Customer Reviews

Kettler Aero Air Tires Pedal Car

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Looked at LOTS of pedal cars hoping to find one my extremely tall 5-year old can hang on to for a couple years, and maybe pass along to his little sister. We have a roughly paved 1.5 mile running course around the neighborhood, and I wanted to find a ride for Jr that he could burn off some cals while I struggle through my knee-rehab walks. I checked out other models at the local stores and found a common problem. Hard plastic wheels and short wheelbases/frames. Not a good combination for a tall child and a rough path. The air-filled tires and longer frame on this car solved both of those issues, and I can report it rides VERY WELL on our path.

It's no picnic to assemble, and as the other review noted, the build quality isn't great, but let's be realistic about expectations. The tires/rims alone would run $50+ in a hardware store (they're basically wheelbarrow tires)so that doesn't leave much for quality control. Any child's bike runs $50+, that gets you a frame with chains/pedals. $200 is not a bargain, but now at $160, it's approaching a must have. While not drilled particularly well, and I can see how a bolt/hole might be missing, but it is very sturdy, and that's important for an abusive rider.

Never satisfied, I've already modded the unit. First prbblem...hills. My little guy can't pedal up the ones on our course, and although the back of seat has a handle on it, bending over to offer a little assistance was a back breaker. I used some conduit and fashioned a tall, U shaped push handle, attached it to the back of the seat with the conduit straps (4). Covered with standard pipe insulation. Works like a champ!! $5 in materials, but I already owned a conduit bender.

Something to look out for...the brake works, but it's not intuitive for a 5-year old. They respond to terror on the downhill but putting their feet down Flintstone style. I had to teach Jr how to use the brake and reinforce it very often by playing a little "brake" game on the flats. He's got it now, but the first run was spooky, worsened by the fact you have to take one hand off the wheel to use the brake. Make sure Jr has that nailed BEFORE the first downhill! No seat belt either...I'm thinking of a velcro strap solution like the one he has on his battery powered yard jeep.

Regarding the comment about how a 9-year old might only get one season out of it...probably true. It's not a large frame, and the company says 5-9 years. The geometry just doesn't work as the kids get older, so this is definitely a starter machine in the age category. There are larger ones out there for the older kids, but the price points push $300, and I think by th

Let me start by saying that I live in manhattan(nyc)so riding toys need to be a little more sturdier and this little car holds it's own and it is an awesome piece of machinery for my 5 year old son. Upon putting this item together it took me about 30 min. He just recieved it yesterday and he can't leave it alone. When we went to the park it was like he found his heaven on wheels. This product comes highly recommended by me. Buy it you will not regret it. Very satisfied customer. Buy from AMAZON because the item was shipped right away and we recieved it in 72hrs. A-W-E-S-O-M-E experience.

I bought this car for my 5 year old son. He weights 40 lbs. He was thrilled to get it. Two weeks of use and the left rear wheel bearing failed. That means the race fell into the rim. I took it apart and it needed a new bearing. After I fixed it, the right wheel bearing failed two weeks later. So after one month, I have replaced two wheeling bearings. Two weeks later, the pedal chain failed. When I removed the chain shields to fix the damage, I noticed that the rear axle house is pretty week, and the "shifter" that puts the pedal car in neutral is flimsy and will probably not last long. The rear axle gear is on a splined shaft, and a weak spring activates/deactivates the rear axle. It is just begging to fail. I told my son not to use this feature in the hopes of prolonging the life of the rear axle. The wheels are held on by a very weak spring clamp. The wheels have fallen off a few times, too. This thing is less reliable than a Yugo. That's all I have done the first six weeks of ownership. I'll write more next month.

One good thing: my five year old knows all about "German Engineering" and the "quality" of Chinese manufactured products now.

Summary: If you've got a couple hundred to invest in a pedal car that you'll want to work on regularly, this is the one to buy.

The latest news....I bought this car on 4/18/11. Here it is 9/1/11, and the pedal crank broke. The weld failed--with a 40 lbs. 5 year old cranking it! Also the steering shaft is made of very soft metal, and it wore out and needed a new steering shaft and steering shaft bolt set. VERY SOFT METAL THAT WILL NOT LAST AT ALL!

Yup, cheap Chinese metal and poor German engineering = junk!

My item arrived in a box with HUGE holes in it, it was missing 1 nut, 1 bolt and 1 washer. One of the wheels kept falling off. There was a hole missing (5 holes on one side and only 4 on the other) so we couldn't scoot the seat all the way back which we had to do because my daughter didn't fit on the car. Luckily my dad was able to rig the wheel so it will stay on and he also drilled an extra hole so the seat will go all the way back. My daughter is 9 and is probably only going to be able to ride this a few months before she's too tall to ride it any more. I'm pretty upset considering I paid over $200.00 for this. It's a cute little car that is fun/easy to ride for the kids but I definitely expected more for what I paid.

This product came mostly assembled and easy to finish. The problem is that the part that was assembled was not done well. The chain is to loose and keeps falling off. If I take apart the plastic midsection and put the chain back on it falls right off. This go cart is sitting in my garage not being used. I am heart broken. We bought the smaller one a few years ago and it was great. My neighbor has one that is even older and its great. Some thing has changed with this company and it's too bad; not putting out the quality product they used to. Now I don't even know where to get it fixed.

It's a single wheel drive pedal car. That means the pedals and all effort put into it only turn one of the wheels. It requires a lot more torque/muscle than you'd think. It's construction is decent, nothing special so don't put any special faith into the name Kettler. Also is seems as though it was mass produced and very little if any QA so take that for what it's worth. It's a good purchase if you get it one a great sale and use it as a building platform to tweak , or even just to rig it so that both rear wheels are chain driven, maybe even a better gear. Otherwise, save some money and get the same quality from a knock-off.

Bought one last year for our oldest grandson and he loved it. Decided you buy another one this
year for Christmas for our other grandson and it was a hit once again.

My daughter received this for Christmas and although it may support 200 lbs, the base lenth is pretty short. When my 8 yr. old daughter pedals, she has to turn her knees out to the side so they don't hit the steering wheel and when she tuns, her toes hit the tires. My 2 yr. old son can almost reach the pedals if that puts things into perspective. We are definately returning today!!

In anticipation of my two grandsons visiting I bought two of these cars. It was a little pricey to get two. But I could see that the two boys, 5 and 7, wouldn't be into the sharing thing and would really like to race each other. Since I have a gravel driveway I was really attracted to the large pneumatic tires that come on this car. I have to report that it was all a big success and the two guys had a ball driving these cars up and down the driveway. It wasn't hard at all to do the final assembly on the cars and everything fit together well. I was pleased with the quality of the pieces and how it was designed. After 10 days of pretty hard use the only problem I had was the chain coming off one of the cars and having to take apart the center cowling to get at the mechanism. But once apart, it wasn't too hard to slip the chain back on and tighten it up some. The only problem the boys had was going up hill. The mechanism is pretty simple and doeesn't have gears. The cars work pretty well on the flat and small hills aren't a problem. There was one place on my driveway they needed pushing. Good job Kettler!

Both of my kids love riding around in it! One will ne 6 this month and can work it with ease, the other is 2.8 and needs to be pushed I would recommend the smaller one got him, but it was a gift for my older one.