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My 6 year old is getting out more and more, He's been riding Clayton Vale in Manchester for the last year and is very happy and proficient on techy stuff, rock gardens, 12"+ drops, big swoopy berms etc.
We've started planning to hit some trail centers together and went over to llandegla at the weekend. He absolutely loved it but we had a proper toys out of the pram moment 3/4 of the way up the initial drag. He's normally pretty good hitting the hills but like a lot of trail centers there tends to be a long drag at the start to get you up to the top of the forests.
I thought it might be an idea to have a 6 foot leash in my back pack that I could clip on my backpack and the headtube stack so we can slowy pedal up the fire roads when his legs explode.
By the time we hit the first jump it was long forgotten but I did think it was a fairly demoralizing start to the day for him and most trail centres would be the same.
All in he had a great day though and did the full 18km red route with no drama and no off's and with 1000 feet of climbing I think he did grand!
So to leash or not to leash? Will it end in tears or will the smiles never stop?
Get off and walk for a bit?
This has been discussed. Best thing I think is a pole attached to your top tube with a loop on the end, so he can grab it when he needs it. Seen people doing that on Polaris events.
You might as well try a leash though - although it'll probably damage your backpack. Saddle might be better. However it's quite hard to ride a bike that's being towed 🙂
Have seen people using leashes to tow kids, my son occasionally gets a hand on his back, I don't actually push him but he thinks he is.
I push mine up with a hand on his back. Doesn't work on single-track climbs...
What I've seen people do is to loop two inner tubes together, put one around your seat post and the other over the stem of the kids bike. This only stays in place as long as there is tension so can easily be removed if necessary. Using inner tubes also means you're not carrying anything extra.
We already do the push on back thing occasionally. He's a determined lil one anyway so it would barely be used other than really long drags. Just don't want to put him off or make him disheartened before the fun really starts!
We did it when the kids were young - just a 3m ish webbing luggage strap. Decent length strap stopped the bikes clashing and allowed some slack to assist with stop / start.
Attached it to centre of his stem so it didn't pull him off balance. Had him riding behind on my rhs, with me pulling / holding the loose end of the strap in my right hand. Once rolling, I could then grip the bars and strap at the same time. That way easy to let go of the strap if we got out of synch or needed to stop.
I've seen the Polaris style tow straps and not sure if they'd work - probably better if you do the holding and he keeps both hands on the bars. Also the bikes are quite close together / overlapping - a rub of tyres usually ends in the rear rider coming down.
Yes I have a mate who does this for back-country stuff in NZ with his kids (9 or 10).
I used to do this for the first climb at Llandegla with my lad.
About a 10ft length of ratchet strap around my seat tube and his headtube, worked great.
I've dragged my 4yo up the climbs around the family loops at Grizedale and CyB with one of those microscooter straps, probably less than a metre long. I usually have to drop my saddle for some stability.
We did the push with hand thing, relaxing on long climbs, bribery in the form of sweeties at key points, and teaching MTFU at every opportunity.
Same when paddling and climbing hills. IME, most of the time, it is in their heads. I dragged an 11 year old all but kicking and screaming, foot by foot up Vorlich last year. He got to within a couple of hundred metres of the top, after an hour of shouting and tears, and then sprinted to the top in one go, laughing and loving it.
on towed bike could try using a friction hold - we used that to tow motorbikes, so the towed can let go as and when reqd
simply loop round headset/etc *enough times* (so probably 1 to get enough friction that it can be held by hand) and out to L or R hand so can hold end of string etc against grip but will unravel if grip lets go is thrown towards the right side of the loop
Smaller chainring or larger range cassette?
Have you tried mocking him in front of his friends, and telling them his little sister is fitter and stronger than him? After the initial tantrum, he soon found his way up that hill.
To be fair to him it's a really dull drag.
That BikeBungee looks great but bit expensive. How about one of those bungee dog leads? We have one and may give it a try (we used to use one for getting the dog to tow the bike). I'm a bit reluctant to use the gator bar as it destroyed the headtube on the last bike. Just hook it up when needed.
I've used this method a lot for my kids, just starting got use it less now that my youngest is 6 but it works well. I have a long cut sling that I loosely wrap around by handlebars. When he needs a tow I just unloop it so I have about 2-3m slack. The loose end then goes round his stem a couple of times then he grabs it around his grip. The pull is central through his stem but when he wants to let go the sling pulls loose and I can just wrap it up again, all done without stopping.
The sling then doubles as a rope swing, skipping rope, webbing strap for bike racks etc etc.
Hand on the back. Or turn it into a race that you have absolutely no chance of winning.
I used an inner tube ,then I looked away& he fell off. Only 3and a bit tho', so he bounced.:-)
I think with a bit of practice and two tubes ,it would work.
I've used this method a lot for my kids, just starting got use it less now that my youngest is 6 but it works well. I have a long cut sling that I loosely wrap around by handlebars. When he needs a tow I just unloop it so I have about 2-3m slack. The loose end then goes round his stem a couple of times then he grabs it around his grip. The pull is central through his stem but when he wants to let go the sling pulls loose and I can just wrap it up again, all done without stopping.The sling then doubles as a rope swing, skipping rope, webbing strap for bike racks etc etc.
This sounds about spot on. He's a lil hard nut so will smash most things but I don't want him to associate trail centres with long horrible boring climbs. Like the idea of a sling that can be pulled out of a bag when and if its ever needed. We all have our off days after all.
Being able to fall back on something like this will open up a lot more opportunities for where we can ride.
One day at the camp site for a beer festival, I witnessed a lad sitting on an airbed being towed around the field at speed by a Land Rover.
Transpired that in a moment of genius, they'd secured the rope by tying it round his ankle. Ambulances were involved.
I'm just hoping your child is on a bike! It sounds a bit cruel dragging just him up the hill.
We use something I made up when we are touring for occasional use. It was based on adventure race type 'tows'.
I took some electrical conduit of about 20mm dia. They come with male and female type ends and in about 2m lengths (well in France they do...). I think I cut one piece and put it back to front so it joins together to form one length of around 1.5m when required. Cable tied one half along the top of my rear rack and threaded doubled up bungy through both bits of conduit. Tied the 2 ends of the bungy neatly around the top tube/ down tube junction with re-threaded figure of 8 knots. One the other end of the bungy I tied eyes and fitted a snaplink form any DIY shop (karabiner would be good). I then tied a short loop of bungy around his headtube. Doubled up bungy means double strenght and redundancy should one length fail....don't fancy it whiplashing into either of us!
The whole thing folds up on top of my rack and can be 'rapidly deployed'. Have used it in anger including 40km along the north coast route into a headwind and lashing rain this summer.
Sure something similar could be made up without relying on the rack, assuming you are happy to have lengths of plastic pipe sticking out of the back of the bike.
You realise mugsy - most on here have velcro as they can't tie their shoe laces let alone rethread figure of 8's.... 😆
Long boot laces tied to my saddle rails, wrapped around handlebars and stem, ends between grips and hands. They can let go of the ends if they need to. Take your time. Simple. Handy thing to have in your rucksack anyway.
I've done this a bit like the straps mentioned above. A piece of climbing rope looped around the stem and so I could hold both ends and therefore let go if need be. The worry for me was getting loose bits of rope tangled in wheels/cranks etc, especially if I wasn't in control of the letting go. Alternatively, and more commonly in trail centres, just pushing, possibly running alongside pushing my bike at the same time. Good training (for something!)
Yeh, I used my kayak strap bungee, perfect length and velcro both ends so it'll come undone if he goes south. Works a treat, haribo help too.
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Picked one of these for £3 when I was at the physio yesterday. Got the strongest one they had and looks spot on. I've cut the handle off one end so I can do the wrap round the bars and under grip style and just hold the end with the handle to drag him along.
Weighs next to nothing and for the cost its worth it just to keep in the rucksack!
Get a leash and a dog(s) they love pulling you uphill.