I pulled the ATV's, go-carts... out of the bunker and brought them home. I was pleasantly surprised that all started in first to third pull on manual start (the batteries were dead).
My son is now of the age where I feel I could trust him to drive his ATV on his own. I bought him his ATV when he was about 2 years old but he's an all-American, true-blue redneck gung-ho, Tarzan, Godzilla kind of boy and has historically been a bit too maniacal to drive it on his own.
Well, I had an idea on how to maintain the situation. Communications and a chase vehicle. With that, I can talk him through creeks, hills, turns and general control.
So, let's do it with some pics.
The first pic of him ready to go. The "chase vehicle" is his sisters ATV that I'm going to ride. I didn't want to use the RTV or something big as some situations may require that I come up and hit the back of his ATV so I wanted to be driving the smallest thing possible for visibility and impact reasons. BTW, that little ATV that's the chase vehicle can and does outrun the RTV...
The second pic:
For communications, I believe I have the best setup for the kids.
I have several of the FRS radios. A few years back, I bought some headsets that fit inside the helmets and attach to the FRS radios. Inside the helmet, there's a microphone that's at the front of his mouth (in the full face section). There's also speakers in both ears.
I wired in his helmet with speakers in both ears and the mike in the front. I ran the pigtail that goes from the helmet to the radio out the back. I then put a FRS radio in a camera case that has a velcro belt loop that I ran through the back of the chest protector.
This setup also has a pigtail that goes to a PTT button on the handlebar but I didn't want him to have to think about responding and feel for the button instead of just talking. It was pretty funny as you can hear him sometimes giving an audible reply to my directions although he was too far away to really here him.
So, having given training and instructions, he's ready to go. I have a comfort level as I can talk to him at any point and give guidance and directions.
Third Pic:
He did a great job. Only put it on 2 wheels (the 2 right ones) once, and at that point, we both thought he was going to flip. I was able to either lead, follow or get out of the way and let him go. Since I had visual at all times, I could sit back and just guide him if/as necessary through the radio.
Of course, he had to take a parting shot (for Mrs. Zoom), so here he is at the end of his ride.
My son is now of the age where I feel I could trust him to drive his ATV on his own. I bought him his ATV when he was about 2 years old but he's an all-American, true-blue redneck gung-ho, Tarzan, Godzilla kind of boy and has historically been a bit too maniacal to drive it on his own.
Well, I had an idea on how to maintain the situation. Communications and a chase vehicle. With that, I can talk him through creeks, hills, turns and general control.
So, let's do it with some pics.
The first pic of him ready to go. The "chase vehicle" is his sisters ATV that I'm going to ride. I didn't want to use the RTV or something big as some situations may require that I come up and hit the back of his ATV so I wanted to be driving the smallest thing possible for visibility and impact reasons. BTW, that little ATV that's the chase vehicle can and does outrun the RTV...
The second pic:
For communications, I believe I have the best setup for the kids.
I have several of the FRS radios. A few years back, I bought some headsets that fit inside the helmets and attach to the FRS radios. Inside the helmet, there's a microphone that's at the front of his mouth (in the full face section). There's also speakers in both ears.
I wired in his helmet with speakers in both ears and the mike in the front. I ran the pigtail that goes from the helmet to the radio out the back. I then put a FRS radio in a camera case that has a velcro belt loop that I ran through the back of the chest protector.
This setup also has a pigtail that goes to a PTT button on the handlebar but I didn't want him to have to think about responding and feel for the button instead of just talking. It was pretty funny as you can hear him sometimes giving an audible reply to my directions although he was too far away to really here him.
So, having given training and instructions, he's ready to go. I have a comfort level as I can talk to him at any point and give guidance and directions.
Third Pic:
He did a great job. Only put it on 2 wheels (the 2 right ones) once, and at that point, we both thought he was going to flip. I was able to either lead, follow or get out of the way and let him go. Since I had visual at all times, I could sit back and just guide him if/as necessary through the radio.
Of course, he had to take a parting shot (for Mrs. Zoom), so here he is at the end of his ride.