Getting your kids out on the trail is always a challenge. While many younger riders enjoy mountain biking and spend can love to spend time in the saddle, the often don’t have the endurance to pedal up steep or extended climbs. So the creators of Tow-Whee came up with a solution combining a high quality bungee cord inside a strong section of tubular webbing…
Over the years I’ve occasionally run into somebody on the trail pulling a kid with some homemade rope or webbing setup. And I think I was always torn between joking that they should give me a pull, and actually being genuinely worried for the kid might get hurt with such a sketchy setup. That was creator Eric Landis’ thought to, but as a creative mountain biker and climber, he knew he could come up with a better solution.
The solution is simple, but effective. Tow-Whee sews a high-strength bungee cord inside a length of 1500lb rated tubular nylon climbing webbing to create an incredibly strong tether that can be easily attached in order to pull a bike. The stretching design ensures that it picks up the slack when your kid pedals or starts to catch up, going from 180″ (15′) when stretched out, back to 56″ (4’8″) bunched up. That keeps it from getting caught it either the tower’s or towee’s wheels.
The bungee also works well to make the pulling progressive. So as your kid starts to drop back further they get more of a tug. At the same time if they pedal to keep up there is less of a strong force pulling them. The added benefit is no abrupt jerking when you start off or take up slack in the line.
The Tow-Whee was intended as an uphill-only deal, and easily comes on an off the bikes with a simple loop under the towee’s stem and the other pulled over the nose of the leader’s saddle.
Users have successfully used them in reverse to keep young, less experienced riders’ speed in check on descents as well.
The simple $40 tow strap weighs just 5oz/140g. In hivis red/orange, it is intended to pull a 40-120lb rider. If you want one to pull a rider heavier than 100lb, there is also a black Adult version for $50 that is 2′ longer and weighs just an ounce more. Both are made in the US, and available direct from TowWhee’s site.
