betarambo
10 W
I guess it is time to start the big write up so here goes:
Why
I ride moto-trials which is a motorcycle sport that is like an obstacle course. Think tight turns, riding over rocks, logs, cars etc. and you are scored based on not putting your foot down and not going out of bounds. My daughter started riding when she was one year old on a Yamaha PW50 with training wheels.
As she progressed the flaws in a gas engine for kids became apparent.
1. The governor is challenging on a gas bike. They do it with a combination of blocking exhaust and limiting throttle. You end up with limiting it so much that they can't do hills or leaving it too open so they go too fast. The automatic transmission adds to this problem as it takes a lot of motor RPM to get the transmission going. On top of this you get the scary noise and the potential burns from hot parts.
2. Then Oset came around. They are the #1 electric motorcycle manufacturer in the world these days (I think). They make these awesome bikes for kids. The bikes are very small (the little one has 12.5" bicycle wheels and the big one has 16"). The cool thing is that you control speed by a reostat and it is very controlable.
3. Then she grew taller. Oset talked about making a 20" bike. I think they will but the deadline kleeps slipping and she keeps growing. I ditched to training wheels and bought a stem and bars to make it bigger. I converted it from sealed lead acid batteries (SLA) to Lipos. I ran it at 36V instead of the 24V her bike was made for. In the end though, the bike is too small and the 20" Oset is too far out. They recently got some competition and I fear that this is driving them in directions other than finishing the new, bigger bike.
View attachment Hannah learning to wheelie.MOV
Why
I ride moto-trials which is a motorcycle sport that is like an obstacle course. Think tight turns, riding over rocks, logs, cars etc. and you are scored based on not putting your foot down and not going out of bounds. My daughter started riding when she was one year old on a Yamaha PW50 with training wheels.
As she progressed the flaws in a gas engine for kids became apparent.
1. The governor is challenging on a gas bike. They do it with a combination of blocking exhaust and limiting throttle. You end up with limiting it so much that they can't do hills or leaving it too open so they go too fast. The automatic transmission adds to this problem as it takes a lot of motor RPM to get the transmission going. On top of this you get the scary noise and the potential burns from hot parts.
2. Then Oset came around. They are the #1 electric motorcycle manufacturer in the world these days (I think). They make these awesome bikes for kids. The bikes are very small (the little one has 12.5" bicycle wheels and the big one has 16"). The cool thing is that you control speed by a reostat and it is very controlable.
3. Then she grew taller. Oset talked about making a 20" bike. I think they will but the deadline kleeps slipping and she keeps growing. I ditched to training wheels and bought a stem and bars to make it bigger. I converted it from sealed lead acid batteries (SLA) to Lipos. I ran it at 36V instead of the 24V her bike was made for. In the end though, the bike is too small and the 20" Oset is too far out. They recently got some competition and I fear that this is driving them in directions other than finishing the new, bigger bike.
View attachment Hannah learning to wheelie.MOV