At last, a wheel to stop us falling off!

janwal
janwal Posts: 489
edited October 2009 in MTB general
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... -hour.html
Just what we have all been waiting for.A front wheel to keep us all upright and banish road rash forever.And it's so pretty aswell.
«1

Comments

  • Hercule Q
    Hercule Q Posts: 2,781
    wow its amost as good as a really steep hill and a lie "i wont let go"
    pinkbike
    Blurring the line between bravery and stupidity since 1986!
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    shame they could not fit the fork the correct way round.

    article-0-06DE5ED9000005DC-898_468x455.jpg
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Hercule Q
    Hercule Q Posts: 2,781
    nicklouse wrote:
    shame they could not fit the fork the correct way round.

    good spot :lol:
    pinkbike
    Blurring the line between bravery and stupidity since 1986!
  • hoathy
    hoathy Posts: 776
    i want one of them on my bike - well, kind of. maybe for a bit.
    - Kona Hot '96 - Marin Rift Zone '09 - Cannondale Synapse Carbon '06 - Kona Caldera '98 - Kona AA '94 - Dawes Kickback II - Cannondale BadBoy '11 - Genesis iOiD SS -
  • GHill
    GHill Posts: 2,402
    Just give the kid a balance bike, taking away the need to balance with a gyro seems unlikely to help with riding a "real" bike.
  • hoathy
    hoathy Posts: 776
    you mean like putting stabilisers on?
    - Kona Hot '96 - Marin Rift Zone '09 - Cannondale Synapse Carbon '06 - Kona Caldera '98 - Kona AA '94 - Dawes Kickback II - Cannondale BadBoy '11 - Genesis iOiD SS -
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    Its going to be fun every time the kid comes to a bend they will go straight on

    I think

    I did biology at school not fizzicks
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • OH NO Dan
    OH NO Dan Posts: 186
    Hercule Q wrote:
    wow its amost as good as a really steep hill and a lie "i wont let go"
    :lol: haha this is how all kids learn including me.

    There was none of these aids back in my day I tell thee
  • P-Jay
    P-Jay Posts: 1,478
    Hoathy wrote:
    you mean like putting stabilisers on?

    If it does what it says it does it'll teach the scamps how to balance.

    Stablisers just stop them crashing. My kid sister used to just lean over onto them to corner and never actually learnt to ride. She's 14 now and wont go near a bike. But to be fair she wont go near anything that doesn't sell clothes or makeup, costing me fortunes.

    Could we worse

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/soci ... 910202152/
    Shocker Enduro
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    I made the mistake of trying to read that at work! Somehow contained the laughter in a silent office!
    Gaybike wrote:
    The Gaytrack 400 comes in luminous pink, has no gears and a handlebar-mounted voice synthesiser that periodically says 'I am the biggest gaylord ever times infinity', in the voice of John Barrowman.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    nicklouse wrote:
    shame they could not fit the fork the correct way round

    Maybe its a Magura fork?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    He added: "A year later his self-defence skills and general aggression had improved so drastically that he was spending his half-terms working as a mercenary in Sierra Leone."
    :lol:
    Class!
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    jairaj wrote:
    nicklouse wrote:
    shame they could not fit the fork the correct way round

    Maybe its a Magura fork?

    why?

    dont you mean Manitou?
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    Balance bike sorts out the learning to ride thing completely anyway. By the time they get to a bike with pedals, they already have it mastered.
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    I'm with stubs: wondering what happens when you try to go round a corner.....
  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    nicklouse wrote:
    why?

    dont you mean Manitou?

    Doh! :oops:

    Yup thats the one, that'll teach me for posting when tired and in need of sleep.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    apparently, th ewheel has varying levels of asistance, and the manner in which it works teaches kids the way to balance a bike. You decrease the amount it helps, and it lets them learn progressively.
    Seems like a good idea.
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    P-Jay wrote:
    Hoathy wrote:
    you mean like putting stabilisers on?

    If it does what it says it does it'll teach the scamps how to balance.

    Stablisers just stop them crashing. My kid sister used to just lean over onto them to corner and never actually learnt to ride. She's 14 now and wont go near a bike. But to be fair she wont go near anything that doesn't sell clothes or makeup, costing me fortunes.

    Could we worse

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/soci ... 910202152/

    just choked on my drink reading that...twice! :lol:
    Not really active
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    Why can't kids just learn to ride like we all did?
    Stopping them falling off is a fatal error and just another one of the examples of how we are being pampered and are all getting soft. Jeez - they start vacinating people against insignificant diseases next!
    Not really active
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    _Ferret_ wrote:
    Why can't kids just learn to ride like we all did?
    Stopping them falling off is a fatal error and just another one of the examples of how we are being pampered and are all getting soft. Jeez - they start vacinating people against insignificant diseases next!
    I take it you're kidding?
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    just a little...(about the insignificant diseases thing).

    But what does everyone say is one of the most important parts of our sport? Falling off. Kids should know what happens when you mess up - not first discover it at 30mph.
    Not really active
  • Tino4444
    Tino4444 Posts: 281
    janwal wrote:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1221268/Reinventing-wheel-New-technology-banish-stabilisers--help-children-cycle-just-hour.html
    Just what we have all been waiting for.A front wheel to keep us all upright and banish road rash forever.And it's so pretty aswell.

    Thats a really good idea!! I wish I had come up with it.

    Tino.
    Speciallized Allez 09...great bike shame about the wheels!!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    _Ferret_ wrote:
    just a little...(about the insignificant diseases thing).

    But what does everyone say is one of the most important parts of our sport? Falling off. Kids should know what happens when you mess up - not first discover it at 30mph.
    kids will fall off eventually. This wheel is designed for when they very first get on a bike.
    What the hell do you expect of them? Just sit them on a bike and let them figure it out whilst crashing and hurting themselves over and over?
    People don't like to see their children being injured. Particularly if it's totally avoidable.
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    How did we all learn.
    You got your dad/mum to hold onto the back of the bike and help you until he lied that he was still holding it, you fell and learned what happens when you loose concentration and look backwards on a bike.

    Who is this product helping?
    The kids who then don't have to rely on the parents to help them and can nip off down the main road whenever they want?
    Or the parents, who can sit their fat backsides on the park bench and not bother with all that child parent bonding?

    Fine invention. :wink:
    Not really active
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    It's replacing stabilizers, so the kids can actually learn to ride straight away, rather than lean on the stabilizer arms.
    Stabilizers mean a child doesn't have to learn how to ride. Kids will still eventually get hurt, we all do. But this is a better way of teaching them how to actually ride.
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    :D . Just read the article now. Sounds fantastic!
    Can't wait to see what happens when the battery runs out!
    Just sounds all that more artificial to me...

    Hey, I wonder if you could fit it to a trials bike! No need to learn trackstands ever again!
    Not really active
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Actually ferret, the wheel performs the same actions as a person would to balance the bike. Which is why it's such an effective way of teaching kids how to ride. Trackstands are a slightly different matter.
    However, it seems you're an argumentative arse who goes out of his way to argue, so it's probably not worth explaining it to you is it?
    Have fun injuring your kids.
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    I'm only argumentative today because it's slow at the office... :wink:

    I understand how it works, but I think learning to ride a bike is something the parents should take time to do til the kids get it right. I still remember learning to ride my bike with my dad and we still do it together today (I'm getting better with every passing day :wink: ). It's not about injuring your kids, it's about not being so lazy, spending some time with your children and not letting electronics do something that you should do yourself.
    Not really active
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    So when you were a little girl, your dad followed you around everywhere, at all times?
    See, when I was a nipper, I had stabilizers, which meant I could go round to my friend's houses. Living in a small village meant it was entirely practical.
    This wheel replaces stabilisers, not parenting.
  • _Ferret_
    _Ferret_ Posts: 660
    Basically when I was little (...a girl if you prefer that...) I learnt how to ride a bike. I learnt lots from my parents and they spent time teaching me.
    Now, don't get upset - but I also lived in a small village, and, low and behold I could ride around it without stabilisers - I'm not saying that was completely because my parents spent time teaching me (I understand some kids pick things up slower than others) but it was a big part.
    Don't get upset dude - family values are something I take seriously. This just sounds like another lazy American fad.
    Not really active

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