Review of Bell Sports 109540 Training Wheels

Bell Sports 109540 Training Wheels
By: Bell Average Rating: 2.0 Total Reviews: 4
More Information

Not a good product

On: 2009-12-29

I bought these training wheels for a 20" girls bike and agree with the other two reviewers that this product did not work and made my child less sure of herself. Even with pre-loading the springs, the bike seemed like it was going to tip over if the grade of the road changed. I would not recommend this product and returned it within three days and purchased steel training wheels. They have made a huge difference.

Superior training wheels; with suspension and rubber tread!

On: 2009-06-15

We got a hand-me-down bike and the original training wheels were missing parts. I went to the store and saw these and was interested in the "spring coil" design of these.

The typical training wheel you see is a plastic wheel (plastic tread) on a fixed metal bracket which is bolted to the axel of the rear wheel. These Bell training wheels have rubber treads, and are about 50% larger in diameter. Combined with tighter tolerances on the axels, this is a QUIET wheel compared to the typical ones.

Instead of a metal bracket, there is a thick shaped wire structure with a coil spring built into it. The advantage of this is that now the training wheel is its own "suspension" (like a car). This compliance in the system allows contact with the road even in uneven terrain like sidewalk to driveway transitions. (Ever seen a kid get "stuck" as the classic training wheels dont allow the rear tire to contact the ground and they get stuck "spinning"?) That no longer happens with this training wheel.

Be sure to read the instructions. I dont understand how the other two negative reviews say these are "unstable" or "slip". However, they are prone to improper installation. As for stability, the instructions themselves suggest setting the wheels lower than the main wheel by 1/2" to put in "pre-load". When done this way, all 3 wheels (2 training and the main wheel) are in contact with the road and gave my 5 yr old amazing confidence in her riding. In fact, rather than a sudden "stop" as the classic training wheel makes contact with the road, these have a more linear resistance which makes it much smoother and almost easy to forget you have them on. As my kid gets better, I will reduce the preload setting until she no longer needs the wheels.

Like any other training wheel, there is a metal bracket that slots into the frame of the bike which prevents the them from "slipping". If this is properly installed, they will not slip (rotate). In addition, it appears the preload applies a torque to the trainers which further prevent them from "slipping up" in the bracket.

Also, the spring of the bracket allows give and prevents "bending out of shape" which was one reason we needed to replace classic training wheels that came with the bike.

Personally, I think these training wheels are a superior design, but they must be installed correctly. I can see that theres a lot of leeway for improper install, which is the only way I could see "slippage" and "instability" as a problem.

Awful

On: 2009-06-10

I got these training wheels for my son. I did get them to fit on his bike, but they are horrible. The slip out of place, are unstable and did not keep the bike upright. Rather than giving him confidence on the bike, they made him less sure of himself.

Terrible!

On: 2009-06-02

I bought these for my son and they say on the package that they will work on a 20" bike, the directions show what should be a hole to attach them for a bike that size - problem? The actual product doesnt have the hole that is shown in the directions for a 20" bike! We put them on anyone thinking that maybe the directions were wrong since the packaging claimed they would work and the wheels just kept bending upwards and the bike tipped over. So now I am looking for new training wheels and my little guy is reluctant to even try again.