The FollowMe Tandem Coupling attaches a parent's bike to a child's, creating a tandem bicycle in which three wheels are on the ground. The child can't steer nor turn the front wheel, but can pedal to help power the bicycles -- or can just rest and enjoy the ride. The child's bike attaches or detaches in one minute, so the child can ride attached or separately and switch between these modalities.
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| Mike, Silas, and Maeve ready to bike to daycare |
My experiences are generally positive, but differ from other available reviews, many of which seem to be based on a day or a week of using the coupling. This review is divided into four parts: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the bottom line.
The Good
Children are upright. I transport two children every day on my bicycle. I wanted a setup that seats both kids upright, where they can see and participate in the bicycle ride. For this reason, I didn't want a trailer; a trailer would also be harder to store and would be a step down for my daughter. I didn't want a front-mounted child seat (such as the Bobike Mini and the Co-Rider), which are deathtraps that unbalance your bicycle -- even the few that fit on drop handlebars and don't interfere with your steering or your knees. I didn't want to buy a new bike, which feels wasteful of resources and which I would have no room to store. I had good luck transporting a single child on a tag-along (a single-wheel "bike" whose front attaches to the parent's bike), but most tag-alongs attach to the seat post, preventing use of a child seat on the rear rack. The Roland add+bike looks great: it is a tag-along that is compatible with a rear-rack child seat, but it does not seem to be imported into the US. The FollowMe Tandem Coupling attaches to the rear axle of the adult's bike, so there is no problem putting a child seat on the rear rack.
Solid connection. The FollowMe Tandem Coupling attaches my daughter's bike very firmly to mine. She loved this immediately, compared to the small amount of wiggle she experienced when using a tag-along bike. I am very safety-conscious, but I am comfortable going 28MPH every day with two kids on the bike. There is a bit of road noise -- the metal components rattle a bit as you ride. This has no effect on safety, nor does it cause any looseness in the connection, but it took me a little while to get used to it. Really, it just means that the designers didn't take road noise into account. The coupling I use also has a small build problem: a weld connects two parts slightly crooked, so that two holes don't quite line up. With a bit of a shove I can still get a pin to go through them as required. As you'll see below, I didn't want to deal with the distributor (Clever Cycles) to get a replacement.
Easy attachment and detachment; coupling folds up. It is easy to attach or detach the child's bike -- I do this every day, and it takes perhaps 60 seconds. When attaching the child's bike, I do need to lean my bicycle against a wall rather than having it freestanding. You will probably want to do this too, unless you are more physically gifted than I am and you have at least three hands and an armspan of 8 feet. Attaching and detaching the coupling was a bit tricky for me at first, and in the first month I tipped my bicycle twice while attaching, but with practice it is now effortless. The coupling folds up onto the adult's bicycle, so I can detach my daughter's bike when I want to run an errand or store the bikes. You can also remove the coupling entirely; since it is extremely heavy, this is smart if you plan not to tow the child's bike for a while.
Attention magnet. I get a lot of comments about the coupling. People pull up beside me in their cars and roll down their windows to tell me how great my setup is. People on the curb stop talking on their cell phones when I ride by. People ask me whether I built the coupling myself, or ask me where to get one. (The coupling says "www.followme-tandem.com" in big letters...)
The Bad
Expensive. The coupling retails for $399, and I paid almost $500 when you count shipping and the extra parts I needed. On the other hand, other solutions can be pricy too.
Heavy. The coupling weighs 10 pounds, just for the parts that detach from the bikes, and the parts that stay on my bike are at least another 5 pounds, though I didn't weigh them before installation (and the last time I removed them, it look a hammer because of all the rust; see below). Furthermore, all of this weight is on or behind the rear axle, which can affect the balance of the bike. I balance this by putting my panniers on my Old Man Mountain Sherpa front rack, which accommodates my disc brakes. With two kids, the coupling, a bike, a bike seat, and the kids' gear, I'm carrying over 100 pounds of extra weight, in addition to my own (steel) bicycle and my gear.
Fit problems. The coupling consists of 3 parts: axle extensions for the adult bike's rear axle, a small bracket that gets strapped to the child bike's down tube, and then the big heavy coupling itself that connects to the othre two parts. I've attached the coupling to two adult and two child bikes (in all 4 combinations), and have had minor fit problems with three of the bikes.
The first problem was with the disc brakes on my bicycle. I asked the reseller (Clever Cycles) three times whether my disc brakes would be a problem, and each time they assured me without question that the FollowMe Tandem Coupling was fully compatible with disc brakes and I would have no problem. My rear disc brake is mounted on the trailing side of the seat stay (that is, behind the seat stay) rather than on the leading side of the seat stay (that is, between the seat stay and the chain stay). This location is not compatible with the upward arc of the coupling where it attaches to the parent bike's axle; I don't know why that upward arc is even necessary. So, I bought an extension that adds a fake axle several inches behind the real one. Clever Cycles swore to me that this extension would not interfere with the mounting of either a child seat or my panniers on the rear rack. They were half right: my child seat fits fine, but my panniers do not, at least not without bending them. So, I usually put the pannier on the front rack even when I don't have my son in his rear-rack seat.
On my wife's bike, the retaining clip that safeguards the coupling from falling off the adult rear axle doesn't fit -- it's simply so big that it needs to be in the same space as the derailleur. The coupling itself fits, as does the retaining clip on the other side of the bike.
Finally, the coupling barely fits on my daughter's 20" bicycle -- her tire is too low to the ground and drags in 4 places on our 1-mile ride to daycare. The coupling fits fine on my daughter's 16" bicycle. I don't know whether a 20" bicycle with different geometry would fit better or worse than the one we have, but this is a concern for older kids.
Rust. Essentially every piece of hardware on the FollowMe Tandem Coupling started to rust within a month. This affects looks and ease of installation/removal, but I am not concerned about safety. Really, this indicates unnecessary cost-cutting by the manufacturer. Did they not imagine that people might use their product in the outdoors, where rain is possible?
When I received the coupling, the plastic bags holding the parts were torn open (I blame not the manufacturer but the distributor, Clever Cycles, for this: apparently, the coupling had been demoed or used before), and I couldn't find one of the bolts. I bought a stainless steel replacement at my local hardware store, at a cost of less than a dollar but quite a bit of inconvenience. That bolt is the only piece of hardware on the bike that isn't rusted. Why didn't the manufacturer spend a few extra cents on stainless steel hardware?
Defective small parts. A small pin that keeps the coupling from folding up while being used (and that rattles around while you ride) has a small metal wire tether. This broke within two months of purchase. The distributor says that its warranty doesn't cover small parts, so I bought a replacement pin and spring-type cotter pin at my local hardware store. This works great. It isn't tethered to the bike, but I haven't lost it yet.
Another defect is in the strap that holds the coupling folded away when you are not towing a child's bike. It looks a bit like this. Every time you hit a bump, the weak spring lets out a little bit of the strap until the whole thing goes crashing to the ground. (This happened to me when I was carrying my son in his bike seat to the emergency room for a head wound!) So, I bought a one-foot nylon cord and a plastic clip from REI, and these have given me a year of faithful service.
The Ugly
I had a terrible experience with the distributor/reseller, Clever Cycles. I have to give them credit for being the only importer of the FollowMe Tandem Coupling into the US (if you know of another one, please let everyone know!), but that doesn't make up for all the other negatives.
- They told me they had the coupling in stock, then that they didn't, then that they did, then that they didn't, and I finally got one months later.
- They told me that the coupling is compatible with disc brakes, but some disc brakes require extra hardware.
- They told me the extra hardware was compatible with panniers, which it is not.
- They shipped me a product with missing hardware.
- They didn't stand behind defects in small parts, but did try to sell me replacements for the broken parts.
- Once they had my money, they were extremely hard to contact. I generally had to contact them at least 3 times before I got a reply: 2 emails and 1 phone call, or 1 email and 2 phone calls. The other employees, when I gave the name of the one who was supposedly helping me, clucked in sympathy but didn't offer to give me any assistance themselves.
- Worst of all, the customer service was offensive and patronizing. It's bad business to belittle your customer when the customer is wrong. In my case, I was right, yet the Clever Cycles employee was still derogatory and impolite.
The FollowMe Tandem Coupling is an ideal fit for my needs: I want to carry two children on a standard bicycle, safely, in a way that involves them in the ride. If you have only one child to carry, then there are other devices with similar benefits, such as a tag-along or the Trail-Gator bicycle tow bar.
I would buy the FollowMe Tandem Coupling again. But, I would wish that there is someplace to buy it from besides Clever Cycles, whose terrible customer service was a huge hassle, costing me time, money, and headache.
18 comments:
We are thinking of buying a FollowMe for the same reasons you did - thanks very much for the detailed review! Most helpful.
I am looking into buying a followme tandem as well and LOVE the in depth review... Many Thanks I was wondering about the weight among other things. And the info on the rust issues was great too, I will see if the manufacture will send me one without stickers so I can powder coat mine before I put it on my bike to avoid that issue.
For everyone who's interested you can buy the followme tandem direct from the manufacturer. The cost comes down from that stated on the website as you are not charged EU tax and they aren't responsible for collecting US tax, all in all the lack of EU tax pays for the shipping, and it comes to you at LESS than the sticker price at Clever cycles but I am expecting it to take a while longer to arrive than I would have expected from Clevercycles, on the other hand it sounds like it took a crazy amount of time for you to get yours even when shipped within the US.
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to post such a thorough and helpful review.
I've been using a Kangaroo wee-ride, which I've found to be excellent - far more stable than some rear-mounted seats I've tried, as the C of G stays central.
But now the bigger one is on her own 12-inch wheeled bike and there's a new little one who will be in the weeride at some point, and the FollowMe seems like the most "elegant" way to get everyone on-board.
So my heart sank when I read your comments about problems with disc brakes - my disc brakes work well, but I sometimes curse their inconvenience when it comes to other fittings.
There appears to be a dedicated FollowMe distributor here in the UK, but they have no information on the "fake axle" extension that I can see. I'll give them a call, but it's one of those situations where pictures would be worth a thousand words, regarding your problems with panniers etc.
I've bought 5 bikes from Clever Cycles, plus a follow me. I'm surprised by your experience. I have had nothing but positive experiences with Clever, and have found their staff to be courteous, helpful, friendly, and non-pressuring at all times. I am not paid a dime for saying that Clever Cycles has treated me right, and I cannot more highly recommend this small family bike shop. As to the followme, I've used mine for 2 years. Aside from some rust which hasn't affected function, I have had none of the issues mentioned. As to the bike falling over while attaching, I'd suggest a better kickstand. I can see how that would be frustrating.
I bought a Follow Me from Clever as well. Apparently it is made in Switzerland. The device is not intuitive to set up at first, and the manual makes it worse. The poorly designed manual suggests they need to talk to their swedish buddies at Ikea because what they really need is a one picture installation diagram, not an excessive manual in all languages that is so detailed, you can't figure out what the objective is.
Main problem is the defective parts. This is a major design flaw. The child's bike is locked in place and suspended with a telescoping arm. If the two "knurled nuts" that hold this in place are not tight, the childs bike will take a horrible crash.
These knurled nuts are plasstic bonded to small fluted cylinders that together are grossly insufficient in design and construction. These knobs should be made entirely of metal since plastic easily strips out and the parts are so critical to keeping it all together.
I didn't even get to use my follow me. I hooked it up for a test run, tightened the knobs and they stripped out immediately.
I bought a Follow Me from Clever as well. Apparently it is made in Switzerland. The device is not intuitive to set up at first, and the manual makes it worse. The poorly designed manual suggests they need to talk to their swedish buddies at Ikea because what they really need is a one picture installation diagram, not an excessive manual in all languages that is so detailed, you can't figure out what the objective is.
Main problem is the defective parts. This is a major design flaw. The child's bike is locked in place and suspended with a telescoping arm. If the two "knurled nuts" that hold this in place are not tight, the childs bike will take a horrible crash.
These knurled nuts are plasstic bonded to small fluted cylinders that together are grossly insufficient in design and construction. These knobs should be made entirely of metal since plastic easily strips out and the parts are so critical to keeping it all together.
I didn't even get to use my new follow me. I hooked it up for a test run, tightened the knobs and they stripped out immediately. And I've had it too long to take it back.
Are you still using the follow me? How hard is it to remove and swap to the other parent's bike?
My husband and I would be swapping it every day - he drops the kids and I pick them up.
What's your advice on this? Doable? Nightmarish?
Thanks so much. Your review was so helpful.
- Jessica
We've been using a Follow-Me here in the UK for about a year now.
Ref your comment about your daughter's front wheel touching the ground occasionally, you should be able to move the clamp on her downtube up a bit to raise the height of the front wheel.
Also to answer Jessica's question, it is possible to switch it between two adult bikes, you just need to buy an extra axle adapter. Having said that, I'm not sure I'd want to be doing it every day. It's a fiddly thing to do.
While the FollowMe definitely seems to be the best product of its type available, I agree it isn't perfect:
1. It's very heavy - an aluminium version would help solve this and the unsightly rust - ours too has gone rusty in places.
2. Our webbing strap that holds it up when not in use frayed and nearly broke - it's difficult to find a way of fixing this in a way which doesn't interfere with the rear light / reflector / rack.
3. We've had a problem with fitting the pin on one side of the adult bike's rear axle - the holes don't line up properly presumably due to manufacturing tolerances.
4. Today I planned to move the fittings for it to my daughter's new bike and I cannot see how to remove the downtube clamp. There's nothing in the instructions about removing this clamp from one child's bike and fitting to another, despite the fact that it is marketed as working with a range of sizes and this is obviously someone most owners will want to do.
We've been using a Follow-Me here in the UK for about a year now.
Ref your comment about your daughter's front wheel touching the ground occasionally, you should be able to move the clamp on her downtube up a bit to raise the height of the front wheel.
Also to answer Jessica's question, it is possible to switch it between two adult bikes, you just need to buy an extra axle adapter. Having said that, I'm not sure I'd want to be doing it every day. It's a fiddly thing to do.
While the FollowMe definitely seems to be the best product of its type available, I agree it isn't perfect:
1. It's very heavy - an aluminium version would help solve this and the unsightly rust - ours too has gone rusty in places.
2. Our webbing strap that holds it up when not in use frayed and nearly broke - it's difficult to find a way of fixing this in a way which doesn't interfere with the rear light / reflector / rack.
3. We've had a problem with fitting the pin on one side of the adult bike's rear axle - the holes don't line up properly presumably due to manufacturing tolerances.
4. Today I planned to move the fittings for it to my daughter's new bike and I cannot see how to remove the downtube clamp. There's nothing in the instructions about removing this clamp from one child's bike and fitting to another, despite the fact that it is marketed as working with a range of sizes and this is obviously someone most owners will want to do.
Hi there, just a couple of thoughts from a long-time user in Germany:
The trailer is in use avery day, year round, for about three years now, first with a 14" bike, then a 16" bike, now a 20" bike.
0. German online shop: http://velounion-shop.de/install_4/followme/
1. Yep, it rattles.
2. Yep, it is ueber-heavy.
3. You can bend it to accomodate different axle-length - somehow the bike of my wife is wider than mine, the trailer works on both, on one it is very easy to slip the trailer onto the axle, on the other bike it is very hard. The fact that you can bend it slightly also seems to contribute to problems with the holes lining up. It might also contribute to the feeling that that thing eats up a lot of energy when cycling.
4. In Germany, spare parts are relatively easy to come by, but they are very expensive. For some of the nuts and bolts your local hardware-store is probably a better alternative.
5. The "knurled nuts" suck - and tend to get loose, fall off and be lost (!) at 10 Euro a pop (!).
6. Switching between adult bikes is in my opinion relatively easy. yeah, you have to unscrew two screws and pull the trailer off the axle. You'll probably get your hands dirty a bit, but we do that every day. It'S doable.
7. I think the downtube clamp on the kids bike is not to be re-used on another bike. At least in our incarnation of the trailer, you are essentially bending a metal strip around the downtube and tighten it by turning a screw. The metal strip deforms, i.e. I would leave it in place once you screwed it on. You can buy a second downtube clamp for a second bike (44 Euro...lovely...) or you can try to get a metal strap in your local hardware store, but I would not reuse it as is.
8. Generally, installing the downtube clamp is a pain. They seem to keep changing the design ever year...
9. The manual is very bad.
10. Their quick-release are 30 bucks a piece. We bent several ones, no idea how.
10. To sum it up: AFAIK, it's the only available solution if you want to be able to pull your kid along, whilst retaining the option to have your child cycle on his/her own. It does it's job, we've been using it for three years.
There is plenty of room for improvement, though, and it seems pretty pricey, especially if you want to use it for several kids bikes and adult bikes. It's essentially a one-person place that came up with the concept, so I can see that a fundamentally re-worked version is not going to happen any time soon. It is a product I would recommend for people who need/want to pull their kids basically every day and who are willing to tolerate some discomfort. I would not recommend it for a family who plans to take it once or twice on a weekend trip.
Thanks for a great review. I would like to purchase a Follow Me Tandem for our 29 inch Mountainbikes. The clearance from the centre of my back wheel to the driving surface of the tire cannot exceed 380mm or 38cm On one bike it will likely not clear, the other may have another 0.5cm clearance. Any experience using the Follow Me Tandem on 29 niners?
Thanks!
Have you ever tried Trail-gator (http://www.trail-gator.com/)?
much cheaper...
I am have a bit of trouble with details clearance. Could you provide any details on the "extension that adds a fake axle several inches behind the real one"? Thank you!
I'm sorry that I can't provide more information about the "fake axle". I can't provide a picture since I took it off my bike over a decade ago, and a quick web search didn't turn up anything (probably I am using the wrong keywords). I believe that the device wasn't specific to the FollowMe Tandem Coupling -- it can be used for bike trailers more generally. I suggest calling a bike shop to ask. If you learn anything useful, please follow up here. Good luck!
I'm not sure if this is the same "fake axle" you used, but I found this accessory to the Follow Me when I contacted a reseller: https://www.trucavelo.com/collections/followme-accessoires-accessories/products/adaptateur-pour-moyeu-a-vitesse-interne-avec-klick-box
It didn't solve my problem of derailleur interference on my specific mech given the entry point of the shifter cable. What I'm doing instead (TBD if this will work) is I've ordered the XL Follow Me QR skewer, some aluminum spacers, and a set of steel Nord-Lock specialized washers. I'm hoping to be able to assemble this in a way that will give me a secure, but wider mounting profile for the Follow Me to give me the clearance I need.
Yes, that looks like the device I used. Thanks for finding it!
I also used spacers, as you will have to do. Good luck with the mounting.
Regarding the suggestion of the Trail-Gator: it only permits carrying a single child. It prevents use of a child seat on the rear rack.
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