FollowMe Tandem Review

The FollowMe Tandem was one of the first things Cycle Sprog reviewed, all the way back in 2012. This bit of kit played a big part in Founders of Cycle Sprog, Karen and Chris' family cycling journey, allowing them to ride as a family of four with their two young children.

12 years later, Karen and Chris' FollowMe Tandem has been passed around many different friends' kids and we thought it was time to update our review.

Simon and his kids, Grace and Archie have been using their own FollowMe Tandem for the past few years and have shared some wonderful stories, thoughts and why this bit of kit has revolutionized their family riding and enabled loads of family bike rides.

A FollowMe Tandem is a tool which lets you attach a child's bike to an adult's bike. The child's bike sits with the front wheel off the road and the child can sit on their bike and pedal and help you cycle, while not needing to steer or brake.

A FollowMe Tandem is great for when you want to go on a longer cycle ride and you're not sure if your child can cycle all the way, or if it includes hilly sections or busy roads where being attached to you will help them be safe and enjoy themselves.

Disclosure: Cycle Sprog were sent the FollowMe Tandem to review back in 2012. We were not paid to write this review, and all opinions are our own. We do use affiliate links so may get a small commission if you choose to buy through the links on this page. This funds the website, and we thank you for your support.

FollowMe Tandem review

About our reviewers

Simon and Emma have a nearly 7-year-old daughter, called Grace, and a 4-year-old son Archie.

Grace, who is now happily independent riding, having gone through trailer riding, front mounted seats, and on to the FollowMe tandem, and Archie has also been in trailers, on front seats and is now enjoying the extended range using the FollowMe.

The family is based in North Cumbria and enjoy getting out for mini adventures, finding the long way to get to play parks, using disused railways and low traffic roads to navigate to interesting destinations. This year they hope to do a few little bikepacking trips in too!

My first knowledge of a FollowMe Tandem was from a friend sending me a picture of one he had spotted in the wild and the first impressions then were of a well engineered neat solution to towing a child's bike.

When we finally did purchase our own it was apparent that it is a very well engineered, well thought out piece of kit and my only surprise was the overall weight appeared quite heavy.

The fitting instructions were very clear, as well as pre-purchase questions to Ensure you are purchasing the right parts.

Ensuring you have the right front skewer for your child's bike is important when ordering from them, and the fitment of this is straightforward.

It takes a bit of time to make sure the fitment to the child's bike is done right, especially making sure the downtube attachment is fitted tight enough to not move when the bike is hitched on. This includes cutting the metal strap to the required length to enable a good fit to the tube but enough adjustment to tighten up the bolts. The good news is once this is fitted it stays on the child's bike until they grow out of it!

There's also a bit of a knack to getting the FollowMe Tandem to fit over the rear axle of the adult towing bike, it requires a fair bit of force to open up the triangle. Although this makes it tricky to swap between bikes it's the reason the FollowMe Tandem feels so strong and stable in use, so it's a bit of a trade off for me.

If you have an adult bike with a Thru Axle (commonly found on modern mountain bikes and road bikes) you will need to get an adapter for your bike. If you need an adaptor to hitch the FollowMe Tandem to your bike, the Robert Axle Project has created a tool to make it easier to find the one you need, which we think is incredible. The Robert Axle Project are a US based company, so if you're in the UK you'll need to use the axle finder just for the part number, and buy through a UK distributor.

How easy is it to attach and detach the FollowMe Tandem?

Unless you're an octopus, trying to maintain the balance of two bikes and a FollowMe Tandem is no mean feat. However, find yourself a wall or fence and lean the adult bike against it while manoeuvring the child's bike and problem solved.

If you have another pair of hands it is much easier as one person can hold the adult bike, while the other wheels the child's bike into position. But as you don't always have this luxury, it is an important factor to consider.

Once you understand the process, hooking and unhooking the child's bike is quick and easy. With the body of the FollowMe Tandem on the ground, there are two black plastic nuts on what looks like a trombone slider to undo.

The bike is then wheeled into place so that the front wheel goes into the FollowMe frame, touches the stop and the spindle extensions lock into place. Then the 'trombone slider' is lifted and slotted into the clamp on the child's bike. The plastic nuts are tightened to lock everything into place and you're ready to go.

First ride with the FollowMe Tandem

After finishing the set up and ensuring all bolts were tightened correctly, we headed out for a shake down ride (without a passenger) to confirm that we'd set everything up right and nothing was going to fall off and bounce down the road.

The bike felt extremely stable with the child's bike hooked up, with no noticeable rattles as I bumped along pothole ridden roads.

Grace was 5 and had been riding a pedal bike with confidence for over 2 years. Our first ride was a trip to a playpark in a nearby village and once we had hitched up we had a bit of a wobbly start around our cul de sac to get used to the feel of it.

Like most cycling it's the transition from stopped to feet on pedals that can be the most awkward bit, as I set off with a slight wobble Grace also had a little wobble. Getting used to counter balancing was needed, however, it really didn't take long to get in to a routine of making sure Grace was ready, feet on pedals and then setting off pedaling together, sometimes with a little wobble but this gets less the more you ride together. Before we knew it we were both confident starting, stopping and riding together, we loved it!

As they say communication is key, both in the setting off and the slowing down again, making sure Grace knew I was going to stop, or turn sharply etc. Grace would often use her bell to get my attention if we couldn't always hear each other.

FollowMe Tandem in use

We purchased the FollowMe Tandem prior to a summer holiday we had planned in Northern Scotland where the riding would be a mix of quiet roads, forest tracks and railway lines. With Archie either in a trailer or on a front seat, having the FollowMe Tandem meant we could extend the range of our riding without Grace getting too tired, and the ability to hitch up on some of the road sections was invaluable as we felt safer knowing Grace was attached.

Our family bike rides have continued in a similar vein over the last few years where Grace has predominantly ridden on it up until about 3 months ago.

We have done lots of road riding from the house to nearby villages, weekends away, coastal paths, some of the flatter forest trails and last Easter we had a 2 week trip to the Netherlands where my bike was set up with a front seat for Archie and the FollowMe Tandem for Grace to hop on and off depending on how far we were planning to go. Emma then became chief snack carrier and route finder.

Being so flat compared to our usual North Cumbrian routes and having such a lot of traffic free riding it was perfect for us, as it meant we could cover some good distances knowing Grace had the option of being towed along. Our longest ride that holiday was just over 50km, half of which Grace would have been attached, it also involved a trip to an aquarium, several beach stops, countless ice creams and dinner at a beach cafe on the way back.

We have ventured off road with our FollowMe Tandem, as long as everything is tight on both bikes and the hitch, we have found bumpy roads to be reasonably trouble free. Slowing down is always the best option and again lots of communication to make sure they are not being bounced around too much.

Hills are an interesting one as I would have expected to feel a fair bit of resistance but as long as they are pedaling (forwards I might add!) then its surprising just how much they add to the forward momentum. Both Grace and Archie also like doing a bit of stand-up peddling to give a little extra boost on the steep stuff. Its certainly noticeable if they do stop pedaling for any reason but with the bike we have dedicated to the FollowMe Tandem we have a fairly low gear that gets us up most things.

Depending on off road routes it can start to feel more awkward with them attached as the angles of the tow bike and the child bike can mean you run a ground on humps and bumps. I don't see this as a fault of the FollowMe Tandem due to the way the child's bike sits, the front wheel is closer to the ground which provides a more natural riding position for them when hitched and is more stable for towing. Lifting this up would make the towed bike ride more awkwardly and I would imagine create a swaying effect. So rough offroad routes are best avoided but it copes really well with the likes of a blue grade forest trail.

Similar to front mounted seats making sure they have enough clothes, gloves, buffs on is crucial as although they are pedaling they won’t be putting as much effort in and you will be going quicker than they are used to.

Having some up-front storage on their bikes is great for them to have snacks/drinks handy on the move. They’ve stolen my front bikepacking bags for their bikes which hold a bottle and a few extra bits, some of the larger climbing chalk bags would do a similar job.

Don’t expect speeds to rise significantly in the first few months of riding with them, we found that although they enjoyed going speedy on some of the descents it’s a fine line to putting them off as you can end up going a lot faster than they are used and they may feel a little less in control.

The towing bike doesn’t have to have the rider on to tow it, which we found great when Grace was a bit smaller as she could swap between the front mounted seat and riding hers on the FollowMe Tandem, also good for drop offs at nursery as you can happily tow the bike back home again.

We recommend speaking to your child about the use of brakes before you set off. They may think they are helping by applying the brakes at a junction, but not being able to pull away as you’d intended could cause problems!

Thoughts from the Sprogs

Grace

“I liked being on the follow me as I could get towed up some of the hills and didn’t have to pedal and we did some longer rides”

“It was funny when I rested my feet on the top bar and you didn’t notice for ages”

Archie

“I like doing super boosts (stand up pedalling) on some of the steep hills”

“It can get a bit boring if I’m on it for too long!”

is the FollowMe Tandem worth the money?

On the face of it, the FollowMe Tandem is eye wateringly expensive for a piece of metal to connect two bikes together!

But it’s no more expensive than many people now spend on accessories for a bike worth thousands. For regular commuting, it costs less than 5 tanks of petrol.

If it means you can continuing cycling whilst bringing up a young family many will decide the investment is worth it.

The sense of freedom to ride much more freely than I’ve been able to with the kids in tow has been amazing. While riding along I was starting to plan the logistics of future trips out – suddenly the difficult period between kids being too big for a bike seat but too small to complete a decent length ride has disappeared!

The FollowMe Tandem is definitely a quality piece of kit that makes cycling with a child easy and enjoyable. There are cheaper alternatives to towing a child by bike, such as a tow rope or tow bar, but the FollowMe Tandem is unbeatable for regular riding- it's a high quality bit of family cycling equipment that will unlock loads of wonderful family adventures!

Other articles you may be interested in:

• Carrying kids by bike
• Rear bike seats for older kids
• Best kids bike trailers
• Best cargo bikes for families
• The best 16″ wheel bikes for 4 and 5 year olds
• How do I pull a child’s bike behind my bike?
• FollowMe into the Forest – our adventures on the trails of Delamere with the FollowMe tandem coupling