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Posted

My daughter had a green plastic three wheeled thing.  I hated it because it was so noisy.  I had bought the balance bike when she was about a month old, but it was too big for her to use for a while.  

I did a conversion on the three wheeler though - I took the plastic wheels off and replaced them with the wheels from my kite land board.  Proper tyres, real bearings and I made some spacers and axles to fit it.  Was a fun little project.  it made the little bike MUCH faster and also completely silent.  We always had people asking where we got it from as it was so much nicer than the regular ones.   :clap:

Posted

First one of these ( a kid is not a kid without one) :clap:

 

Then a balance bike as mentioned by many

 

 

those are not the worst, in fact they are not that bad. every kid in the 80s had one.

 

The worst are those tricycles with the pedals fixed to the front wheel.

 

 

I'd take a deep breath first, you've got plenty of time for this and don't get your expectations up too much. these things can take time, and you don't want to force them (my first has been pushed by her younger brother as he is way keener).

 

BALANCE bikes for the win.

they learn to balance from the get go, and will never need fairy wheels.

https://ybike.co.za/products/

 

these guys are good, we got the original but it seems you don't want to wait that long so the toyni looks rad.

 

then you get a balance bike.

they are all very similar, get used to kid's brakes that suck ass. and the bikes are F#$% heavy compared to the kid. they are far too over engineered in my mind.

 

if you wanna be fancy you get this

we're talking alu frame here

58138684-1-full.jpeg

 

or you go custom

http://mercerbikes.co.za/assets/side-view2.jpg

 

eventually you will get carbon for the dude. this is where you want to be playing.

http://fullsus.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Gear-Momsen.jpg

 

 

 

don't ever get this far.

http://imgur.com/NDDCn.jpg

Posted

those are not the worst, in fact they are not that bad. every kid in the 80s had one.

 

The worst are those tricycles with the pedals fixed to the front wheel.

 

 

I'd take a deep breath first, you've got plenty of time for this and don't get your expectations up too much. these things can take time, and you don't want to force them (my first has been pushed by her younger brother as he is way keener).

 

BALANCE bikes for the win.

they learn to balance from the get go, and will never need fairy wheels.

https://ybike.co.za/products/

 

these guys are good, we got the original but it seems you don't want to wait that long so the toyni looks rad.

 

then you get a balance bike.

they are all very similar, get used to kid's brakes that suck ass. and the bikes are F#$% heavy compared to the kid. they are far too over engineered in my mind.

 

if you wanna be fancy you get this

we're talking alu frame here

58138684-1-full.jpeg

 

or you go custom

http://mercerbikes.co.za/assets/side-view2.jpg

 

eventually you will get carbon for the dude. this is where you want to be playing.

http://fullsus.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Gear-Momsen.jpg

 

 

 

don't ever get this far.

http://imgur.com/NDDCn.jpg

cbfaca8b8860d72fc9d339d38b5b6b36.jpg

 

Too late...

Posted (edited)

Going "over board" ....

 

O SO tempting ... and so incredibly easy ....

 

 

I bought the best 20'' bike we could get our hands on ....  And it certainly was better than the cheapies, or so I want to believe ....

- frame - just as heave as the rest ...

- brakes - same as the rest ...

- gears - same crappy shifters, at least easy enough the swop out

- gears - exact same as the rest.

- rims - finally, this was lighter and stronger than the rest

- front shock - this one actually did have 30 mm travel, and it did actually help (took photos to check what happens at bumps..)

 

So almost double the price for marginally better.  That I can still live with.

 

post-110956-0-31116100-1566357513_thumb.jpg

 

12 months and 3 weeks .... time for the next bike ....  IF you are going to be handing the bikes down to the next one it makes sense, but damn the cost of ownership becomes expensive when you get 13 to 14 months from a bike ...

 

 

I so nearly bought the 24'' Momsen ... for R12k ..... frame is supposed to be lighter, checked a friends and HE was dissapointed in that it was not really lighter ..... all the other components the same as you find on 24'' bikes .....  Bought a Titan for R 3 750, spent another R1k upgrading the gears and shifters, and 13 months later the bike is still giving us GOOD service.  YES, heavy as a rock, but they all are .....  In fact this 24'' is a few kg heavier than his 26''  :eek:   :wacko:

 

post-110956-0-15713900-1566358768_thumb.jpg

 

Now buying a 26'' is becoming a real pain ..... Friend went out and bought the Spezialised 26'' for his kid, the kid is doing decent in the SPUR series and dad wants to do by the kid.  The very spezial bike has:

- standard gears

- standard cable disc brakes

- coil spring front fork !!  :eek:   :wacko:

Frankly I dont know how Spez could put their name on such an entry level thing .....

 

 

We were just plain LUCKY.  Got an 8 year old 26'' that was gathering dust .... gave it a new lease on life and now have a LIGHT full specked bike !!  :clap:   :clap:

 

post-110956-0-78629000-1566358833_thumb.jpg

Edited by ChrisF
Posted

Dont worry about him just yet and enjoy your cycling!

Before you know it all riding is planned around him and you will become a manager that hardly gets time to ride yourself!

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