Tag Along

Tag alongs are great. 

In this picture Lydia is tucked in behind Le Blagger on a winter training bike.

Heres what I like about them:

• They allow quite small children to do rides they would not be able to do otherwise.
• Children don't have to control the brakes.
• Children don't have to judge traffic.
• Children don't have to choose road position / trail line.
• When the child is tired they don't have to pedal.
• They will fit many different types of adult bike.
• The pace can be much higher than a child will manage on their own.
• Towing the tag along up hill can be hard work / good training!

My daughter has now out grown the tagalong and has now moved onto the back of a tandem. Our experience of using a tagalong is all positive. We did 20 mile round trips, 'Blue' run mountain bike rides at Whinlatter and all sorts of other adventures.

When we started to use it we were making a transition from a child seat on the back of my bike. She often fell asleep in that chair and I was concerned that she didn't fall asleep on the tagalong. As long as I kept her chatting all was well. 

Warnings: 

I think the Adult needs to be strong and confident on the bike. Children will sometime wobble about for fun and this must be something that does not freak out or destabilise the adult.

Whilst I did use it on a number of different bikes, the seat post and frame need to be a strong ones. Personally I would not use a tagalong with a carbon frame or seatpost.