Review of Adams Trail a Bike

Adams Trail a Bike - Original Folder
By: Adams Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 12
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We love this!

On: 2009-11-06

We bought this for our 4 1/2 year old daughter so we could all go out riding together. She picked out the pink one (her favorite color) and after a few minutes of my husband installing it on his bike, we were off and riding. I would definitely recommend it. In fact, we are going to order a second hitch for my bike so we can attached the Trail-a-bike to my bike and I can take her out just the two of us.

Very Nice Unit

On: 2009-09-20

The unit was very easy to assemble and attach to the bike. I have had no problem with this trail a bike aside from the hole in the tube upon receipt. I had to have the inner tube replaced in order to ride the bike for the first time. It is easy to pull and my son thoroughly enjoys riding this with me. He is learning to balance very quickly with continued use of this bike. I would highly reccommend this to anyone.

Disappointed

On: 2009-09-05

Received the item quickly, which was great. My husband had to spend couple of hours to assemble. The holes did not line up and he had to redo all of them. Once it was all put together and to be a surprise for our 4yr old daughter, the tire had gone flat. Come to find out it had a bad tire tube, had to go get a new one. Finally ready to go, she got on and couldnt reach the pedals well enough to ride and was scared to death. Our daughter will be 5 in Dec and is tall for her age (45 1/2 inches). The details of the item said for 4 and up. Over all very disappointed!

great trail a bike

On: 2009-08-20

After reading many reviews, I finally chose this one and were very happy with it. It attaches easily and tightly to our road bike and does not wobble at all when attached like some others I have read about. Great product overall!

Front hitch trouble...but great once its on.

On: 2009-07-14

This is a great product...once you get it on your bike. My trouble was in getting the hitch assembly and shim on to my seat post. My seat post size fell within the requirements of one of the shims, but the assembly was so tight over my seatpost it took a half hour to force it on. I tried the other shims - too tight or too loose. Only one would fit, and I had a devil of a time getting it on the post.
Once on however, the bike is great. Its well built, fun to ride and sturdy.

I recommend it...but make sure youre not expecting it to easily slide on your bikes seatpost.

absolutely no customer service.

On: 2009-07-11

On receipt of this product it was found to be missing the ball race on the right side. The sprocket was pulled snug to the frame and the pedals would not turn at all. Mistakes happen. The short story is that this CANADIAN product is assembled in CHINA. NORCO who owns the name ADAMS trail-a-bike, stated they do not "Necessarily authorize their products to be sold online". Which apparently means they do, except when there is a problem. The company will not directly deal with customers, and my "local" distributor (a two hour drive away) delayed the shipment of the part, which retails at less than $5.00, for over a week. A call back revealed that they never even checked their inventory. Surprise they didnt have it. Norco then shipped me a ball race set from the tire, despite explicit details given them. Unless there is some confusion about "the ball race on the pedal crank arm, right side" After five weeks I finally got my correct part. since it had to be shipped from CHINA back to CANADA to get to ILLINOIS, as NORCO does not stock parts for their own products on this side of the PACIFIC. I waited to post this until the issue was resolved. If someone from NORCO reads this, I am contacting every agency I can think of or find to report your feloniously poor customer service, and VERY misleading claims as to the country of origin.

Dynamite Trail A Bike~!!!!!!

On: 2009-07-05

We really researched the trail a bike selection and decided on the Adams for our daughter because it had so many great reviews from other people who had first hand experience! We just wanted to share how much we agree with all the others who gave a five star rating for this great product!! Thanks to all who shared and ADAMS!!

Great product

On: 2009-04-12

I bought this for my 4 year old. She is actually taller then most 4 year olds but I still had to put blocks on the pedals so she could reach. Other then that, the product is great. Easy to put together, easy to transports and easy to store. I would recommend this to anyone moving to the next step before a little bike (2 wheels).

Well designed and safe

On: 2009-03-27

After reading many reviews we bought this bike for my almost four year old daughter. At first she was scared to get on, but after a few days of taking short rides she was comfortable and asking to go on longer rides. Now she loves it! This Adams trail-a-bike turns very well without problems and seems very safe. The only problem would be if the child was not old enough or coordinated enough to hold on tight. Other brands of bike trailers had been reviewed as being "wobbly", but this one is not. The child can choose to either pedal or not pedal during the ride.

There are two models of this bike, this is the 20" larger version designed for 4-6 year olds. There is also a compact version that is two inches smaller, designed for 3-5 year olds. My daughter is 3 years and 9 months old and a bit tall for her age. We have the seat all the way down, and she is just barely tall enough to pedal comfortably. I am glad we got the bigger version, though. I think we will be using this for family bike rides for quite a few years.

Our bike arrived within 5 days and took my husband about 20 minutes to put together and attach to my bike. You can buy an extra attachment so that the bike can be easily switched from one parents bike to the other.

Terrific product for young children

On: 2009-03-14

The Adams Trail-a-Bike is a terrific product: sturdy, well-constructed, with a nice look about it. Naturally, I purchased the bike for use with my 4 year old. I had considered the cheaper tag along bike offered by Amazon (another brand than Adams), but instead decided a bike for your toddler is not the item to go cheap on. Im glad I went for the Adams (although I still think the price on this one is quite reasonable.) The bike comes folded up and requires some basic assembly. Took me 15 minutes to put it together ... nothing complicated.

Perhaps the niftiest feature of the bike is the universal joint connection to the lead back, which allows for up and down and side to side movement, but no leaning movement either left or right. The joints are stiff enough to make for smooth turns and ups and downs, but loose enough (obviously) to allow turning at all. I had no trouble mounting the mount on my bikes seat stem.

My four year old took the bike in about 2 minutes. We practiced in the driveway, then took it easy on our quiet street. We discussed pedaling/coasting, and how important it was to hold on tight even when it feels like she might fall (the sensation of leaning to one side or another). After just a minutes, she had it and weve been riding ever since.

There is a little play in the universal joint that, when translated all the way down the bike, can give it a little bit of lean either way ... but it is minimal.

Bottom line: great product for a great price. Take the time to "train" your kid how to ride it and youll enjoy hours of riding together. My daughters favorite part? The flag that comes with it and mounts on the back.

Bike propibly fine, but the store sucks

On: 2009-03-12

I tried to purhase this item. All went fine, till 3 days after the shop replies, that it`s out of stock.
Same day, i found this item again, in stock.
Only delivery cost rised,, did i tell allready, i wanted them to send it to Finland (scandinavia 60< 10 24 N)

Well Designed Product - Good Customer Service

On: 2009-01-02

I purchased the Adams Trail-a-Bike so my 3.5 year old son and I could go riding together. I researched all the available models and liked this design the best (Im an engineer), but could not decide on which size would be best for my son (Compact or Original). So I called the company and got REAL person that actually understood the product to answer my questions.

But I was leary of purchasing the Trail-a-Bike without any customer reviews. So I decided to purchase a Wee-Ride Co-Pilot from a local store because I could return it if there were problems (such as described by other Amazon customers). Good thing. The Wee-Ride assembly prevented the U-joint hitch from moving. I tried loosening the bolt but my good tools only made the Allen head hexagonal flats into a circle (the bolt was made of mild steel). So I returned the bike and the other one in the store had the same tight u-joint problem. So I left without a bike.

Now Chritmas to fast approaching, so I ordered the Trail-a-Bike from Seasonal Outfitters through Amazon. It was shipped super quick and arrived a day early.

I wish I had not wasted two trips (purchase and return) in buying the Wee-Ride model. The Adams Trail-a-Bike is an excellent design and well built. The hitch/u-joint and the folding mechanism are what separate this trailer bike from the others. One quick connect clamp allows the bike to fold and to ajust the seat height. Even though it is easily loosened for folding, it is very secure because the natural pull by the lead bike tries to keep the bikes straight.

The hitch has different size inserts to securely grip the lead bikes seat post without allowing the clamp to crush the seat post and make it out-of-round. The hitch is cylindrical with a square post in the center. This makes a very stable connection but one that can easily slide apart when the hitch pin is removed. The connection on the Wee-Ride required a hammer to slide the hitch apart. I can easily make the connection with one hand while holding my bike from falling over. It works so good I would suggest buying a 2nd hitch Adams Trail-A-Bike Hitch With Shims, Replacementso that two bikes can be set up to pull the childs Trail-a-Bike.

I have pulled my son about 10 miles on 3 trips. He loves it. He is very stable and the Trail-a-Bike even goes around corners well. The u-joint even allows me to take sidewalk ramps to the street while making sharp turns without a problem. He is currently too small to peddle, but he can place his feet on the peddles when the seat is at the lowest position and I have turned the handle bar as low as possible.

I only have to remember to keep my speed down to the recommended level because I cant be sure that my son might see something interesting and decide to get off without telling me. That is why he has a helmet, knee and elbow pads.

Overall this was a good purchase.