Another update a week later. Shew buddy it's been a rough one for him. He turns 10 today, so maybe it's up from here.
He finally crashed it a few days ago. Tumbled off when the wheel got caught between the grass and the sidewalk. Luckily it was somewhat low speed and he just banged up a knee with some rash and bruised his hand a bit. Ego was hurt more than the bike. He was able to get it up and ride it home. Came in the house wailing like a banshee though. He's fine now, and back on the thing.
Got, LITERALLY, pulled over by the Sheriff on Sunday night. Lights and everything. Someone called complaining of "A bunch of kids riding dirtbikes over in the field". There are two of them, both on electric bikes, mostly riding through the field, between the houses, up the street, and around again. THey've developed a loop now and are racing each other......Anywho, Sheriff stopped him about 3 houses down, and I happened to be in the garage and walked out to check on him. Sheriff was super cool about it once he found out it was electric. Said, the person complaining was from the second street, and didn't say anything about the noise, just though "those kids shouldn't be doing that".......We all had a chat, and again, the sheriff was super cool about it all. Gave the boys some tips on how to remain visible to cars if he was on the road, quized him on which side of the road to be on and things like that, and generally made sure he wasn't acting like a dummy (he wasn't). Said have a nice night and drove off. I suspect he'll be by to check on us every so often, but doubt he'll stop to talk to us again unless the 10yr old does something wrong.....Super glad I didn't go gas powered at this point. Took a shade over a week to get called on. I knew it was coming.
Finally, it broke last night. Lost a bolt that holds the shock to the swingarm. Just rattled out and went away. About dumped him in the grass, but he recovered, got stopped and walked it home from there. No big deal, I'll grab one from the bolt bin at work, and he'll be back up and running tonight. I'll throw the new rear caliper on it while I've got it on the bench. I HAVE to find some new front forks though. His are insanely "clacky" and a little wobbly. Been watching marketplace and craigslist for a spare bike to use as parts. All the forks I can find are sold out online