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https://singletrackmag.com/2022/01/towwhee-review-makes-kids-better-bikers/
Are £50. Kids Ride Shotgun one is £30ish.
Seem to be Chinese stuff from under £5. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008303996166.html?
Might need one for just a few days to pull adults. Has anyone tried the cheap stuff? Is it any good? Whats' the worst that can happen?
Could be worth having a look for any local climbing facebook groups - there will be plenty of people with retired climbing ropes that could be cut down, then you just want a carabiner for £8 or so. I'm not sure how dynamic the rope would be if only 3m or so though - perhaps aim for as skinny as possible.
I really liked the look of the TowWhee, but £50 was just too much for just a 'backup' for me, if you towing children often them it's probably well worth it. I bought some paracord for another use and have a loop of it in my bag for unexpected ebike failures, and have used it successfully.
I've got one of the cheapy ones from amazon as I needed it next day. Has had three multiday outings in Wales with no problems. Brilliant for dull draggy climbs.😃
After breaking all of our retractable tow ropes (the mechanism, not the actual rope), I bought a roll of this stuff: Kevlar rope 300lb
Small and thin, just stuff it in your pocket when not towing.
Note I'm only towing mini a11y's weighing up to 50kg but no issues so far.
Whats' the worst that can happen?
What happens if it slackens quickly and gets wrapped round the rear wheel of the towing bike or front wheel of the bike being towed!
What happens if it slackens quickly and gets wrapped round the rear wheel of the towing bike or front wheel of the bike being towed!
At the probably not much more than walking pace you'll be doing at the time, it might get a bit tangled in the wheel, and the bike will stop. It's not like you're jabbing a stick through the spokes at high speed.
Whats' the worst that can happen?
What happens if it slackens quickly and gets wrapped round the rear wheel of the towing bike or front wheel of the bike being towed!
That would be a disaster but we mitigate that by only using ours up long and/or very steep climbs where an 11 year old can't outpace me on a full-fat Levo. 😉
At the probably not much more than walking pace you'll be doing at the time, it might get a bit tangled in the wheel, and the bike will stop.
I didn't fancy that so bought one of the cheap versions. Not did I want to stand around tying knots when needing to use it either. There's enough delays trying to get my kids to ride without that!
Got a bungee style one a few weeks ago from Bezos to tow my child up the hills at Hamsterley. He's 18 and about 15 stone - worked perfectly, the elastic nature of it helped rather than just a standard bit of rope, saved getting tangled up at all.
Your 18 year old kid isn't switched on enough to use the brake occasionally to modulate his speed when being towed?
Fair enough, but don't you worry about him on the downhill, when he's all on his own on the controls and has up do everything for himself...
ive got one of the zefal bike taxi ones. works great
Two old inner tubes has done the job perfectly while towing my nephew (whos 15 and around 60kg) on the ebike
I've got a cheap Amazon version of a towhee, was a tenner I think. Used loads of times now, comes in a little draw string bag with a carabiner etc, don't know why you'd need to pay more.
I got a cheap Amazon one, I've choked an old dmm 11mm dynemma sling to one end (hooked over my saddle nose) the other end I got some 3mm cord and that is looped over the steerer bolts.
When we get to the top of the climb I can flip it off and youngest can carry on.
Youngest is 4 1/2 and I showed him once how we set it up and he's got it dialed. The short descents on the single track climbs prove tricky but he's learning to modulate his braking to keep the towline taut.
I've only had him out once on it and we managed 13 miles at glentress.
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Your 18 year old kid isn't switched on enough to use the brake occasionally to modulate his speed when being towed?
Not really no! He's awesome on the downhills tho.....
The short descents on the single track climbs prove tricky but he's learning to modulate his braking to keep the towline taut.
I've only had him out once on it and we managed 13 miles at glentress.
Those are the trickiest bits - like the initial Falla Brae climb at GT with little bits of down mixed in. Number of times my girls initially yanked on the brakes causing me to move forward on my bike! They learn quickly.
Cheap amazon one here, was about a tenner. I've also used the extender dog lead types which are quicker to attach, but the stretch makes it much nice for both the tower and towee on offroad climbs. Been used on the Amflow for full speed towing of adults, so no concerns about the strength. I wrapped a prussik around the seat tube just below the collar, that stays in place and then carabiner clips the tow rope to it, with the other end being another prusik around the stem bolts - connects / disconnects in less than 30 seconds.
It's either that or as you crest those wee rises they get rocketed up and over. I was told off a few times for that
Bungee dog lead section with some loops stitched in to attach some paracord. Less than a fiver and custom colours as child requested.
Made to tow child but I've put it to use getting towed when there are plenty of ebikes on our group rides.
Yep, we have a strong dog lead off Amazon with a couple of stretchy sections in it, works just fine, cheap as chips. My 14 year old is too lazy for even this, sadly.
We bought when he was a lot younger, pre-ebike.
I quite fancy one of those Zefal ones, they look very convenient.
Zefal Bike Taxi!
We have found it much, much better than fannying about with those stretchy bungee cords!
With it being retractabe, you can attach and detach without even stopping--- ride along on the flat, see a hill coming up, tow-ee pulls close, grabs it and hooks on, away you go, at the top of the climb they simply flick it off with one hand and it rolls back up, the tow-er doesnt need to stop or even slow down and just rolls straight into the descent.
https://ebike-mtb.com/en/zefal-bike-taxi-in-review/