That's cool! I learned to balance on scooters in England. When we moved to
the California when I was 6 my father took me to the top of the Presidio in
Monterey with an old 20 inch tired Schwinn, put me on it and let me go!
The Deep End Method!
I didn't do that with my kids.

Yup, its kinda like a (mostly) Men's Group with its own kinky focus!

Seeya, Jake

On 7/13/06, Walker, Phil <Phil.Walker@brooks.com> wrote:
>
> For anyone who is interested, last night I found a local toy store that
> had a Kettler Sprint scooter (made in Germany, by the way - just like
> the ping pong tables). Like the one here http://tinyurl.com/o99kr
>
> Sage was a little tentative at the store but after teetering around on
> it for about a minute he was soon paddling all around the store and a
> few seconds later he took a couple of long steps and was cruising. We
> got it home (as a bit of an early BD present - only an Elmo cake and a
> big bottle of bubbles on 8/14) and he immediately was zipping up and
> down the sidewalk and in a couple of minutes was going footless for 20
> feet or more. It was really quite amazing to watch. Whenever he got a
> little out of control his feet instinctively went down. Only one minor
> fall over. He couldn't get enough...we woke up early this morning and
> went for a ride.
>
> Back to last night...My 4 year old neighbor brought out his 12" wheel
> bike with training wheels and was cruising around but it became
> immediately apparent that the geometry of the two bikes was way
> different. Really only the 12" wheels were the same. The training wheel
> pedal bike had a much shorter wheelbase and was quite a bit taller. I
> wouldn't be surprised if these bikes are really intended to never have
> the training wheels removed. Anyway, the kids swapped bikes and the
> neighbor kid gave up in just 5 or ten feet b/c it's totally different.
> They swapped again a half hour later and he looked a bit more
> comfortable so I bet the scooter might just help the neighbor kid nix
> his training wheels at some point.
>
> It was certainly more expensive than I intended, but it's pretty solid
> (as expected from European toys) and will likely get used by the little
> sister at some point and probably all of the neighbor kids...then it'll
> likely be handed down somewhere else.
>
> Just a bit of information, certainly not trying to fuel the training
> wheel/no training wheel debate that hit my mailbox yesterday, just
> giving a bit more information. If you start to do more internet
> searching for these types of bikes/scooters you'll find at least a 1/2
> dozen or so models made in Europe (and most not exported). The funny
> thing was when I called bike shops with high end big bikes and kiddy
> bikes (like $200 bucks for a 12" bike) they had NO IDEA what I was
> talking about when I asked for bikes with no pedals...
>
> And if you want to get really spendy...by the BMW scooter that has
> pedals that add-on later. Cool idea, just beyond what I want to spend,
> and frankly I'm not interested in my son getting a BMW emblem any time
> soon. http://tinyurl.com/zhw6g
>
> Thanks again for all of the help. I love this group of people. For some
> reason I come here for regular questions because the group/community in
> general seems to be my idea of the perfect neighborhood. Thanks.
>
> -Phil
> 89 Westy
> SLC, UT
>
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--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com