dedhed

Apparently some local guy figured out a better training wheel.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/commu...sia/771279002/

https://duallybikes.com/

blakcloud

Looks like a great idea, certainly better than training wheels. I hope this venture works out for the inventor.

Jarrettsin

A tricycle with different spacing!

drowling23

Isn't this exactly how fatbikes started out before people started making fatter tires?

CliffordK

John Deere Green? Is that trademarked?

I'd probably use airless tires. Get one flat rear, and it would probably still be rideable, but would give a huge negative impact for stability.

Nonetheless, it seems like an interesting idea, although probably not necessarily. When kids are ready to discard the training wheels, the learning to ride usually goes very quickly.

dedhed

https://www.colormatters.com/color-a...g-legal-rights
Some Joe Smith customs.
Untitled Document

fietsbob

I'd have 2 single sided hubs with the 2 front wheels even further apart,
outside of that wide fork.

spinnaker

Better maybe but not good as none at all. Kids get too dependent on training wheels. No one I knew used them when I was a kid. My cousin gave me one or two lessons. I then started practicing in the grass of the back yard. quickly moved to the alley way. And I am far from physically coordinated. Way worse as a kid. If I could basically teach myself then anyone can.

dedhed

Back then we didn't have deductibles and co pays.

CliffordK

So at least a little ambiguous as green + yellow on a bicycle wouldn't necessarily fall under the "functional" clause.

Plus, John Deere does actually make or license bikes.

Nonetheless, the company would probably let it slide as I doubt it would actually be directly harming their brand.

CliffordK

The one thing I find frustrating about stories like this is how the first thing a small US company thinks about is how to get their bikes built overseas.

Ok, so it would be difficult to build a $169 bicycle in the USA (including a profit margin), but domestic production always seems to just be ignored.

UniChris

Might be the wrong place to pick the battle - apart from special needs cases this is an item that should have a very short usage life, probably days to weeks, and that's already a lot of money to spend for such a short usage.

The throwaway-ness of it is probably more of an issue to object to. Hopefully they'll get handed down, gifted to cousins, or sold.

Some kind of arrangement that converts back to a single rear tire would be better.

DanBraden

I applaud innovation, but new isn't always better (maybe not a popular opinion in here at bikeforums.net hmmmmm?).

I'll never have kids, knock on wood, but I've had relatives who took that route and I can say with confidence that if you wanted a child to learn to ride a bike, you'd use a balance bike.



Balance Bicycle Wikipedia

CliffordK

Yes and no. I'd assume they would be more or less rideable for the entire duration of the 16" bike which is probably around ages 4 to 6.

They probably thump a bit when going around corners which would be a little funky, but the kids probably don't care.

I hate the wide Q-Factor on my fat bike conversion. I can't believe kids don't have issues with a wide Q-Factor. That'd likely be my biggest complaint about the bike, but perhaps the kid's legs and hips aren't affected as much.

There are a couple of models of Schwinn OCC chopper stingrays that could easily be converted to a dually if the proper rear rims were mounted.

UniChris

This is precisely why I think they'd have a very short useful life.

I'm not sure if I ever wore them myself, but I remember the day my mother decided that the 5/8" spacing dual-blade ice skates were impeding rather than helping my younger sister and threw them out. This seems similar.

The balance bike idea works because it trains one of the real skills, and you either start on a dedicated one that's so small it needs to be upgraded for size anyway, or you take a small bike and temporarily remove the pedals and perhaps cranks.

The training wheel idea has its issues, but at least they* are removable.

(* well, two of the extra wheels are removable)

A guy in the local unicycle club had a "dicycle" built - two wheels on a common axle quite spaced at the extreme practical limit of "Q". It's interesting to train the forward backward balance component, but as a stage really only has a utility of maybe an hour of riding away from the lamp post for people who drop in at public practices and are curious - makes perfect sense as a loaner for that, no sense as a personal investment.

CliffordK

My Schwinn OCC has a 16x3 rear tire that would likely fit on that bike with a little persuasion.

They make great trailer wheels (with moped tires). But, unfortunately I've had troubles sourcing rims.

Nonetheless, they could likely sell that bike with a spare 16x3 tire for an additional $20 or so.

So, there would be options once the kid starts to get the balance down.

hillyman

Interesting. Thinking about buying one for my grandson. But like questioned above maybe he would learn to ride with dual wheels then still have to learn on a standard bike anyway. Just looks cool

CliffordK

Hard to say. I assume it would have many of the features of riding. It depends on how much the kid depends on the dually for balance.

Some of the basic aspects of riding such as leaning into turns and countersteering would likely still apply, and be better than training wheels which one can't really lean.

I sent a note to the company suggesting a 16x3 option. We'll see if they reply back.

It should be easy enough to fit one, but almost requires a donor bike which is a bit pointless.

CroMo Mike 

Nothing new under the sun. Back in the late 1950's my neighbor's teenage son spoked two rims onto one hub and used it on the rear of a 26" "paper-boy" bike as an experiment in additional traction. I remember it sitting on the junk pile behind their workshop for several years. Almost everybody had a workshop and a junk pile back then. He wasn't impressed with the traction or handling. And it did nothing to help keep the bike upright like training wheels - and he didn't expect it to. Another of his projects was to splice two bikes together to make a 3-wheels-in-a-row tandem that he and a buddy used to try to keep up with traffic on city streets. That one lived on the junk pile afterwards, too.

exmechanic89

I think it's a good idea, myself. Agree about the single use of the bike, but then balance bikes are pretty much the same, imo.

veganbikes

The best training wheel is a balance bike or if you want more usage get a regular bike and take off the pedals or if you are really feeling frisky take off the cranks as well. Training wheels are good for one purpose to hold down a trash bag so it doesn't fly away (of course barring special needs applications). Parents need to allow their kids to fall and hurt themselves and then get them back up reassure them and keep at it. The world is a dangerous place and you can get hurt easily anywhere for any number of reasons and getting kids prepared for that real world is important.

I would rather have had a balance bike than training wheels which significantly held me back in my riding. Though thankfully I became a bike nut anyway!

MikeyMK

There's nothing new about this, my kid had a Y Velo dual wheel balance bike six years ago, and a friend had already had one for years before that, so there's ten years i know of for starters - perhaps this 'inventor' should try google..

This board isnt letting me paste images for some reason, just google 'velo balance bike' and you'll see both the fixed one she had and a tiltable version (so the gap netween rear tyres can be opened for increased stability).

Milton Keynes

I agree that's probably the best way. My son had one of those two wheel metal scooters which he learned to balance on before transitioning to a bicycle. I knew it wouldn't take him long to learn to balance a bike. When it came time to remove the training wheels he was up & riding in less than 5 minutes.

Milton Keynes

Reminds me of when I was a kid, a couple friends took the front wheel off of one bike and connected the fork to the rear hub of another bike, essentially making a three-wheel tandem like you described. Didn't really last long, I think they were just experimenting/playing around with the idea.

Milton Keynes

I never used training wheels but rather had a parent or someone hold onto the seat while I pedaled and tried to keep balance. Somehow it eventually clicked, because I remember my dad taking me outside for my last lesson, and he told me to get on the bike and ride it to the end of the block. I just did without any assistance, and was almost amazed that I could do it.

The problem I see many parents making with training wheels these days is that they set them too low, like completely down on the ground flat with the ground on each side along the rear wheel, and leave them there. That works OK when you're trying to teach your child how to pedal a bike, but it does absolutely nothing for balance. Once they learn the basics of pedaling and stopping with the coaster brake, it's time to raise the training wheels a little bit so they can wobble from side to side, and eventually learn to balance. They'll never learn to balance if they can't lean the bike one way or another.