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I picked up a Towbuddy to take my four year old for short rides. She's well within the weight limit (19kg/32kg) but whatever I do her bike is listing to the side, which causes the clamp on the seatpost to twist and she falls off. Obviously this isn't safe!
I've tried cranking the bolts as tight as I can, and double and triple checked that I've followed the instructions to the letter (including the paper instructions that came with it and YouTube videos).
Does anyone have one of these and have any handy hints? She was super excited about it before but is understandably apprehensive now, so I don't want to get her out again until I know it's sorted.
I used to have a similar device called a trail-gator (or similar) and found that the bolts needed to be tightened to the correct torque with a torque wrench for it to work properly. Would often see other users with the child bike leaning to one side...............
Right I'll get my ape arms out... They were pretty tight (no torque wrench) but I'll see what I can do.
Pretty sure it's almost the same thing as a Trail gator so fingers crossed.
I've used a trail-gator too. You have to make sure the brackets (at both ends) are totally straight and the bolts evenly tightened otherwise things go sideways.
Follow me tandem is what you need. Brilliant bit of kit - attach and detach the kids bike with no tools in very little time. Goes up to a 20 inch wheel I think. Mostly used on the school run. I’ve taken it down a few fairly technical trails too although I doubt it’s officially rated for that!
We avoided these as they need to be so tight they can mangle the headtube on the kids bike, especially if it's aluminium.
That FollowMe looks wicked. Might have to up the budget.
I'm starting to think we might be best writing the Towbuddy off. Wanted it to ride to school with and I'm not sure I'd ever trust it on the road.
I can second that the Follow Me is great. It is heavy but solid. Feels like a proper tandem (although I'm not sure I've ever been on a proper tandem). Got ours second hand.
Another recommender of the followme here..!
Follow me tandem is how it should be built. Worth the money. The tailgator and similar are just a poor design
The tailgator and similar are just a poor design
They are very dependent on correct instalation and torquing the bolts. Once installed I never had a problem with mine..............
For another option I used one of these for a couple of years:
https://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/trek-mt-201-tagalong
Super easy to attach/removed. Solid, Nice and fast. Can handle fire roads and blues (but not hairpins!).
They are very dependent on correct instalation and torquing the bolts. Once installed I never had a problem with mine…………..
We stopped selling them - 20 years ago. Even if installed to the letter of the instructions they would flop about.
You had to massively over torque them to get them to stay put. Some combos would never stay put.
Sounds like you had a lucky combo more than anything else.