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My 3 year old has been riding his pedal bike for a few months now and loves it, but we are being held back by the fact that he's just not big or strong enough to manage even the smallest incline. I'd like to branch out a bit from the local railway paths (which we have to ride as a there-and-back ride rather than a loop due to hills).
Would a Towwhee rope bungee thingy work? He's got a tendency to not really pay attention when he's on the bike but he's generally pretty good at getting started by himself and holding a reasonable speed. Would it be safe for a 3 year old on a 14 inch bike?
IMHO, yes. Braking would be my main concern. For longer rides we used a tagalong until my little dude was about 4 and a half.
I’ve got one. I started using it with my son at four. They are a really good piece of kit. He’s 7 now and still requires some help around the Holmfirth hills
For a very slow straight climb it'll probably be fine. For anything where concentration or balance is involved, probably not.
Also if you start too soon, you will put them off the idea of a tow for a long time.
How does a tohweers attach?
We used s very very thin rope with a Halbmastsicherungswurf ( Italian friction hitch) around his stem with the loose end held by his hand on the handlebar grip.
Take the other end, feed it under your saddle between the rails and then do another HMS knot on your stem and then hold the loose end on your handlebar grip.
Then off you go. It has the advantage that as soon as either of you relaxes your grip on the rope it unwinds itself without getting caught anywhere. So if he falls over then you don't need to worry about not reaction in time, as he'll already be disconnected.
I'm not completely sure when we started with it, as we used the Chariot for the uphills initially. But I'm pretty sure he was ok on it when he was 4.
Edited to add that honestly speaking, I doubt we tried it at three years old. But good luck
Thanks. He's actually really good at braking - he had one on his balance bike and mastered it on that before we moved up to the pedals. But I definitely don't want to put him off cycling when it's been going so well.
My understanding is that his bike is too small for a Trailgator?
If he's confident on his bike then no reason why not.
This was heading up to one of the Tour of Britain KOMs in the Lakes a couple of years ago.
This is using the Italian friction hitch recommended above, and we've never had any mishaps.
Just be sensible with the distances and it'll be fine. Getting the fun of riding down hills without the effort of riding up them can be a massive win for enthusiasm so definitely give it a go. We used this to get round the blue at Whinlatter and he loved it.
That tow rope is still going strong, although the child, bike and hills all got bigger.
I tow my just 4 year old with an elasticated tow rope, which appears to be the same thing as a towwhee but a quarter the price. It works really well, he's fallen off a few times but we mostly use it for chuffing up long fireroads for him to go back down. One clip on my saddle rail then the other through 2 zipties, one each side of his stem, so it pulls him straight. Length grows from 2m up to 4m, and so it never snatches, if he stops pedalling I know about it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-443621-Elasticated-Tow-Rope/dp/B00359YX7Y
I use a Tow-wee (occasionally) with my 3 year old. Generally been incident free. Its great for uphills, as any tension applied to the rope by them braking etc is easily dissipated by the gradient of the hill (if that makes sense).
Its on flat stuff that you need to be careful. As if they start braking, the tension on the rope builds until ultimately they get catapulted forward, which can end up with them slamming into the back of you. So its a fine balance between them not being stubborn and jamming brakes on and you not going so fast that they hit you at the velocity of a bullet train.
They are also good to reverse and help control their speed on the downs.
But as long as you keep the above in mind, its a great bit of kit to help extend a ride with the little ones!
Slight Hijack
any good Towwee alternatives. No one seems to have the genuine ones anywhere
any good Towwee alternatives.
Erm yes. As above, a simple piece of rope. Much better as you can disengage easily.
If you want to go full STW and spend more just for the hell of it then you could always buy some Spectra 5.5mm rope.
To echo the posters above, towing kids is an amazing way of extending rides. Not only does it give the kid a much more enjoyable exciting ride with more downhills, it also gives the tower a decent workout.
We did much of our early rides at Llandegla, if you take the fire road straight through the carpark then it is an amazing towing route which takes you out at the final 3 mile climb berm just before the Nessie bumps.
Stuff like TNF at Grizedale, Glentress all becomes possible from age 6 or 7. You can get an amazing day out which gives the whole group what they want.
IME a 3 year old can use it safely.
According to my wife it's not safe at 3 years old, although she was happy when he was 4 or 5. Take from that what you will.
However, it's much safer on climbs since there's a constant tension on the rope and any mishaps are dealt with immediately by stopping. On the flat you have to be careful and on descents it's terrifying (E.g. when they try and overtake you).
My setup is just ~8ft of nylon rope which has some natural elasticity. Loop over the nose of my seat. I use a carabiner to clip / unclip the other end to a small loop of rope permanently attached around his headtube (I found pulling the stem / bars sent him off course). This works really well.
Watch out for stones from fire roads being thrown up by your back tyre. Glasses for the towee are almost essential IMO and full mudguards on your bike are helpful.
More TowWhees on their way now and will be with us in about 1-2 weeks. Check back with stockists Gone Biking Mad "me", Bikemonger, and Singletracks very own online shop.
Any questions just shout.
Mark
My solution as pictured above is a piece of rope with some elastic tied to it every foot or so. This gives a softer start and keeps it from dropping into your back wheel if it goes slack. It also gives it a firm limit, so if they're being a lazy lump and not pedalling, they're not yo-yoing on the end of a bit of elastic, and avoids the problem that v7 describes as there's a limit to how much they can extend the elastic.
I'd probably have paid for a TowWhee if I could have got my hands on one when I was looking, but the rope + elastic works well.
Many thanks all. It would be exclusively used on uphills as he’s managing to hold about 8mph on the flat and upwards of 15mph on slight downhills, so that’s quite fast enough!!
I’ve bitten the bullet and bought one via MacRide. It’s been dispatched so I’ll report back ASAP with any hilarious tales of catapulting 3 year olds
It works!
We’ve only been up and down our street but he got the hang of it straight away. And he’s so light that I didn’t really notice the extra effort (at least on short stretches).
The Towwhee was a big success round Glentress! We did Blue Velvet, BBB and the full green route with no major dramas (except a big tank slapper through some mud whilst towing him 😳).
Another option is the traxmtb I’ve just bought one for getting my 5 yr old up big hills. Not tested properly yet as it hasn’t stopped raining since I fitted it. Looks like it would work well, not sure on trying it with the 3 yr old on his balance bike though
Glad to hear it went well legolam. Just back from a week in the Lakes with our 5 and 8yo and our tow rope saved the day several times. Don't leave home without it!
I don’t think my son will let me put the house without it! He loved being able to go further and faster