Shotgun Releases Tow Rope for Mountain Biking Parents
Press Release: Kids Ride Shotgun
If your kid hates riding uphill, then the guys (and gals) from Shotgun have you covered.
Their new MTB tow rope is designed to take the hassle out of hill climbs so that you can tackle bigger adventures with your little shredder. The shotgun tow rope attaches to the parent's saddle – and is connected to the kid's stem via a shock-absorbing rope, which stretches to 11 feet (3.3 metres) when you’re towing a kid uphill.
The tow rope setup is rated to 500lb / 225 kg, which means it's also suitable for adults. And there's a rad hip-pack storage option too – which features an animal print from shotgun's 'Shred Til Bed' ABC kids book.
 | We're keen to help raise the next generation of mountain bikers, and we want to make riding with kids more fun. We're excited to release our tow rope, and we hope that it helps avoid many hill climb melt-downs!" |
Mountain bike parents can get the tow rope (or the tow rope + hip pack combo) from their local bike shop, or learn more at www.kidsrideshotgun.com. Price, $90 USD with the hip pack or $60 without.
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She's going to be a downhiller.
Ah. Fellow Aberdonians ????
I had every thing already, but even if I'd bought it all at a hardware store, it would have been sub 10 bucks (assuming I still used an old tube).
I litterally made one of these for about $8 and that was retail pricing. I bought 50' of 1" tubular webbing, and a 100' roll of 3\16" shock cord on Scamazon for less than $20usd. I had a roll of whipping twine and some sail needles already, but those are also available for just a few more $. I passed the shock cord through 12' of webbing, stitched a loop onto either end of the shock cord, stitched it into the webbing, folded the webbing over and stiched a loop in. So I have a webbing strap that runs roughly 3'-12' and has a SS swivel hook on either end (I had those from when a hardware store by me went out of business, I think I paid $1 each). I used a small section of 1/8" amsteel I had lying around to make a stem loop and clip the other end onto a seat rail. It's pink too so my daughter digs it.
Admittedly I spent a decade as a sail rigger, so I'm not intimidated by working with these materials, and have experience, so it was only like a 45min job for me. But $90 seems like exploitation. I think the MacRide version is only $45 too.
Parents will literally spend any amount of money to make it seem like they're doing something unique for their kid.
One warning, you can cause your kid to crash pretty easily with this set up. I've pulled my daughter over twice accidentally, she's only four but she's been riding a pedal bike since she was three and has been on a kick bike since she was 18mos. She's a little discouraged about being towed these days and I end up just riding next to her and pushing her up the big hills, rather than tow. I'm not a pushy parent, so I just backed off the whole tow thing for a while.
And to stow it, just wrap it around your seat post for Christ's sake.
So how long would it take to find these and order and then assemble for someone who does not have your experience.
If it takes them 2 hours total time and $20 in supplies then you are looking at 35.00 per hour paying yourself to make it. At 35 per hour there is a large portion of the market who would be like waste of my time to make it.
All depends on your perspective. Also if you buy one maybe you can sell it for $25 two years later.
@bikesnboatsnjeeps, a high price isn't "exploitation" unless there is an anti-competitive monopoly fixing the price. It's just a price that will be proven out by the market. Already many examples of less expensive options have been surfaced, so if someone buys this new one, it's by choice. And if it does prove to be too expensive, either the price will come down as supply outstrips demand, or it will die completely.
I don't know what you do, but my hourly rate is significantly higher, even after the boss gets his cut. But sweat equity doesn't cost anything if I spend my time infront of the boobtoob stitching a strap up.
I'm just saying you could drop $90 on this (plus tax and shipping) or $10 and have $80+ left for IPAs and skinny jeans.
Plus there's the satisfaction of doing it yourself. But that gets lost on the "need it now" generation.
Unfortunately, my time is not unlimited so i have to choose what i have time to do or not. In this case, i did nothing, i just pushed my kid and then grandkid on the back with my hand so I saved the 90/8 $ .
Otherwise I would have just used a couple of old tubes and still saved.
Many people out there dont just make a financial decision they think, do i go on one more ride with my kid or do i spend that time making a tow rope????? Or do i buy one that is made for this and get that extra ride in anyway.
Sure, it'll cost you just $10 in supplies and the time cost is amortized over your whole life of experience that allows you to multitask and effectively minimize the labor cost (still not zero, because you could instead multitask on other things while watching the tube), but that's not most people.
Sorry, i dont want you to feel that i was against your suggestion to make one at all, but we all have a different cost benefit analysis.
And is there no value to supporting a brand that produces innovative gear for parents wanting to bring their kids along riding? Tow rope is $60 (pricing above included a pack). Once you factor in your time and materials, the gap closes quite a bit. I hate it when people make this argument using assumptions that are clearly missing the point, any business worth a damn has to charge for more than just materials.
There is a value, yes, but also a cost. The value doesn't come until the end. It will take a lot of time, and trial & error, and purchasing of materials and tools, if someone were to go ahead and learn everything needed to make a strong, reliable, and repeatable, bike leash.
All that to just make one or two leashes for your kids? Seems like maybe not a useful spend of time & money...
Yes, if you already have the skills, go ahead and make your own.
Shit, if you have forge and the skills to operate it, maybe you could even make your own carabiners and stop getting ripped off for the $5 'biners included in things like this. After all, it's just pennies worth of raw material (if you can buy literal tons at a time).
The technique to hand stitch webbing seems like something that could benefit someone for years. And the argument that a homemade version is sub-par or prone to failure is mis-leading and ignorant. I've hand stitched strops for high performance yachts that experience repetitive dynamic loads in the thousands of pounds. I never had a failure or comeback, nor did any other rigger I've worked with. Machine stitching can be extremely dubious, having bobbin tension wrong or using the wrong stitching pattern is a recipe for disaster. Also when hand stitching you tie redundant finishing knots and heat finish the tread. None of which happens on a machine.
I'm sorry you over priced your attempt at the Towwee, I hope for the $15 up charge you at least produce it domestically from domestically sourced materials.
And with this generation not taking responsibility for anything, paying someone to take the liability for this product also has value.
If the tow rope fails and knocks your kids eyeball out. If you made it, kid is blind in one eye. If you bought it kid is blind in one eye and has college paid for.
#whoateallthepies
It's a very convenient and useful product, not really expensive either.
My kids and I love it.
Where to fellow Towwhee riders attach their end of the line two. I thread mine through my seat rails but do worry I’m going to damage my dropper internals in some way from the towing load. Any thought or negative experiences?
You can also wrap it lower around your seatpost collar to take the leverage off your dropper, which just doesn't feel right.
Retractable metal cord
My mate uses it on his Ebike to tow his kids and it’s not that expensive
I’m using a bit of rope for my fat mates hahaha
It's also a different capability. Yes, a good dog leash can hold back a big dog on a walk or even if they lunge at something, but it's not necessarily going to excel at hauling the same big dog up a hill for extended times and repeatedly. Even the leash I have that is created from climbing rope that I know is very strong, I still wouldn't use it for hoisting or hauling because I also know it's not tested for that. The clips and stitching may have working load limits high enough, but they may not handle the continuous loads of hauling.
So yeah, you can use a dog leash, or a bungie cord that fell of a truck, or an old clothes line, and maybe it'll be fine for decades. But many people are willing to pay for something purpose built that brings a bit of peace of mind knowing that you haven't finagled something that is supporting your child.
Someone on here is downvoting (the inventor maybe?) all these good suggestions that are honestly great for families on a budget. I recommend upvoting the others.
www.kidreel.com