Thursday 31 May 2012

Brompton with Trail-Gator and Front Seat

What a great outing we had at the Punggol park connector! Mei came to ride and photograph us, and we are on our first longer ride with the trail-gator. I wanted to mount it as low as possible on my seatpost. It can't go any lower otherwise Ethan's front wheel would be too close to the ground. I need to shave off some metal from Ethan's attachment brack to increase the angle and allow the mount on my seat post to be even lower. As is, it performs wonderfully after I figured out how to attached to the Brompton fender stays when Ethan is disconnected. I dare say it would be even better than on a "normal bike" as the mount point on the Brompton is much lower and hence more stable for Ethan's bike being towed. Possible improvements are (1) quick release on seatpost attachment to permit better folding/carrying Brompton (2) lowering Trail-gator attachment point by modifying angle bracket further (3) shortening trail-gator by cutting/drilling more metial off the Trail-Gator.


As usual, Talia loves her front seat. It's been more than a year since I fit this together and it's still fabulous. The simple attachment method to the C-bag frame is excellent and the recycled aero-bars make the cheap seat look fantastic! At $35 this customized seat was the best deal ever! Please forgive the lack of helmet for Talia... I accidentally brought the wrong one and she wasn't too happy. Hence my towel on the handlebar for her to rest her delicate head!

8 comments:

Dorie said...

This is such a great setup. How did you get the trail-gator onto the Brompton seat post? Trail gator wants us to remove it, which isn't working; the post is tapered so non-removable.

Anonymous said...

I do this often so I have 2 seatposts. I sawed off the original Brompton seatpost (can be done by hand with cheap hacksaw) then put the trailgator on that. My other seatpost is third party non-flared Ti so I swap them in a few seconds.

To get the trailgator clamp on-off the flared seatpost you must remove the saddle.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the one and only front child seat on a B around Punggol! Xoxo E

ladle24 said...

What seat is that on the front?

Anonymous said...

I would really love to know what the seat on the front is. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Where did you get the seat on the front? Can you post the Brand Name? Thanks so much.

DJAdzyH said...

Hi there where did u buy the Trail gator in Singapore?

Ivan Liew said...

I bought the TrailGator second hand in Singapore after scouring. As far as I know, there is no local dealer. You can order it from Australia for about $160AUD - http://www.trail-gator.com.au/

The front seat is my own fabrication. It's a cheap $40 seat sold in local HDB bike shops designed to mount on a rear rack. I tweaked it mount on the Brompton luggage frame for the C-Bag, and added the alumnium handlebars on the front for my little girl.