aikibujin Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Polar is almost one-year old now, one more month to go! I'm pretty excited and can't wait to start training her on a bike. Because bikejoring equipment is hard to come by in China, I made this homemade rig yesterday in anticipation of her training days. Material: 1-meter retired climbing rope, plastic pipe cut to length, 2 3-meter elastic bungee cords, and 1 locking carabiner. The end result is about 3.3 meters long from the bike-end to the locking carabiner. Is this a good length, or should I make it longer/shorter? Here are the photos: And here's Polar, acting as the unwilling model for my rig: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemary Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Love the pics of Polar lying down with the line attached - probably thinking what is this all about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Love the pics of Polar lying down with the line attached - probably thinking what is this all about? Hehe, but Polar is a good sport, I told her down and stay, and she stayed there the whole time while I'm snapping away photos, even though she didn't look all too pleased about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCouture Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 wow, great job! lol polar is too cute Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cathy Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Nice-looking setup! I'm jealous! I don't know anything about bikejoring (but hope to soon!), but I am an avid mountain-biker. The only thing I might suggest (again, from a cyclist's point of view) is to move your bike connection down (if possible) underneath the top tube (in that little "V" in the frame behind the head tube where the top tube, head tube, and down tube all come together). Right now, you've got it up on the tippy-top of the head tube -- if it slides up onto your stem/steerer tube while you're under way, it might interfere with the steering. Or maybe leave it where it is and just use some little strap to secure it to make sure it doesn't slide up ... Just a suggestion, and not ever having done it, for all I know, the setup you have might be 100 percent fine. I am looking forward to trying my dog with the bike in the fall. Just too dang hot here right now (he'd look about as enthused as Polar does in the pics!) Good luck and be sure to post up pics and vids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISDW Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 I don't bikejore, but have a few friends that do, and I thought that the whole point about the antennae was to keep the line away from the tyre, i.e., it is rigid above the wheel. Yours, whilst the line is away from the tyre, the tube it is going through isn't, and can still hit against the tyre if the dog slows down or stops. If you can, I think you need to find some way of attaching the pole to the headstock so that it stays above the wheel, rather than dangling down when there is no pull on the line. Of course I could be totally wrong, it has been known:P but thats just how I thought it was supposed to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 The main danger while bikejoring is letting your lines slack and it getting caught in the wheel it only takes seconds and it winds round many times pulling the dog in and you usually head right over the handlebars (been there a few times :onot pretty )The antenna keeps the lines safe and in position but your set up looks pretty good and a lot safer than using just a line ,if your line slacks the pole will hit the wheel but the line wont wind around it sending you into orbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 nice pics and good points made, hope it works well for you xxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 great points peeps That looks fantastic!! Bet you can't wait to try it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 wow, great job! lol polar is too cute Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 Nice-looking setup! I'm jealous! I don't know anything about bikejoring (but hope to soon!), but I am an avid mountain-biker. The only thing I might suggest (again, from a cyclist's point of view) is to move your bike connection down (if possible) underneath the top tube (in that little "V" in the frame behind the head tube where the top tube, head tube, and down tube all come together). Right now, you've got it up on the tippy-top of the head tube -- if it slides up onto your stem/steerer tube while you're under way, it might interfere with the steering. Or maybe leave it where it is and just use some little strap to secure it to make sure it doesn't slide up ... Just a suggestion, and not ever having done it, for all I know, the setup you have might be 100 percent fine. I am looking forward to trying my dog with the bike in the fall. Just too dang hot here right now (he'd look about as enthused as Polar does in the pics!) Good luck and be sure to post up pics and vids! Thanks for the suggestion Cathy, I see what you mean about the knot sliding up. Right now I'm using a self-tightening knot to connect the rope to the bike, the more pressure is on the line, the tighter the knot will get. So once Polar starts to pull, in theory, the knot will cinch tight enough that it won't be able to move up. But of course I haven't used it yet, so I don't know for sure, comes July when I get the Manmat harness for Polar and take her out for a run, I'll know if I need to move the connection to where you suggested. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 I don't bikejore, but have a few friends that do, and I thought that the whole point about the antennae was to keep the line away from the tyre, i.e., it is rigid above the wheel. Yours, whilst the line is away from the tyre, the tube it is going through isn't, and can still hit against the tyre if the dog slows down or stops. If you can, I think you need to find some way of attaching the pole to the headstock so that it stays above the wheel, rather than dangling down when there is no pull on the line. Of course I could be totally wrong, it has been known:P but thats just how I thought it was supposed to work. You're absolutely right, it would be ideal to have the line totally away from the front tire at all times. However, with a limited choice of materials (plus I'm not really a very handy person), I couldn't figure out a good way to fix the line so it stays away from the front tire. I don't have the material (and the know-how) to make an antenna, so this is the easiest method I can think of that might work. Of course I'm always open to suggestions to make it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 The main danger while bikejoring is letting your lines slack and it getting caught in the wheel it only takes seconds and it winds round many times pulling the dog in and you usually head right over the handlebars (been there a few times :onot pretty )The antenna keeps the lines safe and in position but your set up looks pretty good and a lot safer than using just a line ,if your line slacks the pole will hit the wheel but the line wont wind around it sending you into orbit Yes, I hope it will work too. But I'm ordering some knee pads and elbow pads just in case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 nice pics and good points made, hope it works well for you xxxx I guess I'll know for sure in July! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikibujin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 great points peeps That looks fantastic!! Bet you can't wait to try it out I'm pretty excited, but I'll have to wait till July. One is that Polar will be 12-month old then, two is to wait for the Manmat harness I ordered to arrive from the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey.Zarly Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 This is fantastic, I am jealous, i cannot wait until i can do this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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