MOTORSPORTS; Believe It Or Don't

OK, this is my, "get is off my chest" page. If you don't want to hear or believe the truth about maintenance of your motorized toys, go back, this page isn't for you. The following is my beef with consumers of motorized toys and does not reflect the opinions of anyone I work for or with. If you have your feelings miffed at the following don't forget, you've been warned.

Motorsports is much like other sports in one regard.
PREPARATION; Any sport requires a great deal of it. If not done, you may as well go play with yourself. At the professional level of motorsports, weeks of man hours go into the preparation for a 2 or 3 hour race. This preparation goes with the territory. Granted, motorized toys, whether go-kart, mini-bike or motorized scooter, are not professional racing, but it is a form of MOTORSPORTS. The level of preparation is not nearly as demanding as professional racing, but it will consume a lot more time and effort then a lot of folks realize or are willing to put forth.

It seems a lot of people only want to play. They buy a motorized toy for the kids, or themselves, and just want to ride, forever. They don't listen to the salesman or mechanic about the needed maintenance and care. When someone brings in a motorized toy and it has a problem, it's usually user inflicted. Reminds me of a true storey. A guy I know repairs vacuums. A lady brings in a vacuum only a few weeks old complaining it no longer picks anything up. He pops the dirt bag out, finds it packed and asks the lady why she didn't change the bag when it got full. Bag? she asked. I didn't know it had a bag!
Just where she thought the dirt was going is anyones guess. Can you read between the lines here?

It is the responsibilty of the user to perform the needed maintenance and preparation of the unit. If you're a parent you need to teach your kids that responsibility. There's no way around it and no excuse for the failure of many motorized toys. Motorized toys are used under very stressed conditions, often right to the max of their capability. Much too often, beyond that ability. It is my belief that if a child is unable to perform the needed maintenance, he or she is not competent to use it. Much as I feel that someone who can't replace the chain on his chain saw has no business operating it. I'm not saying they should be able to do major repairs and I'm not saying it cannot be done with guidance from an adult. However, with proper supervision they ought to be able to do the routine maintenance needed. It also can teach responsibilty. If the toy has to go to the shop for repairs because he or she failed to "prepare" the equipment, perhaps some incentive should be attached to assure the failure won't re-occur. I'm not your kids parent but it seems to me this is a good opportunity to teach responsibility. Of course often the problems are caused by the adult who never learned it themself.

What this all comes back to is that a motorized toy is a form of motorsport and if you aren't ready to accept the responsibilty which goes with it you need to get a deck of playing cards and go fish. Yes there are equipment failures which are warranty and yes these toys are expensive and yes they should be repaired at no charge to you when they fail due to a factory flaw, stuff happens. However, the vast majority of failures are not due to the motorized toy, but the user failing to accept responsibilty and prepare.

You know, it's amazing the excuses some folks make up when they are told that repair to their equipment is not warranty. True example. One guy came up with this. "Nothing's going right for me. My kid is diabetic and my wifes Korean and you're telling me I f***** up." Well Jack, I'm also diabetic, if you got a problem with Asian women why'd you marry one, and yes you did." Funny thing, the little boy standing by his dad as he spouted off, looked as if he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. I think the kid was more then a little embarassed by his fathers childishness.

Bottom line.
Motorized toys are a ton of fun but they require a lot of responsiblity. You accept that responsibility when you purchase one. Please be a responsible adult and parent and see that your kids learn that from you.


LMRM; Bob :<=

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