The OSET Thread - Will it Roll?

[Jammer97]

I'm trying to sell my daughters Oset that she has outgrown. I fastened a seat on it. Here are some pics. The seat is easily removable. Its just stapled on. No Glue anywhere.
http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/100...6v-california/

[K_N_Fodder]

Originally Posted by BetaRambo

After about a year of pressure to join you goofs I finally did it, so here is my first post.

...

Wow what an excellent first post! Welcome and thanks a bunch for the contribution. I've been neglecting this thread, we had an unusually cold December and first half of January so the Oset spent a bunch of time as a hanger queen. We need to get it out today I think. I'll troll through and catch up on the rest of the thread. BetaRambo I'd be very interested in your experience setting up as a dealer. Were you already in the motorsports biz?

Justin

Edit: Endless-sphere looks very cool as well...

[K_N_Fodder]

Originally Posted by Jammer97

I'm trying to sell my daughters Oset that she has outgrown. I fastened a seat on it. Here are some pics. The seat is easily removable. Its just stapled on. No Glue anywhere.
http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/100...6v-california/

Jammer - welcome from TT. I think your bike will go fast, got it up on Craigslist?

[K_N_Fodder]

Originally Posted by San Felipe Bob

Whist giving our "new to us" 16.0 a good once over I noticed the rear shock is not a happy camper.
What is the "hot" set up?
Thanks
SFB

Bob - I'm all ears if you've had any feedback on this. The rear shock is pretty poor. I've heard of guys retrofitting MTB stuff, just haven't done any homework on it. Ridenm indicates that there are accessory shocks and springs available from Oset. I'd be curious if they actually have any rebound damping, etc.

[rotorhead511]

Anyone have a good fork upgrade? I just put hydraulic brakes on and think the fork should be next.

Thanks

[snowhawk jockey]

Hey Oset bikers!
Just got to spend a few minutes on a 20" while at the BC bike show and really got the bug...
Curious to hear about all the batty conversions and voltage considerations that have been done for tech upgrades. My kids have no idea how much trouble I am about to get in, but the Mrs is gonna scream when she sees the box arrive. I should prolly get the 16" that Jammer is selling at a good deal, and let the kids have some fun. Too bad I am thinking of Papi(myself) and the bigger one...

It will be a sure sight cheaper than the Zero I have on my favorites

[BetaRambo]

Originally Posted by K_N_Fodder

Wow what an excellent first post! Welcome and thanks a bunch for the contribution. I've been neglecting this thread, we had an unusually cold December and first half of January so the Oset spent a bunch of time as a hanger queen. We need to get it out today I think. I'll troll through and catch up on the rest of the thread. BetaRambo I'd be very interested in your experience setting up as a dealer. Were you already in the motorsports biz?

Justin

Edit: Endless-sphere looks very cool as well...

I am not really in the motorsports biz per se. I did run a trials dealership for a few years with some friends, but like most trials dealerships it was a hobby business and not something to really make money at. My Oset dealership, Sparky Bikes, is also a hobby business.

I started it in order to make a little money to offset some of the costs of my family's riding but also to get some new riders into our club. It turns out that demoing Osets is a great way to get new people. Once their kids start riding trials then the adults tend to follow. I leave it to the other dealers to sell bikes to the parents.

I think Oset is a lot more interested in setting up with "real" dealers these days, which makes sense. They want to move bikes through stores rather than the normal trials model of moving bikes through trailers. They did work with me really nicely. I think the key was that I proved my passion by building that one custom bike and I guess they figured that it would make me pretty useful for support.

[BetaRambo]

Originally Posted by K_N_Fodder

Bob - I'm all ears if you've had any feedback on this. The rear shock is pretty poor. I've heard of guys retrofitting MTB stuff, just haven't done any homework on it. Ridenm indicates that there are accessory shocks and springs available from Oset. I'd be curious if they actually have any rebound damping, etc.

The biggest upgrade I ever did on the rear suspension was to loosen the swingarm bolts. It turns out the first generation bikes got too much torque on them at the factory which pretty well made them hardtails for lightwieght kids.

All of the upgrades Oset sells (as far as I know) are just different springs. The shock is all the same.

The 20" however, has a rebound adjustable shock. It looks pretty similar in size so it might fit, but I have not tried it. My recomendation would be to bring it to a friendly bicycle shop and see if they can help you out. Bringing the Oset in is sure to start some conversation!

I know Rick Keffer had an air shock on his kid's bike for a while but I am not sure how it worked for him in the long term. In the short term he reported that it was really slick. I am sure it worked better than it did for Ryan Dungy the other night!

[BetaRambo]

Originally Posted by rotorhead511

Anyone have a good fork upgrade? I just put hydraulic brakes on and think the fork should be next.

Thanks

I went back through your posts but could not be sure of what generation bike you have. I did see that it is a 24V 16". If you have the early generation (motorcycle style forks with the tubes going all the way up) then a decent and striaght forward upgrade is to go with the RST forks they changed the 16" to. These are the ones where the tubes stop before the triple clamp. They generally have better action, allow tighter turns thanks to the tubes being out of the way, and are supposed to be stronger. They still don't have much adjustment (I think) but it is an upgrade.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, find a bicycle shop with a friendly mechanic and they can take you through the options. Just about any bicycle fork in 16" should work.

The 20" uses "dirt jump" forks which are pretty darn strong for bicycle stuff. They even handle 180 degree nose wheelies with my substantial bulk on it!

[NMTrailboss]

Originally Posted by BetaRambo

....I am sure it worked better than it did for Ryan Dungy the other night!

[BetaRambo]

Yesterday was my kid's first trials on the 20". She was riding novice for the first time and the sections got set a lot harder than a normal novice trial. She got through it but it was pretty rough.

She made it through 8 sections, three loops on one set of batteries, but it was close. I had it loaded with 4 batteries, each a 6 cell with 5 aH. I put them 2 series and then 2 paralell to get 12s2p 10 aH.

I wired up my Cycle Analyst from her old bike which is a computer for electric vehicles. It has a remote shunt that lets me measure how many aHs we have used without running heavy gauge wire up to the bars. It reported that we had only used 4 aH but the cell voltages were down around 3.8V. This means that either I setup the computer wrong or my batteries are getting old and weak. Either way, one set of 4 batteries got us through the entire day.

The power of this thing is incredible. She spent a lot of time stuck on her way up big rocks. She would grab a handful of throttle and the bike would litteraly jump up the rock. Most times she stayed on it when this happened. One time she didn't. Luckily she has been riding for 7 year now so she bailed off the back and landed on her feet. The bike flew up in the air upside down. I managed to catch it. Lucky me, this bike is light. A one handed grab saved it from getting all scratched up.

I let a few adults ride it. After watching their experience I have worked out the proper script to use when letting an adult try this beast:

1. This thing has no clutch. You don't need one to get the revs up since it has max torque at zero RPM. However, this means that when you loop it (and you will) you have no handy way to shut the power off.
2. You will not beleive the power this thing has. Go very gentle at first while you get the feel for it.
3. When you loop it (see item 1) put both feet down and let the bike wheelie between your legs until you get control.
4. After you are done you can marvel at the fact that I didn't even have it turned all the way up!

The guy who spent the most time on it said it is a "death machine". This of course means that he wants to buy one if he can scrape up the green. Another guy said he was not man enough to ride it. Everyone marvelled at how a 60 pound 9 year old could control the power.

I suspect that I may find that a good percentage of these get sold to adults. The idea of being able to ride on campus, skate parks, and other normally off limits areas is pretty intriguing. Adults do go through the amps a lot faster than kids because of the weight they make it pull. I suspect that for adults a double load of Lipos would be the trick.

One section had a pretty long, off camber hill climb with a few small ledges on the way. She rode it well all three times and had no problem finding traction. She was however, near looping it a few times. I think it is time to work with her on where your weight needs to be in these situations.

I went ahead and ordered a spare rear fender as it is only a matter of time until one of us snaps it, but (knock on wood) we have had no issues with the bike yet.

[BetaRambo]

Originally Posted by snowhawk jockey

Hey Oset bikers!
Just got to spend a few minutes on a 20" while at the BC bike show and really got the bug...
Curious to hear about all the batty conversions and voltage considerations that have been done for tech upgrades. My kids have no idea how much trouble I am about to get in, but the Mrs is gonna scream when she sees the box arrive. I should prolly get the 16" that Jammer is selling at a good deal, and let the kids have some fun. Too bad I am thinking of Papi(myself) and the bigger one...

It will be a sure sight cheaper than the Zero I have on my favorites

Am I understanding you right? You are going to buy a 20" for yourself to ride instead of a full size Beta? Awesome! Please please please keep us updated!

For the battery upgrades you might want to go with the link I put in my first post if you want the simplicity of drop in replacements. If you want to go full on Lipo and are ok with the extra complexity then let me know and I could put together a shopping list for you.

Too cool!

[rotorhead511]

Thanks for the fork lead. It's an older model with the motorcycle style.

I'm into mountain biking so will hit up my local dealer for a possible upgrade.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by BetaRambo

I went back through your posts but could not be sure of what generation bike you have. I did see that it is a 24V 16". If you have the early generation (motorcycle style forks with the tubes going all the way up) then a decent and striaght forward upgrade is to go with the RST forks they changed the 16" to. These are the ones where the tubes stop before the triple clamp. They generally have better action, allow tighter turns thanks to the tubes being out of the way, and are supposed to be stronger. They still don't have much adjustment (I think) but it is an upgrade.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, find a bicycle shop with a friendly mechanic and they can take you through the options. Just about any bicycle fork in 16" should work.

The 20" uses "dirt jump" forks which are pretty darn strong for bicycle stuff. They even handle 180 degree nose wheelies with my substantial bulk on it!

[K_N_Fodder]

Man I can't wait to get him riding again. We've been having nice weather, just haven't sync'd up and been working a lot. Thanks a bunch for the info Rambo! Snowhawk we want to see pics of the 20".

Did you guys see that Steve Deines of Oset in Denver won the freakin Expert class at Jimmy Lewis' KOM? Wow!

[BetaRambo]

Originally Posted by rotorhead511

Thanks for the fork lead. It's an older model with the motorcycle style.

I'm into mountain biking so will hit up my local dealer for a possible upgrade.

Thanks again.

FYI Oset sells the RST fork that comes on the newer bikes for $99.95 reatil plus shipping. The old style forks sell for $45.95. If you get what you pay for then the new ones are twice as good! I figured you could use that as a price guide when you go talk to the bike shops, or you might want to keep it simple and just order the RSTs from Oset.