The only thing that has had to be replaced have been rear tires, and a throttle.

Update:

The thorttle on the 16.0 just gave out too. Both failures were out in the field. I am told they are cheap and not worth fixing, but it seems to me that after about 200-300 rides, our throttles gave out, apparently from wear. I was told that any Hall effect throttle will work. I tried two different brands and they both worked.

The Ebay batteries lasted about 60% as long (i.e., 60 rides), so I just bought another four from OSETBIKES.COM hoping they are better quality and will last longer.

For rear tires on the 12.5, since my son was heavy on the throttle, I used some white bicycle tires that look more like street tires so that the would last longer. They did.

Update:

The thorttle on the 16.0 just gave out too. Both failures were out in the field. I am told they are cheap and not worth fixing, but it seems to me that after about 200-300 rides, our throttles gave out, apparently from wear. I was told that any Hall effect throttle will work. I tried two different brands and they both worked.

Where did you get the hall throttle assemblies? I am struggling to get my daughters fixed, lights come on with the key but when the throttle is twisted it doesn't go. Replaced the pot, relay, and tested all my connections. I wonder how one would go about testing the controller? Between that and the throttle those are the only two things left that could be bad... Oh I hooked a lipo directly up to the motor and it turned fine, so not the brushes either... Thanks for any insight/help guys.

Devin

Where did you get the hall throttle assemblies?

From an electric bicycle dealer. Any hall effect throttle from a pocket bike website is likely to work, but you can always buy it from Osetbikes.com.

To test if it is the throttle, I am pretty sure you can disconnect it with the key on, and use a wire to short circuit the bike-side connector. Careful because if the throttle is the problem, then the motor will kick in at 100% power.

My younger son's new 12.5 arrived last week and I've already been busy with tweaks:

- replaced the standard fat grips with Renthals trials grips, using Renthals grip glue (and a compressor to remove originals)

- replaced both brake cables with Teflon coated ones - much smoother

- removed rear brake second spring

- changed the spring position on front v-brake to softest return

- retorqued the swingarm bolts - as noted elsewhere, you could remove the shock and the swingarm still wouldn't budge!

- ordered several sets of replacement springs for forks from springmasters in the uk to see what works best. Standard springs are way too stiff. Will repost once I've found best setup for my three-year-old.

I think the grip and brake changes are essential fir younger riders with small hands.

ta51ora,

great work!

Some of the other improvements will come naturally, such as truing the front wheel so that the front brake works smoothly.

I finally did the front forks as well. It was as easy as described here. I picked up the softer springs at ACE Hardware, and then cut them to size using a bolt cutter. I lubed the forks before putting them back together. The rear suspension linkage after torquing and greasing it works a lot better too.

The rear suspension spring stiffness also came set up for an adult. I bought the softer shock (which pocket bike websites also carry), but its unfortunately shorter in length for a 16.0 (I no longer have the 12.5). The softer spring shock was shorter and made the rear of the 16.0 way too short. So I had to take the eyelet off the shock body in order to swap the springs.

Now I just need to figure out how to get Charlie to ride trials-style standing up rather than copying his 6-yr-old brother's sitting down, feet out MX cornering style on his KTM 50! Think we need to start going to trials not just MX + grasstrack races...