Trailgator update…

I am sure you will all remember our recent exploits with BigSmall’s ‘new’ “Trailgator” with it’s missing Shims thing and the resultant dental damage. (I am happy to say, that there appears to be no long-lasting dental damage, and BigSmall is back whizzing around on his bike and scaring old ladies off the pavement…)

Well, I am very pleased to report that the Lovely Hubby, aka Daddy Fix-it has struck again, and has fixed it! And in true Make Do and Mend style 🙂

Over to you, Lovely Hubby:

As you have already heard, our first trip out with BigSmall hitched up to the Trailgator was not what you would call a resounding success. He spent large parts of the trip of only a mile or so inclined precariously at anything up to 45 degrees. It was either this or Jen’s saddle was all squiffy. So it was back to the drawing board.
After a it of research I found out that the kit should have come with some shims to pack out smaller saddle stays. A message to the guy I had bought from on that famous Internet auction site was zipped off and he replied that he never had any as he too had bought it second hand…. Double BuyNothingNew points there!
I had initially used insulation tape to pack out the stem but this was just not man enough and was cut to ribbons as we turned corners. so what next? A suggestion had been made to me to try some old cycle inner tube. So I cut a section out and rolled it onto the saddle stay.

It was then a case of bolting the hitch back together and and try as I might I couldn’t get it to budge! So it all looked good.The acid test will be the actual road test with BigSmall on tow……

Whilst I was doing a few checks before going back into the house to rest on my laurels I noticed that the tape I had used to protect BigSmall’s bike paint work from the hitch had been badly chewed. Upon removing it I found to my dismay some rather large, well what I can only describe as gouges in the paint.

Hold on a minute I thought, lets break out the old inner tube again! Unfortunately it was too fat. As the light was now fading I decided to sleep on it.
Refreshed in the morning I struck upon the idea to use a piece of my rubber shoulder exerciser band from the physio. After a bit of fiddling and a few unprintable words I came up with this….

Now we’re off for a road test so watch this space…..