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Plan for introducing kids to riding

Discussion in 'General' started by grasshopper, Dec 20, 2017.

  1. RichB

    RichB Well-Known Member

    My kid has a Specialized hotfoot 12in W/pedals - 7.5kg, without all drivetrain and sh1t removed - 4.5kg. A cruzee balance bike similar to strider - 1.9kg. Guess which one he prefers to ride. I also had to cut down hotfoot's seatpost, seat, seat tube and install lower profile tyres to drop it 2inches as it was stupid tall. Don't get a 12in pedal bike, I should have known better.
     
  2. 418

    418 Expert #59


    Next stop Simson 50. :)

    Then a ETZ251 if he's man enough. :D
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  3. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    That's the CRF50 that I sent Phil that I told you about. So cool to see another racer's kid starting on it. It's all OEM original, not sure how similar the levers are to PWs but they have to be close. I'm sure you can adjust the thickness, pivot bolt hole to cable bolt hole alignments to your jig/mold... Easy peasy... :) one off carbon levers for 2 year olds... You rock CB!
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  4. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    Like Scotty said CRF50. I could go get the measurements...

    I might just weld something on top/ closer for him to reach on the stock one...
     
  5. I made a pretty cool wet carbon set up since I couldn’t find one to purchase that I liked. If you buy the supplies before you need them you can get decent deals on high quality carbon n resin. For his levers I made a hacked together lever then made a mold of it and used a couple pieces from a lever cut out for “inserts” for mounting points. I maybe have $17 into it. Next big purchase is going to be a 3d scanner and 3d printer to make one off bits easier vs mocking up and reverse engineering them. His lever set up has nothing on my ktm’s left handed / foot linked rear brake set up (built all adaptors, levers, modified master cylinders myself). :)
     
    Boman Forklift likes this.
  6. My buddies kid has one, I’ll swibg by there today. Will give me something to do if I can get to it.
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  7. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    Phil, you might be able to heat and bend the original one back far enough for him to reach. Back in the day I straightened lots of OEM levers at the track in a pinch. Worst that could happen is you break it and then back to welding something up...
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  8. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    You're a real engineer that can apply your knowledge. They should make all MEs be able to do that. Most of my peers at Purdue were useless in a shop environment let alone in the field.
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  9. I’m rare in that sense for sure which is very sad. I became an engineer because I’ve always like building stuff and learning new methods, etc. not the other way around. Always tell my hr dept, if I have to hire someone with a degree find me a farmer with a degree.
     
    Phl218 and 27 like this.
  10. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    :stupid:

    I always ask for ones who wrench on cars or built model kits as kids. Can’t find any. Will start asking for farmers
     
  11. baconologist

    baconologist Well-Known Member

    Hiring managers like you two are rare for mechanical applications or R&D
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  12. Same deal as well. I just hired a kid out of school. At first seemed real uptight dork, we started talking and he said he’s from rural Wi. Kept talking and I was sold quick. He asked me last week as he was saying that interview was kind of off on a tangent he didn’t expect. Said I can teach a monkey with drive n common sense to do the job, I was interviewing those two traights.
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  13. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    Because the rest doesn’t get it or is tied up in corporate rules
     
    baconologist likes this.
  14. RTD

    RTD Well-Known Member

    My kids both started on Stiders, they both started very young on them and were on dirt bikes quite young as well, they we on training wheels until they were about 6, mostly because of not being able to reach the ground. They are now 7&11, we are lucky that we now ride almost every weekend in winter at a local indoor cart track.
    51971F58-D088-4666-B7A6-D806A6015FDC.jpeg C57FC4A3-76C7-4872-BA65-948DECFDD6C4.jpeg AB5E6DDC-A076-410C-87F9-25DEAB0662B2.jpeg
     
    cha0s#242, Phl218 and MotoGP69 like this.
  15. fullmetalF4i

    fullmetalF4i C. Lee #826

    Thanks for this thread. Expecting my first next month and wondering how I would go about introducing him to riding.
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  16. cha0s#242

    cha0s#242 Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand

    The Strider worked wonders for us. My son, 2 years and 11 months old is now riding his pedal bike with no training wheels. He's pretty solid and even jumps the curbs lol. We still had him ride his pedal bike with the training wheels for a while so he could get used to the motion of pedaling and building strength in those muscles , but now he's cycling like a champ :D
     
    Phl218 likes this.
  17. grasshopper

    grasshopper Well-Known Member

    They will be 2 on Sept 6th. I have them messing around on the Striders. They don't really ride them but they kinda walk around / push them around. Erenia calls Motorcycles "Tacos". I'm like no Tacos! That means dad yard sale'd another one!!!

    upload_2018-8-23_9-9-38.png upload_2018-8-23_9-9-57.png
     
    G 97 likes this.
  18. G 97

    G 97 Garth

    Dude, it’s not rocket science. Either the kids will gravitate towards bikes or they won’t. All you can do is encourage their individual decision. One way or the other, the kids will decide on their own.
     
  19. TLR67

    TLR67 Well-Known Member

    Put some Lids on this Kids.... Even the shortest falls can cause permanent Damage..... Look at Metalhead....:Poke:
     
  20. Chino52405

    Chino52405 Well-Known Member

    My kid has the same green strider and at 1.5 and he's bike obsessed even if he may grow up and decide he has no interest. Sometimes I'll hear him behind me in his car seat running through the gears like a race bike on the front straight.
     
    Phl218 likes this.

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