got a Trailgator tow bar. I am a little nervous using it in
situations where turns are involved near such things as bollards, fences or
walls. My daughter seems to be going very close to them. A mistake seems
very easy to make. What are other users feelings? Should I have gone for a
trailer bike?

Sounds to me like it's mostly a matter of getting used to the device.

Do you have lots of situations where this is a problem? For me, it
wouldn't have been. We did very little bike trail work. We rode on
neighborhood streets and country roads. (I use past tense, since my
kids are grown.)

FWIW, I have a friend who dumped a standard kid trailer on a sharp turn,
and spilled her daughter partly out into the road, despite a seat belt
IIRC. You simply have to remember that you're towing something (or
someone) and make the turns properly. Watch a tractor trailer driver
maneuvering a sharp corner someday, and use that same mindset.

Seems to me that the Trailgator would be more versatile than a trailer
bike. One friend of mine appreciated the opportunity to let his kid
ride on his own after being towed to a different area.

So I'd recommend thoughtful practice before getting into buyer's
remorse. But it's true that I've never used a Trailgator, so you can
take all this with many grains of salt!

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

"Neil Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Dear All,
recently got a Trailgator tow bar. I am a little nervous using it in
situations where turns are involved near such things as bollards, fences or
walls. My daughter seems to be going very close to them. A mistake seems
very easy to make. What are other users feelings? Should I have gone for a
trailer bike?

I never liked the looks of a Trailgator, although I never used one. I pulled
my daughter for 5 years with a trailer bike (enough mileage to wear a
substantial tire down to bare cords), mostly off-road, but with some road &
bike path. I never worried much about scraping her off (and never did!) on
obstacles (like trees or parked cars). We did a lot of very challenging riding
and it tracked very predictably. The only problem I had was a tendency to
jackknife on steep/loose trails, I had to be mindful to use more rear brake. I
don't think any other kind of trailer or tandem could have negotiated the
terrain we commonly rode over. I recommend them highly.