Kids & tag along bikes

[PH5121]

My eldest lad is three and a half, he is too big for the seat on the back of my bike, so I fancy getting him a tag along such as the Trek Mountain train.

I cannot find a local retailer with the 20 inch wheel version for him to try, so would appreciate any advice on what age your youngster was when they were big enough to go on a tag along.

Also on the subject of kids and cycling, has anyone experience of the Trail Gator tag along bars which allow you to hook a kids bike up to an adult bike?
One of these would be good for when we all go out for a family bike ride, as he can manage 2 or 3 miles on his Hotrock 12 before he gets tired, it would be good to hook him on the back so we can get a bit further.

Thanks

Paul

[DrMekon]

I have a trailgator. It is agricultural engineering. The tolerances aren't great, and the amount of play in it is a bit grim. However, we paid <£50, and only use it occasionally (holidays, usually). State of the art in tagalongs is the Burley Piccolo or Islabike tagalong. Both use a headset like setup off a dedicated rack. The seatpost mounted ones fall in the middle ground between the trailgator and them. If you are flush, a kidback tandem would be a full on approach. Our eldest started using it when he was 4, but was fine on other peoples' at 3 1/2.

I can see us getting a pair of kidback tandems in the future, but for now (youngest is 1), we've taken a different approach...

[Jubal]

We use a trailabike. We stuck him on it at about 3.5 years as soon as he could reach the pedals to rest his feet on. Unfortunately he still doesn't like pedalling now he's grown a bit. They do a smaller version called the compact for 3-5 years but I was on a longevity value for money trip. It's a good design and plenty of fit flexibility but there's a touch of slop in the UJ which you and the child have to get used to. Only an issue at setting off really.

[PH5121]

Well I bought him a second hand Trek Mountain Train at the weekend. I think I will get a trail gator bar thingy as well, as he started riding his Hotrock without stabilisers on Sunday.

The use of a balance bike for 18 months has certainly been beneficial when it came to riding on 2 wheels unaided.
After holding him for the initial 10m he was off and pedalling by himself!