[N/A] Radio Flyer 2.0

Pi1otguy

Pi1otguy

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Fox McCloud
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/24/radio.flyer.wagon/index.html

art.radioflyer.jpg

The Classic Radio Flyer is so last century. Prepare for Cloud 9.
Feature include:
CNN said:
Outfitted with 5-point safety harnesses, padded seats, cup holders, foot brakes and fold-out storage containers, the sleek, curved Cloud 9 has every family covered for a ride through the park. But that's just for starters.
Click to expand...

5-point safet harnesses? How fast are they going & without a rollbar what's the point?
 
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My wife looks at some of the videos on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and just shakes her head wondering how kids survive. But, she knows. Ours did, and so did we. This new 'thing' is just wrong.
 
What a gross adulteration of a great toy. How are you even supposed to sit in it and steer??
 
Padded seats? Cup holders? Storage areas? Where's the TV, microwave, refrigerator and air bags? How about a sauna while you're at it or is that an add on option?
That is so pathetic. It'll only create a bunch of whiney softies. Even the sissies when I was growing up would be ashamed to be seen near that thing. Whoever designed that junkheap should be flogged then shunned for life and run out of town with yard darts.

Seatbelts in a wagon?!?!?? Oh come on. What are they thinking? They are completely insane. Trust me, it's MUCH safer to be thrown from an out of control speeding wagon than to stay with it during a crash.

The official word of mouth Radio Flyer (metal, not wimpy plastic) operation procedure:
Brakes, none, check.
Steering, none, check.
Wheee...
...Yard Sale!!!
Pick yourself up off the ground, wipe the dirt out of the scrapes. If you're bleeding wash the owie out with pond or stream water and wipe it off with your tshirt or jeans...then drag the wagon back to the top of the hill for the next run.

Sheesh. We grew up playing some pretty rough games in a working barn. We're still here and better off for the experience.
 
fgcason said:
Seatbelts in a wagon?!?!?? Oh come on. What are they thinking? They are completely insane. Trust me, it's MUCH safer to be thrown from an out of control speeding wagon than to stay with it during a crash.
Click to expand...

I suspect the harnesses are intended to keep the occupants in the wagon (vs crawling out) when it's right side up, not for crash protection.
 
That thing is an aberration to humanity and needs to be cast into the sea!!


A long time ago, my friends and I found out a great little bit of physics. If two kids are in a radio flyer wagon, and the one in the back jumps out, you get a lot more speed than just letting it roll down hill.

Add a push from the oldest kid there and you have a "rocket sled" when the fat kid (me back then) jumps off the back.

It was great! All the way to the hospital. Turns out the steering system on your average Radio Flyer is not designed for 137MPH and my best friend took a fast ride into the brick wall along the driveway....Nothing says "what a ride" like a busted ankle!

It is rather amazing that the world still has men in the 30-50 age group.

--Matt Rogers
 
Pi1otguy said:
5-point safet harnesses? How fast are they going & without a rollbar what's the point?
Click to expand...
Don't you live near a hill or a gully? Kids these days, they don't know how to play. But the 5 point harness is there in case the kids do discover the joys of barrelling down hill at the speed of fun. (>Vne)

And it takes a special skill acquired only after much trial and error to know how to steer at speed an inherently unstable platform.
 
fgcason said:
Whoever designed that junkheap should be flogged then shunned for life and run out of town with yard darts.
Click to expand...

The rogue said:
That thing is an aberration to humanity and needs to be cast into the sea!!
Click to expand...

Ohhhh!! I finally get it. Take a look at who was left out of their market research.
article said:
The company did extensive market research beforehand, then tested it out on the real experts at home. "We sit down [and] observe how moms and kids are using our products," said Schlegel. "That's where our new ideas come from."
Click to expand...
 
lancefisher said:
I suspect the harnesses are intended to keep the occupants in the wagon (vs crawling out) when it's right side up, not for crash protection.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that one of those wagons could stay upside right for any length of time with a kid sitting in it. Weird. Must be the plastic or something.

They made Radio Flyer Wagons out of metal for two primary reasons: 1. so the wagon can survive the kids and 2. so the kids could learn how to survive the wagon.
It's a lesson about life...Among other things, it teaches you how to stay calm and handle real world dangerous situations.

Plastic. Sheesh. An abomination.

It is rather amazing that the world still has men in the 30-50 age group.
Click to expand...

No kidding. Not a helmet or any other safety gear around either. Just a steel wagon, a hill, or a bicycle and rope, sometimes a hill and a bicycle and rope (no good ever came of that combination), pavement, gravel, rocks, and a group of squishy kids that understood basic high velocity physics and how to crash with minimal injury. Don't discount the women in that age group either. My cousin...she took some pretty brutal raggedy ann crashes off the wagon.

Anyone besides us ever use two wagons side by side as rollerskates down a hill? That just starts off bad and gets worse.
 
The company did extensive market research beforehand, then tested it out on the real experts at home. "We sit down [and] observe how moms and kids are using our products," said Schlegel. "That's where our new ideas come from."


So we have a bunch of children in need of a cupholder to free up a hand to try to dig out that shoulder strap for the 5 point.... seriously?
Someone needs to send these guys a copy of Calvin and Hobbs.
 
"Adult" version of wagon v 0.9

The "grown up" version of the wagon and the bicycle has been dubbed "prairie skiing" by my friend.

It involves a First Generation SUV (old and rusty ones get better traction), 200 feet of Cheap Wal-Mart Rope, and a willing skier to pull behind said SUV on country roads.

It was a blast!!!

--Matt Rogers
 
Re: "Adult" version of wagon v 0.9

The rogue said:
The "grown up" version of the wagon and the bicycle has been dubbed "prairie skiing" by my friend.

It involves a First Generation SUV (old and rusty ones get better traction), 200 feet of Cheap Wal-Mart Rope, and a willing skier to pull behind said SUV on country roads.

It was a blast!!!
Click to expand...

Us city kids did a variation of that: Bike with banana seat, rope tied to seat, kid on a first generation skate board (metal wheels! no sticky wheels in my day, son) and Wrigley Field on the next block with lots of concrete sidewalk.

As we run out of room, I'd do a 180 turn and stop the bike and hold the brakes as he whipped around. :smile:
 
Allen C said:
The company did extensive market research beforehand, then tested it out on the real experts at home. "We sit down [and] observe how moms and kids are using our products," said Schlegel. "That's where our new ideas come from."
Click to expand...

This schlegel guy doesn't get far from his filtered air, purified water and carefully selected food protective bubble padded room does he? Either that or he cooked the data with a supernova or the liability lawyers had a major hand in it.
A carefully selected mom and fussed over baby in a controlled artificial living room environment has no correlation to what goes on at the hill.

Allen C said:
Someone needs to send these guys a copy of Calvin and Hobbs.
Click to expand...

There ya go.
 
fgcason said:
This schlegel guy doesn't get far from his filtered air, purified water and carefully selected food protective bubble padded room does he? Either that or he cooked the data with a supernova or the liability lawyers had a major hand in it.
A carefully selected mom and fussed over baby in a controlled artificial living room environment has no correlation to what goes on at the hill.
Click to expand...

We can give 'em a slight break. When you run around places like Oshkosh you see the common use of the wagon is as a pedestrian trailer for dragging along the kids and supplies, although I don't see much room for supplies on that one.

Muffy and Brad would never like the little snowflakes play with the thing on their own. :)
 
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