Review of Radio Flyer Tailspin Trike, Red

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First, this toy definitely requires the rider to be wearing a helmet and I would also strongly recommend knee and elbow pads. As the description states, the rider drives straight and then pulls on the bar which results in a wicked spin out. Beware however that the rider will spin quickly and if they are close to anything when they pull this bar (such as a parked car), they could spin right into it. My husband was able to assemble the trike without any difficulty. What I noticed right away was this toy was really light weight. Our 6 (almost 7) year old son thought it was incredibly cool to ride. Unfortunately however the handlebar assembly snapped literally in my son's hand while he was in spinout mode making the bike completely inoperable (lightweight materials do have their downside). This occurred after only about 3 uses. There is clearly a lot of force placed on the handlebar when the rider is spinning out. We contacted Radio Flyer directly and they were aware of this problem (they thought they had resolved it before marketing the product) and sent the appropriate replacement parts. It took a while to disassemble the bike to install the new handlebar however it was worth the effort because our son really loves this trike. All in all, a very enjoyable toy and major thumbs up to Radio Flyer for standing behind their product and quickly replacing the defective parts.

Update....After several more uses, all tires are wearing out very prematurely. This trike will be inoperable after a few more uses as the tires, which are nearly bald, will have absolutely no tread left. Considering how expensive this trike was, I'm actually disappointed in the overall durability of this toy. It's still a lot of fun, just don't expect to have more than two months of serious play time with it.

2nd update handle bar broke AGAIN. Had to send it back to the company for their quality assurance unit to inspect. They sent a replacement scooter (free) that our son loved.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The front wheel is hard plastic (no rusting) and the black tire portion is a soft plastic (I think they are using this tire on other current Radio Flyer products) The back wheels are the hard plastic wheels used on the old big wheels (and a R.F. wagon we currently have) but since the Tailspin has inline skate wheels to do the spinning this should not be a wear issue. The bike frame is all metal and very sturdy. The seat is plastic and adjustable with a screw driver and wrench. This trike is so sturdy I was even able to give it a very lame "mom spin" around the driveway much to my children's delight.

The directions to put the trike together were very clear and large. It took me an hour but I was being very careful. I was trying to make sure I had all of the washers and nuts in the proper place since my kids were going to be riding it. I am sure this will make it through many, many, years of play. Love it!

UPDATE: 2/2012 The handle bar rusted and snapped off at the shaft of the bike. It has only been left in the rain a few times since we got it but not enough times to warrant an irreparable break. Besides the rusted shaft the bike still looks new. What a shame.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Very fun bike for my 11 and almost 3 year old. The intended use is for 5 to 8 year olds but the bike is sturdy enough to hold my 11 year old boy and even though my 3 year old can't reach the pedals yet, she LOVES to pull on the spin handle and lift the bike up about 2 inches. The bike is easy to put together as my 11 year old did it all by him self with me only checking to ensure bolts were properly tightened. The spin lever works by lifting the bike off of the main back wheels and on to the smaller roller wheels making it spin out. I would say the only area of dissapointment is that the front wheels and main back wheels are plastic. If you are old enough to remember the 'Big Wheel', it is just like the wheels on those. It looks pretty odd to me as the rest of the bike has a sturdy metal frame and yet these cheap plastic wheels. I would have liked to see proper rubber tires.

Honest reviews on Radio Flyer Tailspin Trike, Red

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We got this bike and although the assembling wasn't the funnest, we gave it to my bfs 3 yr nephew and he has had a blast on this bike! We both grew up on Radio Flyer products and they are still as good of a product as they always have been. This is his first tricycle but it's been a fun learning experience for him even though he doesn't quiet fit on the bike itself, he has been able to push himself forward and peddle.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Radio Flyer Tailspin Trike, Red

Bought this for our 5 year old and was hoping he was going to like it but had a bit of hesitation since he can ride a bike and may feel this was going backwards. It was quickly apparent that that wasn't going to be an issue once he figured out how to spin it out. Really a cool present and at the price, an awesome deal for a well built trike.

Review of Handspun Sport Series 3 Front Shimano 105 Black Velocity A23 Black

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These wheels use good components, the Shimano 105 hubs and Velocity rims are excellent! They do need some love though...

When I receive them, the back wheel was significantly wobbly... To the point they wouldn't roll because of break rub. That was about 5-8 mm off. Front wheel was perfect. Once trued, I went for my first spin. About 30 min, 8 miles with some fast moments (30+ mph), sprints and small hills.

Once back I noticed the rear wheel slightly out of true... So I began tuning the wheels. That's a few hours of work with great attention to detail. Here's my process, based on "Professional Guide to Wheel Building" by Roger Musson (

Oil nipples

Stress relief by squeezing spokes

Lateral True

Check for dish

Check and adjust for even tension (plucking each spoke for tone) balance tension in 1/8 to 1/16 of a turn increments

Increase tension by 1/4 of a turn increments on each spoke

Stress relief

True

Dish

Pluck

Increase tension

Repeated a few more times. I increased tension on those wheels by about 3/4 turns.

On to my second spin the next day... Wheels felt more rigid and were true for the ride. Ride felt smoother than with my previous wheels with same tubes, tires, and air pressure as before. They roll very well.

When going back home, I hit something really hard with my front wheel at about 17 mph... Couldn't tell exactly what it was, I had to focus on traffic... It damaged my front tube (I had a flat)... But the rim was intact and the wheel perfectly true. Definitely a quality set if tuned properly.

Note that I had similar problems with a 29er Shimano set I got for my hybrid. Great wheels but also under tensioned. Perfectly trued out of the box but needed to be aligned after first ride.

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Eleven81 3 Piece QR Ally Skewer Set Sil Review

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List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $14.00
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

give us a break, we need to know this if we are going to replace current rusted skewers; now I have to figure out how to return the thing!

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I need to replace a skewer that got bent so ordered these. I have only used one so far. Seems to work well. Was a few mm too long, so had to cut it down to properly fit my bike. Other than that works great.

Tour Hockey Thor G-l Goalie Inline Hockey Skate Review

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These were my first goalie skates, and they were fairly easy to work in and get used to. The wheels seem to keep their condition fairly well, and the skates provide great protection from pucks.

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Buy Mobo Mini Luxury Three Wheeled Cruiser

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $249.00
Sale Price: $179.10
Today's Bonus: 28% Off

I'm giving this a "tentative" 5 stars as I purchased it as a Christmas gift for my 2 year old nephew and he hasn't seen/played with it yet. I'll update this review after Christmas with how it went.

Price:

IMHO, the entire recumbent trike market is way overpriced. But in that context, the asking price (although possibly still a smidge high) is about what I'd expect for this type of product.

Quality:

The trike appears to be made from good quality parts (i.e., no parts looked inherently sub-standard to me). The main frame, seat frame, and steering assembly are made of a sturdy metal tubing and the welds look decent. The steering linkage, fenders, fender supports, and crank arms are also made of metal. The pedals and tire rims appear to made of plastic. Once assembled, the trike seems very sturdy with all parts properly fitting together snug and secure.

~The caliper handbrake is adjustable.

~The front tire is inflatable (rear tires are solid).

~The front rim is freewheel (braking with handbrake only or possibly by dragging feet).

~The valve for the inflatable front tire is angled outward and can easily be accessed by a standard bike pump.

~Removable bike flag/post included.

Assembly:

The following parts came pre-assembled: 1) steering linkage/steering arm/complete brake assembly/front frame/forts/front wheel/cranks and 2) seat frame/cushions. So all I needed to do was to attach those two pre-assembled sections to the rear axle and put on the rear tires, reflector, bike flag, decals and put air in the front tire.

~In no rush, it took me about an hour to de-box, read instructions, and assemble the trike (and then another hour or so to apply the custom decals).

~Tools Do yourself a favor and use your own tools to assemble the trike. The manufacture is kind enough to include tools but I found them to mostly cause frustration (with the exception of the allen wrenches).

~Decals The manufacture also provides a nice variety of decals so you can customize the look of the trike. The nice thing about decals is that they are more forgiving if you misapply and need to adjust their positioning. However, if you haven't applied decals in a while (or ever), I would suggest you practice applying (then removing before it dries) one or two of the larger decals you don't plan on using as they can be a little tricky. Also, the instructions indicate to place the decals in water for a few minutes. However, the decals I received took about an hour in warm water before I could properly separate them from their backing.

Portability:

This trike is light enough for just about any adult (even petite moms) to easily lift and it's small enough to fit in the trunk/back seat of a typical compact car.

If I haven't added an update at the top of this review, then this product is still working for me as described.

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This is really fun for the grandkids. We bought it for our 2yr old but his legs are just a little too short for the closest setting. However the 5 yr old goes like crazy with it. He has a y-bike and it is just a lttle too big for him. However he likes it also

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This thing is absolutely ridiculous. While it is expensive, there is not a better "tricycle" out there for a little guy.

Huge advantages over regular tricycles/big wheels:

StabilityMy son has tipped over other tricycles and become scared to use them. With the low center of gravity this is pretty much impossible to tip even when turning on a hill/driveway.

Free wheelhas a freewheel on the front wheel, in other words you can coast without having the pedals move, very cool and unlike most tricycles/big wheels. Makes it much safer if the kid picks up a little speed going downhill and removes his feet from the pedals(I remember the pedals on my big wheel digging into my shins more than once).

BrakeHas a hand brake, no need to Flintstone it. However the handbrake is too big for my two year old to use yet (can't get his hand around it) so he is still using the flintsone method to stop.

Anyways my 2 1/2 y/o has no problems steering/pedaling this. In fact he can reach speeds faster than I can comfortably walk. Everyone at the park is quite impressed at the speeds he reaches (he luckily is very courteous and respectful not to run people over/pulls to the side of the sidewalk and waits if a dog approaches). He should get a good 2-3 years out of this bike, making a great investment, despite the high price.