Author Topic: PEDALS!  (Read 2533 times)

PEDALS!
« on: 15 June, 2008, 05:13:39 pm »
So today I picked a PUKY kid's bike up from a nice family who had offered it on freecycle. It'd been been used by both their children and they were now passing it on. A bit scuffed and scratched, but otherwise in pretty good working condition.

I got it for my little boy Gabriel, who is 3 & 3/4 - up until now he's been riding one of those little wooden bikes with no pedals.

Anyway when I got it home I realised it's a bit bigger than I'd originally thought but putting the saddle down low, it seems to be a reasonable size for him. He was very excited!

I pushed him around the park and he quite quickly got the basic hang of it - he was able to ride unassisted in a rather precarious way. He doesn't seem to understand braking yet though (it has a front handbrake and a rear backpedal brake).

He fell off a couple of times and there were a few scratches and a few tears but otherwise he seemed to enjoy it.

However, I am now a little concerned that it's a bit too big for him. It's the Z6 model I think and although he is tall enough for it (he's very tall for his age) he's only average weight for his age and he did seem to find pedalling the thing at the supplied gear ratio rather hard going when there was any incline against him. Although the bike is very robustly built, it is rather heavy! He does have difficulty pulling it upright, and if it fall over even when he's got his feet on the floor it'll often take him with it.

In fact.... (runs off with the bathroom scales...) ... Jesus! It's 10kg! Gabriel's only 16kg himself!

I'm wondering if I should look into seeing if it's possible to put a smaller front cog on the bike, or perhaps see if anyone out there would like to swap it with one of the smaller bikes lower down in the range. I like the design of the Puky bikes, but that is very heavy.

Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #1 on: 24 June, 2008, 08:25:59 pm »
Anders's bike has similar problems--it weighs roughly as much as the QEII, and the gearing was too high--it made it particularly hard for him to start without a push.

However, it's easy to remove the cog from a coaster-brake hub and replace it with a larger one (it must be easy, I did it.*). Of course, a new (longer) chain will be needed, as the original often isn't long enough to handle more teeth. This made a big difference for Anders. By later this year, I may be able to put the original cog back on.

* I though a complex pin-wrench was needed, and went a little nuts trying to find it. But all it took was removing the circlip, sliding the cog off the hub, sliding the new one on, and replacing the clip. I may have been luck, but the only tools I needed were a flathead screwdriver and needlenose pliers. What I thought were divots for a pin-wrench were just the slots that the tabs on the cog slide into.  :-[

Oh, and congratulations to Gabriel (and you!) on the pedalling!
scottclark.photoshelter.com

Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #2 on: 27 June, 2008, 12:41:17 pm »
Where did you get such a cog? perhaps a visit to the LBS is in order...

Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #3 on: 27 June, 2008, 12:46:45 pm »
Where did you get such a cog? perhaps a visit to the LBS is in order...

I ordered it online somewhere or other--I'm in the US, so my sources probably wouldn't help.
scottclark.photoshelter.com

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #4 on: 27 June, 2008, 01:01:33 pm »
RE:the weight, 10kg seems about right, TLD has a Gary Fisher Sunspot, which she absolutely adores, but I am sure it weighs more than my Claud Butler....

Fine when its on the stabilisers, but I do worry about the weight when I come to take them off, as you mention it will be struggle for her to lift (she is 4 1/2 and small for her age)
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #5 on: 27 June, 2008, 01:36:38 pm »
To put it into perspective, it would be as if my bike weighed 44kg - it is heavy, but not that heavy!


rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: PEDALS!
« Reply #6 on: 27 June, 2008, 02:18:38 pm »
As that would be a bike of nearly 100lb, I contend that it is world-crushingly heavy.  In fact, I'd be surprised if its gravitational field didn't suck in passing lorries, and it could probably bend light rays to give a "Predator" effect.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.