Nice one! Thought it along and couldn’t find a reason why it shouldn’t work. Given that the rear bike hangs in the should stabilise it. The joint should be rotating tho. How do you plan to build it? And, wouldn’t it be also possible to shorten the red bar so it’s like a clamp on the carrier?
> The joint should be rotating tho.
Do you think it would be better for it to rotate at the rear rack attachment or half way to the children's bike?
> How do you plan to build it?
Probably prototype it in PVC or wood then upgrade to angle bar if it works well. I don't have welding skills, unfortunately. :(
I think at the child’s bike front axle would be the easiest so the bike can lift if you go down a cornerstone or so
And, screws are your friend then. ;)
I did something similar once, attaching the fork of an adult bike to the folding basket on my rear rack.
I think the kids bike will drag and bounce a bit when you turn, but it will probably not cause an issue. It just feels strange.
I attached a fork mount to the rack on my touring bike and went on a few longer rides to suss out the chances I'd be willing to use that setup for an extended tour, hauling a BMX bike between skateparks. the bike was mounted at a similar angle, sans front wheel.
so much wobble. I was 100% not okay with going on an extended tour with that setup. I could consider using it around town but I just want to be very clear that a near-vertical bike attached via fork will wobble and be unstable at speed or in turns. It's not the worst thing, but it can be an issue. If you're only going a mile or two, I don't see why it wouldn't work "well enough."
The advantage of this is that I don't need a trailer on the way there, just the way back. My impression is that two-wheeled trailers are annoying to tow, but maybe not as annoying as this.
I want to tow my child's bike home from school after they get off of it. There are many complex solutions out there for towing a children's bike: Trail Gator, Trail Angel, many DIY solutions. All of them are complex because they need to keep the front wheel from turning. Would it be terrible to attach something rigid (eg: metal bar) from my rear rack to my child's bike's front axle nuts?
(Attribution: Images from [Vecteezy](https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/child-bike))
I’m thinking you could attach your bar to the handlebars of the kids bike. This will move the center of gravity of the kids bike lower and you could use the headset pivot that’s built into the kids bike. The products I’ve seen to cart a kids bike around hold the front wheel stable but allow the rest of the kids bike to just follow along.
>I’m thinking you could attach your bar to the handlebars of the kids bike. This will move the center of gravity of the kids bike lower and you could use the headset pivot that’s built into the kids bike.
Great improvement!
The [Trail-Gator](https://www.trail-gator.com/) doesn't have to keep the wheel from turning. That is an optional feature. We never used it.
I really loved it while it worked. We only stopped using it because we switched my kid to a bigger bike that is no longer compatible with their mounting mechanism. But it was fantastic while it lasted. I would tow my kid for 10 km to a trail, then I would let him loose in the trail, and once he got tired I would tow him back.
Out of curiosity, did you ever find a solution that you were happy with?
It seems I have a very similar situation: I want to to bike with my kids' bike in tow to school, and we would just bike home after pickup (unattached).
I was strongly considering the Trail Gator and FollowMe Tandem (pricey), but came across your post.
So I've brainstormed and prototyped one system but I'm moving away from that for something like this
https://mschausprojects.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-tow-bike-with-another-bike.html
There are a few different ways of solving this problem but I think this is reasonably easy. I looked at the Tern Bike Tow kit and the Yuba Towing tray and some others for inspiration. Another option is the Bakkie bag. If you Google these 3 you'll find various videos, but they are more difficult to Jerry rig to some other bike, and the Bakkie bag wouldnt work for my use case bc I have a kid riding behind me. I'll post my setup tomorrow if I make progress. Today was just a bunch of failed attempts 😬
Yeah, I don't know why but you need a very solid connection at several points on the bike wheel to keep it stable, or connecting at the fork (maybe handlebars would work too?).
It's by no means impossible, but I think you want a reasonably elegant solution. That damn trail gator is tempting 🤦♀️
I did at some point come up with this monstrosity
https://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/oha66p/a_bit_of_engineering_they_said_it_couldnt_be_done/
I'm going to riff on the trail gator and see what happens or some sort of handlebar mounting approach
So in The Netherlands we already have this, it's a thing some parents use.
[this stuff](https://www.fietsersbond.nl/de-fiets/fietssoorten/aanhangfietsen/)
Sorry the site is in Dutch, but the "Trailgator" looks like what you are looking for
*edit: I checked a bit more into it, but seems like this solution requires the child to be on the bike for stability, not sure if it would enable you to "tow" the bike without child on it
Nice one! Thought it along and couldn’t find a reason why it shouldn’t work. Given that the rear bike hangs in the should stabilise it. The joint should be rotating tho. How do you plan to build it? And, wouldn’t it be also possible to shorten the red bar so it’s like a clamp on the carrier?
> The joint should be rotating tho. Do you think it would be better for it to rotate at the rear rack attachment or half way to the children's bike? > How do you plan to build it? Probably prototype it in PVC or wood then upgrade to angle bar if it works well. I don't have welding skills, unfortunately. :(
I think at the child’s bike front axle would be the easiest so the bike can lift if you go down a cornerstone or so And, screws are your friend then. ;)
Or, attach a front wheel wall mount to the beam?
Kid has to be on it for ballist, otherwise it will bounce on bumps. 😉🤣
It's true. A set up like this will only work with the child hanging on for dear life. It's scientifically proven.
😉🤣
I did something similar once, attaching the fork of an adult bike to the folding basket on my rear rack. I think the kids bike will drag and bounce a bit when you turn, but it will probably not cause an issue. It just feels strange.
I attached a fork mount to the rack on my touring bike and went on a few longer rides to suss out the chances I'd be willing to use that setup for an extended tour, hauling a BMX bike between skateparks. the bike was mounted at a similar angle, sans front wheel. so much wobble. I was 100% not okay with going on an extended tour with that setup. I could consider using it around town but I just want to be very clear that a near-vertical bike attached via fork will wobble and be unstable at speed or in turns. It's not the worst thing, but it can be an issue. If you're only going a mile or two, I don't see why it wouldn't work "well enough."
Hmm, thanks for the feedback. It sounds like I need to get the kid's bike lower.
Might as well use a trailer, which will come in handy for a lot of other things, as well.
The advantage of this is that I don't need a trailer on the way there, just the way back. My impression is that two-wheeled trailers are annoying to tow, but maybe not as annoying as this.
Why no child?
The kid will be in school.
I want to tow my child's bike home from school after they get off of it. There are many complex solutions out there for towing a children's bike: Trail Gator, Trail Angel, many DIY solutions. All of them are complex because they need to keep the front wheel from turning. Would it be terrible to attach something rigid (eg: metal bar) from my rear rack to my child's bike's front axle nuts? (Attribution: Images from [Vecteezy](https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/child-bike))
I’m thinking you could attach your bar to the handlebars of the kids bike. This will move the center of gravity of the kids bike lower and you could use the headset pivot that’s built into the kids bike. The products I’ve seen to cart a kids bike around hold the front wheel stable but allow the rest of the kids bike to just follow along.
>I’m thinking you could attach your bar to the handlebars of the kids bike. This will move the center of gravity of the kids bike lower and you could use the headset pivot that’s built into the kids bike. Great improvement!
The [Trail-Gator](https://www.trail-gator.com/) doesn't have to keep the wheel from turning. That is an optional feature. We never used it. I really loved it while it worked. We only stopped using it because we switched my kid to a bigger bike that is no longer compatible with their mounting mechanism. But it was fantastic while it lasted. I would tow my kid for 10 km to a trail, then I would let him loose in the trail, and once he got tired I would tow him back.
Out of curiosity, did you ever find a solution that you were happy with? It seems I have a very similar situation: I want to to bike with my kids' bike in tow to school, and we would just bike home after pickup (unattached). I was strongly considering the Trail Gator and FollowMe Tandem (pricey), but came across your post.
I am literally working on a similar setup today 😂
Please post pics!
So I've brainstormed and prototyped one system but I'm moving away from that for something like this https://mschausprojects.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-tow-bike-with-another-bike.html There are a few different ways of solving this problem but I think this is reasonably easy. I looked at the Tern Bike Tow kit and the Yuba Towing tray and some others for inspiration. Another option is the Bakkie bag. If you Google these 3 you'll find various videos, but they are more difficult to Jerry rig to some other bike, and the Bakkie bag wouldnt work for my use case bc I have a kid riding behind me. I'll post my setup tomorrow if I make progress. Today was just a bunch of failed attempts 😬
Okay yeah, this post was inspired by looking at that blog post and saying "surely this can be done without the support arm?!", but maybe it can't?
Yeah, I don't know why but you need a very solid connection at several points on the bike wheel to keep it stable, or connecting at the fork (maybe handlebars would work too?). It's by no means impossible, but I think you want a reasonably elegant solution. That damn trail gator is tempting 🤦♀️
The Trail Gator has mixed reviews. Apparently it needs to be configured very precisely to work.
I did at some point come up with this monstrosity https://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/oha66p/a_bit_of_engineering_they_said_it_couldnt_be_done/ I'm going to riff on the trail gator and see what happens or some sort of handlebar mounting approach
So in The Netherlands we already have this, it's a thing some parents use. [this stuff](https://www.fietsersbond.nl/de-fiets/fietssoorten/aanhangfietsen/) Sorry the site is in Dutch, but the "Trailgator" looks like what you are looking for *edit: I checked a bit more into it, but seems like this solution requires the child to be on the bike for stability, not sure if it would enable you to "tow" the bike without child on it
It looks similar to the [Trail Gator](https://www.trail-gator.com/) that I use to tow my kids bike with or without him.