It was way back in December, in Arizona. The kid got his first real wheels. He'd had a tricycle for a while and had gotten pretty deft at pedalling up and down the street. But this was different. This time he was motorised. He had the power.
Grandma, or Mama-G as she
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is known, had the crazy notion to buy the little fella his very own Yamaha Raptor Replica Quad. This thing is no toy either. It's as big as a full size 50cc Raptor and looks every bit the part. It runs off of a 12 volt battery, it has hi and lo speed, forwards and reverse. It also makes authentic 2-stroke ringningningning throttle sounds, which to anyone who's ever riden a 2-stroke knows is like a 100 peice symphony to motor-geeks ears. Of course it has none of the environmentally unpleasent side effects like the thick blue smoke of 2-stroke premix burning out the exhaust. I use the term unpleasent loosely, again, anyone who has ever riden a 2-stroke will know what i'm talking about here.
Well, it didn't take long before our 3 year old headcase was tearing up and down the street at full speed, locking up the rear wheels, skidding on opposite lock to get the thing turned around. He wanted no part of lo-speed, once he found out what that switch did it was full tilt. That is indeed my boy. It was near impossible to get him off the thing. And as equally near impossible to get the fantastic plastic into the back of the Chevy to bring it back to California.
Since he's had it, we ride regularly. Here, we take it out to the local park where he can ride up and down the path, terrorising the other lame, foot-propelled kids. See them turn and run when Quadzilla hacks down the tracks. Lately The Sprite and I have been taking rides around the block, he on the quad and myself on my mountain bike. Its a fun way to spend a few minutes these warm summer evenings.
Pretty soon, he'll be moving up to the real thing and heading back out to Arizona and the sand dunes to rev up a real 2-stroke. Ringdindinningningdingning!!!
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