Why Tow?
When I started my cargo bike journey, I didn’t give much thought to how I’d bring a kid bike with me — my oldest was 20 months old and still showed no interest in her balance bike, fast forward 6 years and now I have two active and capable children. Towing is one of our greatest bike hacks.
Having an easy way to bring little bikes and/or scooters with you really expands your horizons when it comes to adventuring with children. Near my house we have an enormous hill that my kids are still many years from being able to conquer. And just beyond this hill is a 281 acre tree museum with no through traffic…instead of this park being off limits for bike rides, or listening to them whine as they walk their bikes up the 12% grade, I can just bring the kids and bikes with me and offload everything once we’re in a safe and comfortable place for them to use their own pedal power.
When we go on outings; to an extracurricular activity, or for our regular school drop offs and pickups, I have no concerns about my kids bringing their bike along. if they get tired en-route they just hop on my bike. If there’s a particularly dangerous stretch, they join me temporarily and then get back to it. One child’s school doesn’t have secure bike parking. When she bikes to school, it’s easy for me to bring her bike back home with me.
In this post, I’ll use the word tow to refer to bringing along another bike on your bike. There are options for towing that I’ll go over, and there are also strapping/tethering/placing strategies.
Towing Bikes on a Bakfiets or Trike
Bringing your children’s micro mobility devices on box bikes is logistically easier than a longtail. You can place the extra wheels in the box with your kids, strap them to the rear rack, or tow them behind you.
Towing Accessories
I use two Tow Monsters, and I love them. In 2023 I signed up to be a beta tester for the product and have watched Jonah, the creator, further perfect the design. This accessory makes towing an absolute breeze and I use them every day — for bikes, scooters, backpacks, plants, groceries…they’ve really increase my carrying capabilities! I consider it one of my most essential accessories behind the rain cover. It takes 5 second to secure the bike and you’re ready to go.
Two kids, 1 parent, 2 backpacks, 3 bikes, 0 problems!
Other folks have used Bakkie bags which are a similar concept, though the set up for using it with a bike is trickier. There are three straps that you use to secure the bike to the bag. You can buy Bakkie Bags in the US through Bunch. These bags would also work on a longtail (for now, Tow Monsters are only compatible with box bikes).
Photo from bunchbike.com
Straps & Hooks
You can also use cargo straps on your box bikes. If you look at the Tow Monster/Urban Arrow two pictures above, you’ll see that I’ve added 1′ cargo straps to the frame of the box that I use for backpacks. Others have used similar strap set ups (or bought 3D printed clips) to carry bikes alongside the box. Bikes that have wooden boxes have more opportunities for DIY customization with the ability to screw on hooks or strapsto help make it easier for carrying along extra gear.
Towing bikes on a Long Tail
Bag N’ Drag
This method is fairly popular because the rider can usually use accessories they alreayd have. A bag and drag involves putting the front wheel of the bike in the panniers and securing the wheel and front fork to the bike. The Family Ride Blog has a detailed post explaining how to do it.
I personally haven’t had luck with the Bag N’ Drag method — my bikes always ended up on their sides.
Tie On
Carrying bikes on a long tail can be a little tricky, but it’s totally doable. For my Spicy Curry, I started by strapping bikes to the monkey bars. I used 6′ tie down straps (I always carried two on my longtail). While not particularly convenient, it did the job. It was important to line the bikes up just so so that the pedals didn’t annoy my passengers. I also found that it worked best when the bikes were backwards facing so that the handlebars would rest behind the back passenger.
DIY Bike Rack
Once my youngest joined the family and we regularly started toting two bikes while carrying two passengers, I began to look into adding something a little more permanent to make bike carrying easier. I opted to add cheap(ish) aerobars. Securing these proved difficult; I ended up using metal ties (both these and these) and attaching them to both the Monkey Bars and the Pop Top frame.
In the Cargo Bike Republic Facebook group, Aaron M. used hose separator clamps and electrical conduit to create his own set up — both his and mine are DIY so it’s very much use at your own risk. But I like that his support bars are attached several times to the monkey bars. If I had to try it again I’d probably do something along this route.
With my bike rack in place, I was comfortable carrying bikes up to two 16″ this way — beyond that, the wheels stick quite far out from the frame of your bike and it is easy to hit passing objects. I also found that the bike got a bit squirrely with that much weight so far back. This was more of an issue for me with carting two bikes, but not one.
The bars had the added benefit of being great for backpacks. I probably used them most often for that purpose.
Tow Bars and Running Boards
I’ve seen DIY version of this on the passenger running boards, but Tern has released a Tow Kit accessory. It does require you to remove and secure the front wheel, but it looks like another useful way to move a bike, especially if you find yourself needing to move something adult sized.
Some companies sell running boards that have cut outs for the bike tires in place, like this towing tray combo from Yuba. Other folks will just make their own out of plywood.
This Yuba Towing tray performs double duty as a foot rest and as a way to tow a bike.
Cargo Bike Chronicles 
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