Springer Hands Free Dog Leash Bike Attachment Kit -Pet Exerciser for Running, Walking Jogging - Universal Fit for Bicycles - Quick Release, 18-Inch Rope

This thing is just awesome. Before getting this, I tried biking my dog (a 45 pound Samoyed) simply using a leash. However, she is a sled dog trained to mush, so she always tries to get in front of the bike and pull. Also, she is a little shy of the bike, so when she gets tired, she goes next to me but at the full length of the leash. so we are taking up the whole path. I almost killed myself a few times trying to make sure she didn't get in anybody's way, so I decided to try one of these products for walking dogs on bikes. Now, I got one of those walkydog things that is simply a spring in a tube that sticks off the bike. They are a lot cheaper, but there is a reason for that. I have no problem with the quality of that product, it just didn't do for me quite what I wanted. Yes, it kept her closer to the bike and at my side, but I felt like she could still easily get too close and get hit by a pedal or a wheel because there was still nothing between her and the bike. Despite that, it now seemed that she had too little freedom to move around, like I could hurt her if I stopped suddenly (however, this thing turned out to be great when used instead for urban mushing using a regular leash without a real bungee tow line). So then I decided to try this one, and it worked wonders. I've only used it a couple times now, and I really feel like both the dog and I are a lot safer. Now, I did hesitate with the crappy plastic attachments that everyone was complaining about, because my dog is a sled dog and she can pull like crazy, so I did an experiment and put a loose leash on her as well so that the leash would hold her if the plastic thing broke off. After two fairly long rides, nothing broke, so I'm not too worried. Even if you plan on using your own makeshift bit of leash instead of their weird safetly thing though, this product is worth it. The spring action is just perfect, keeping my dog comfortably at my side but still giving her some freedom with gentle resistance while keeping her away from the wheels and pedals. She's still a little uncomfortable being that close to the bike, so she leans sideways against the pull of the spring a bit while running, but she does that less when she gets tired, so I think the more we use this, the more she will get used to it and stop leaning. However, even when she leans or gets distracted, I stay perfectly balanced and in control, never feeling like she is going to pull me over or anything. All in all, I think this is a great product and I would highly recommend it.

Before I start my rave over this bike attachment (and I WILL rave over it - it's marvelous!), I have to point out a few assembly quirks. First, the main clamp that attaches the Springer S-tube is 3-1/2 inches long and to install it properly you need a 3-5/8 inch length of the main (most vertical) tube of the bike, OR a 3-5/8 inch length of the seat post that extends from the main tube. (The dog exerciser should NOT be attached to any other place on the bike - Springer specifies only these two places.) Be aware that if you attach to the main tube, the bottom edge of the clamp should be about 4 to 8 inches (depending on your shoe size) above the bike pedal at the top of its rotation, otherwise your heel won't clear the horizontal part of the S-tube. On the other hand, if you attach to the seat post, make sure that your seat is still low enough so that your feet can reach the ground while you're on the bike! Second, Instruction 1 for how many and which plastic tubular gasket inserts to put around the main tube or seat post before you attach the clamp over them, suffered badly in the various translations. In English, they give you three post diameters: 36mm - use two blue inserts (wrong!); 32mm - use blue insert (wrong!); 28mm - use white and blue (this one is right). My seat post is 26mm in diameter... None of the other instructions (Norwegian, German, Spanish, French and Dutch) gives the correct number and type of inserts to be used for all four diameters shown in the illustration, so follow the illustration! 36mm - 1 blue; 32mm - 2 blue; 28mm - white and blue; 25mm - red, white and blue. For my 26mm post I used red, white and blue, and the clamp fits snugly; perfect! Third and last, when you screw the spring onto the S-tube, make sure you don't screw it on too far because it's impossible to unscrew it even a hair. Instruction 2, as well as the illustration, tells you the proper position of the eye at the top of the spring after it's screwed on. Now for the rave! We recently got a 70-pound, 1-year-old, female Lab mix from a shelter - high energy and mostly untrained. I have arthritis in both knees, so walking her for all the exercise she needs is out of the question, and the dog park is hit or miss when it comes to dogs "playing nicely" together. Enter the bicycle dog exerciser (drum roll please)! Judging by the pictures, I thought this Springer exerciser looked kind of weird compared to other brands that don't have such a deep bend in them. Some don't have a bend at all and that seemed much more straightforward to me. Fortunately I sought the opinion of my daughter, who sees and talks with bicyclists who ride with their dogs in the park where she runs in the morning. She immediately pointed at the Springer and said that was the one she would recommend. We looked at Springer videos and reviews and in no time I was convinced. The Springer takes most of the dog's weight in the event the dog lurches sideways, plus it has a safety release, so it is highly unlikely that even a big dog could upset the rider. I have now taken the dog for a bike run three times. The first time I first walked between the dog and the bike, then walked with the bike between the dog and me, and finally rode the bike with a leash in my hand that was attached to the dog's martingale collar, in addition to the Springer being attached to her harness. The second time I dispensed with the walking and just did the riding, still with the leash on her collar and the Springer on her harness. The leash helped whenever we passed someone walking a dog, a big temptation for her to trot over for a happy greeting session. I had to pull her along by the leash a few times on the first ride and once on the second ride. On the third ride I no longer used the leash and I'm glad to report that she happily trotted along with only the Springer attached to her harness! I am ecstatic over this product!

The Springer has given me the gift of safely exercising two highly energetic Chessies at once while I get my exercise on my hand-cycle. It took my husband a few weeks of trial-and-error to attach the exerciser and I'm so glad he finally made it work for the hand-cycle. The attachment as sold is designed for typical bicycles, but if you have a hand-cyle, which is like an adult tricycle, there really is no way to conveniently attach it. My hand-cycle is wheelchair height, and I operate it like one when I need to go in reverse, so I presume it will also work for wheelchairs. The key is to have a raised bar to attach the Springer, otherwise, it will be too low and the leash will interfere with the wheels when the dogs pull me ahead. Here's my husband's genius idea to attach the springer: He got these parts from the local home improvement store: 1 heavy duty padded arm hanger 2 - 3 feet long vinyl coated galvanized cables* 4 - double ended snap hook 3 hose clamps 2 sets of the aluminum ferrule and stop set 4 cable ties 1 screw that match the size of the bolt that comes with the springer From the Container Store: 1 elfa utility large basket * We found that if the cable is too long, it can get caught in the wheels, so it was a matter of trial and error to find the perfect length that works for my bike. You will need to adjust this length to your bike. The length we arrived at gives our dogs enough room to run alongside me without getting their paws run over. I found the elfa basket to be the perfect width and size to store things behind the seat like treats, water bottles, drinking cups, poop bag holder, garage door opener, baby wipes (my hands get dirty from handling the wheels), etc. My husband used the cable ties to attach the basket to the bike. The basket has turned out to be one of the best accessories we got for the bike. My husband attached the arm hanger to the bottom of the seat. He then attached the springer to the hanger as high as it will go in order for the galvanized cable leashes to clear the wheels. The metal on the Springer is heavy and needs reinforcement, so he secured it with a second screw in order to balance the product's entire weight on the bike otherwise it feels loose and unsecured, which is why I rated this 4 stars. We found the plastic ring to be extremely weak, which is why we replaced with the double-ended snap hook cables. They hook onto the springer on one end and the dogs' pulling harnesses on the other. To keep the dogs from getting tangled up with each other, I also attach a leash to their collars that attach to the handcycle grip. Just for experimental purposes, I tried to go biking with the dogs without the Springer and they pulled me in all directions. I felt every tug and jerky motions. Once they are attached to the Springer, I could not feel much of their tugging because the attachment absorbs most of the force. When the dogs see a bird or squirrel and want to go after it, I can feel a slight tug and have enough time to steer in the opposite direction. After biking for over 600 miles, the Springer is still holding up to our show ponies. Many people at the park have asked about the springer and I have pointed them here to get theirs.

Overall: I harnessed up my 75lb, 2 year old high-energy pit-bull "Yogi", connected him to this system and within the first block, the race was on! He ran so fast that I had to (gently) use my brakes to slow him down. On the flats, I never even needed to peddle (he likes to pull, and he was wearing a three point Webmaster harness from Ruff Wear, which is a good and safe solution for this system). I wouldn't want to use a collar with this system, due to the potential of neck and/or "throat" injury (I also had a short leash connected to his collar as an emergency restraint device just in case the Springer leash pulled off, but it never did). Unless your dog is way old, doesn't pull and won't react to external stimuli (other dogs, game, kids on skateboards, etc) then you should definitely NOT use this with a collar and get a good harness with wide strapping; preferably with some sort of padding to prevent chaffing (did I mention Ruff Wear?). Risks: The only risk to the dog (and me) came when I made 90-degree turns onto cross streets to quickly, which resulted in the dog being a bit startled by the bike coming too close to him (and could have resulted in contact/injury to use both, if it wasn't for my biking skills and Yogi's youthful reaction time and agility). I quickly learned to brake before the corners so I could take the corners smooth and slowly, which gave "Yogi" enough time to adjust to the change in direction. Price: Since I already had the harness for my dog (and a Bike), this is a great price-point solution. There are some more advanced harness-type solutions out there that look pretty cool (designed for real pulling), including ones that can be used on human powered scooters, but even with the price of a new harness from Ruff Wear, those solutions are still at least three times the price of a Springer. Mounting/Technical: As for mounting, as many other online reviewers have mentioned, you'll need to use more of the provided plastic collar inserts around your bike's mounting point than what the manual suggests (in order to create enough distance between the two mounting plates to get the extremely tight fit required on your bike to keep the entire thing from spinning, which is critical for safe function). The only mounting point available on my full suspension bike was the seat post, but since the Springer only requires 3.8" of vertical tube mounting area, it didn't require me to elevate my seat post any further than I normally have it set. Though my seat post sits perhaps 15 degrees back from full vertical when I'm riding, this angled mounting didn't seem to effect the functionality of this system, since the spring arm was easily able to adjust for that offset. Dog Health: All three of my dogs were so thrilled to be able to run with this system, they all wanted to run full-out at the start. This could be dangerous for older dogs or dogs that are out of shape (heart issues or cold muscles which tear easier than warm muscles). Make sure and either start slow and give them a 5-min warm up before being alowed to run, or hook them up after a 15min walk so they are already warmed up. Rough blacktop (and dirt roads) can also damage a dogs paws while running, so try and run them on either fresh blacktop or concrete surfaces. Also, please be cognizant of your dogs heart rate... most excited dogs will run at 100% plus of their maximum heart rate (as will humans!), which could be dangerous even for young dogs, and deadly for older dogs. Force your dog to keep a moderate pace by using your brakes regularly, if required. Summary: Highly recommended! Though it will take you an hour or so to get this device tightly mounted to your bike (and remounted once you realize that you didn't have it mounted tightly enough to start with!), and another hour of "first ride" time to get your pooch and yourself used to using this, it is well worth it to be able to provide your dog the higher cardio training it needs for a healthily, stress reduced life. As a side benefit, it will get you outside on your bike more as well, but don't expect to get too much exercise if you have a dog that likes to pull!

I heartily regret ordering this. First of all, EXPENSIVE, but the design looked great in the photos. Second, the instructions are poorly translated from German or something, and are very sparse and hard to understand. I even got assistance installing this from my local bike shop after I couldn't make sense of it myself. Third, the first time I used this, before I even started riding, my dog pulled away slightly (while standing next to the bike just as I was about to mount it) and it came apart. I don't remember all the names of the parts, but the straight part that fits into the corkscrew part... let's just say, it doesn't fit well and there's little keeping the two parts together, hence the immediate breakdown. This happened just before I moved house, and then was in temporary housing for a few months, then moved again, so I wasn't able to return this for a refund in a timely fashion. Just thinking about the waste of money makes my blood boil, though, so I think I will return it, refund or no. DON'T BOTHER.

I was so excited to get this attachment, so I ordered it only a few days after getting my new bicycle. As soon as it was delivered, I took it to my bike shop to have them install it. I thought they'd be familiar with this type of thing, but they had actually never seen one before so it was a trial-and-error installation. The attachment comes in several pieces. He attempted to put it on the lower part of the bike (as shown in the first photo), but he couldn't get it to fit properly, so he actually attempted to shave off part of a corner in order to fit it in place. It still wouldn't fit so he applied it on the seat pole instead. Putting it there has heightened the seat to the point that I cannot touch the ground with my toes when coming to a stop. It has shifted several times when being pulled on by my dog which has consequently shifted my seat. I've had to get off of the bike during my rides to make adjustments many times. Because of the shifting, it has prevented me from completing a full rotation without hitting the bar with my heel. Also, it had to be applied to the right side of the bike for safety reasons, but it's also a bit of a hazard because the chain is on that side. The thin, flimsy rope and plastic safety attachment that attach to the pole are not what I'd consider "safe". I wound up getting a short bungee cord with caribiner hooks on both ends to hook the dog to it because he could easily come loose from it on two occasions. I definitely think that's something the manufacturer should pay close attention to and repair. After three weeks of making adjustments and tweaks, I think it's finally tight enough on the seat pole that it will no longer pull the seat sideways. I do like the design of it and am overall pleased with its performance, but there are a couple of things that need to be fixed by the manufacturer. ETA: I still like the product, but I will warn you that if you have a dog that pulls even a little bit, you will have problems keeping it tightly in place. I've had to tighten it several times since it was put on. It's still a great idea, but it does loosen up regularly. I've had to stop several times during my rides to pull the bar back out after the dog pulls it to the front or back. And I assure you, this thing was applied as tight as possible. It just doesn't seem to stand up against the roughness of the ride.

After reading all the reviews on multiple dog bike trainers I opted for the SPRINGER JOGGER. It wasn't the cheapest of all systems but it seems to address the issue of a dog tugging in the opposite direction from the bike. Let me start with installation, I'm a 63 yr old female fully capable of using ratchets and wrenches. The install was super easy. This unit does have an allowance for your bike cables but my cables didnt' line up...I used one of the plastic frame liners over my cables and installed the mounting bracket under my seat...line up screws and hand tighten, then alternate your tightening and secure the unit. I had no problem! The arm and spring unit are easy to install, just be sure to use ample force when putting the spring down on the arm. I have a 11 month old beagle puppy who is still full of energy and walks are not enough to wear her out. All the walking had been causing my knees to have some issues. Hence the Springer unit...as suggested by others in the reviews and I read a lot of them....put your dog on the lead line and walk for a block or so. The dog needs to get used to the sounds of the bike and the gear change, tire noises and vehicles passing you by. Do this in the street...if your dog is used to sniffing the grass you will for sure encounter tugging in that direction. Walking on the street will resolve this issue and keep the dogs focus to the bike and your commands. Your pooch is attached, go ahead and get on your bike and try a short ride...my beagle was a little skiddish but quickly adapted to the exercise and we had a great first outing. Day two...harness up your pooch and do this again...no need to walk, your dog will be ready to run... The spring on this unit totally absorbs 90 % of the tug as advertised. I have no complaints so far. We did encounter an unleashed dog in the neighborhood who came running at us into the street. Even though my beagle was looking for a friendly greeting the bike never leaned or tipped in that direction. I felt I had total control, the braking and stopping in the street went better than expected. The other dog owner came out to get his dog and apologized for the scare....alls well, no falls, not much tugging and we got back on the bike and finished our run. I would recommend this to anyone who's dog requires more exercise than you can supply. The cotter pin is easy to remove in order to streamline your bike. I would suggest a flashing light in front and back on your bike to use in daylight and darkness as a warning for all drivers and pedestrians. I'm very happy with this unit and I am considering ordering an additional mounting bracket so the hubby can take the dog out. All he has to do is install cotter pin and Springer arm to his bike.

My 6 year old male Samoyed took to it right away. I did connect him to the springer and walk the bike up and down the street first. It is mounted on the right side of the bike so that he can trot in the grass when possible, and making left had turns is easy. Turning right (into him) is harder, but we are working on a command for him so he is aware we are turning left. The Springer dog Exerciser was REALLY easy to attach to the bike. He has pulled a few times towards rabbits, but I am also riding while holding a leash attached to his collar and he is pretty trained on "Leave it" In addition, my seat is low enough that I can put my feet sown quickly, but I'm pretty tall so that works to my advantage. I have not started my young 2 year old samoyed, as she is less trained and I think she could pull me off balance if she tried. No use hurting either of us, and she will get there soon. Nicely made, heavy duty product that is easy to use. It is up to the dog owner to train their dog so it is safe for both the rider and the dog. Another caution for your dog's sake, if you can only ride on pavement, do not ride fast enough that they need to gallop. Only trot, or you can really damage their pads, and cause joint problems as they get older.

I love this dog exerciser - I have an Australian Shepard who loves to chase and herd - I was a bit concerned he would pull me over but with the spring on this bike leash I barely even feel the pull. After a few times out he has figured out that he can't pull and just runs/walks beside the bike. I did have a bit of a hard time putting it together, trying to turn the spring on the tube was difficult for me and had to get a neighbor to help out.

I specifically purchased the original Springer in black because it has a beautiful black finish. Unfortunately, the manufacturer's packaging is completely inadequate. The individual metal parts are not packaged separately and bang against each other in the packaging during transport, resulting in the stand being completely scratched. At this price, I find this unacceptable.

Excelente

This is probably the best thing I've purchased in a long long time. It took a while to get my pup used to it. After a bit of training though she loves it. My one and a half hour walks are now thirty minutes with even better results. She's calmed right down after the exercise we do she's become a completely different dog. I love this thing.

Very helpful device help my dad to bike with doggy better without pulling down but him. Very easy to install and high quality. The only thing I think can be improved is that the line, need to be extended since the current one is very short, but you can try to link the hooker to one regular lease, that would be safer for dog and bicycle rider since you can see your dog.