My son, who has autism, gets these wild hairs about stuff (I need a snack that starts with K! Remember my speech therapist from 2nd grade, can we meet her for lunch TODAY? I need to ride a bike NOW!) and I usually try to accomodate those.
But the bike thing is tricky. He outgrew his bike with training wheels, I bought him a bigger bike and a pair of add on training wheels, but the axle wasnt big enough to attach them. He isnt coordinated enough to steer, pedal and balance. Hence the problem.
So I set out to create balance bikes for both him and my 4 & 6yr olds who also need to learn to ride on 2 wheels.
And lo and behold, taking the pedal mechanism off a bike is not that easy! So I figured I would blog it up and share the youtube videos that a friend shared with me and pay it forward, so that you, too can be drenched in sweat, grease and the satisfaction of makig your own balance bike out of a thrift store cast off, an awl and a hammer!
First up, removing the pedals...did you know the key is that the screws are threaded backwards? Heh, yeah, that's kind of a key piece of info.
Next, how to remove the chain. Yeah, who knew the chain was threaded through the solid part of the bike frame. Well, not I, until I got to that point in the deconstruction process.
Not many things can make you feel invincible like solving a problem with an awl, a hammer and a bolt!
And voila! A pile of mangled bike parts to show for the better part of my Saturday!
And one happy little learner:
A happy big learner:
And one who is pretty much ready to move to pedals and no training wheels. She's got this!
And I get to smell like grease all day!
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
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