In mid-January 2013 I
had to broaden my search to find suitable T5 wheels. I located “Trikke Australia” but after
emailing them and having no response after 3 weeks (not realizing that the link on Trikke Tech's International Distributor list was out
of date and the Australian distributor website was stale and contact
details were not active).
I had to continue the search and managed to
make contact with Trikke Tech USA.... I was able to communicate
directly with Ana
D'Arace. At this early stage of my Trikke knowledge I had no idea that Ana was actually Gildo Beleski's wife. Ana kindly fulfilled my order for a full set of 5-inch Poly wheels
and within a week they arrived with a bonus of 3 little plastic
Trikke mini toys in Green, Orange and Yellow. Cool.
 |
| Trikke mini toys |
Installed
the new Poly wheels and a decent smooth ride was now possible.
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| Our T5 with new Poly Wheels |
Over
January and February (height of our NZ summer) I took Sophie to a
nearby asphalt tennis/netball court where she could have plenty of
room to try and work out how to ride this 3-wheeled Trikke... I had
to demonstrate technique to Sophie by having to ride the T5 myself
numerous times. I didn't really know how to get this shiny chrome
machine “self propelling” but on occasion I fluked the “sweet
spot” and could see the benefits of regular practice to get the
Trikke T5 working the way it was designed to be used.
A
few sessions later I had learned where the sweet spot was for me to
carve around the tennis court area without having to push with my
feet.... now I had that sorted I could show Sophie how it was done...
another couple of practice sessions later and boom, Sophie had found
the correct technique and sweet spot. She was so happy to finally
have discovered the secret to body-powered Trikking. I was very
proud that she stuck with it to finally be able to ride it correctly.
At
Sophie's Primary School they were having “scooter Fridays” where the
kids could bring their rip-sticks/wiggleboards/scooters to play on
during breaks/lunch hour. Sophie was keen to take her T5 to school to
ride and see what the other students thought of it. Sophie was proud
of how nobody else could get it to self-propel.... and how she was
able to carve around the courtyard of the school without having to
push with her feet like the scooter riders were having to do to
retain momentum. Nobody else had ever seen this machine called a
“Trikke”.
