Stacyc 16" Review

Fearing for your child's life

The Stacyc electric bicycle, or motorcycle, has opened an entirely new market in the children’s two wheel space. The bicycle is superleggera, at about 20 pounds with battery, compared to the two stroke powered vehicles, a PW-50 or JR50/KDX50, most children would have started riding in the same age group. This sixtyish pound delta makes for an unintimidating entry into the world of the twist grip throttle for children as young as three, provided they have a lengthy inseam as the minimum seat height is 17”. The 12” variant could be started even younger, and I would be leery of children quickly outgrowing it. While the bikes seem to hold their resale value I am not certain that will continue in the future, as it is a luxury good which is tantamount to an expensive toy; and demand for such is liable to drop in a poor economy.

The light weight and familiar characteristics of the bicycle make for a smooth transition between the ubiquitous balance bikes of today. There are only two controls for the child to become accustom to; and, with the speed limiting throttle settings, learning the brake can be postponed until they can more easily reach the adjustable-lever rear drum control. The speed is easily limited to 5MPH maximum for training the rider in utilization of the twist throttle and for the parent’s ease of mind knowing their child will only be crashing into things or wiping out at 5MPH on flat ground.

While the bike is, despite it’s exorbitant MSRP of $1100, unfortunately made in Taiwan (or was, this is an older brush motor version) and does not come completely assembled and ready to run. I purchased a used bike, and my understanding is that the front wheel must be installed as well as the handlebar (the wiring to the motor and battery is pre-run, however) which is 5-10 minutes of assembly time with some box wrenches and a 6mm hex key for the handlebar. Then the brake lever and seat height must be set, both tasks require hex keys (2mm and 5mm, respectively). It is possible to adjust the brake lever to the point where the shoe will engage the drum constantly. In this case the parent must rework the cable on the drum side in order to get the correct slack in the line or simply back out the lever and wait for their child’s hands to grow. Finally, the handlebars are wide, much wider than a balance bike’s and they will push a three year old’s arms well outside of their shoulder width.

Assembly required

The build quality itself is a mixed bag, but mostly well done. There are no exposed sharp edges or machine marks that look like they could cut, gouge, or scrape someone in an accident. The welds are of good quality and the fork looks like it’s been ground down around the blades.

Cleaner welds than on my motorcycle

The marks against quality are the small surface area plastic footrests (easily changeable with aftermarket parts), plastic motor housing, plastic chain guard, and finally the paint which will rapidly scrape off in even the most minor of accidents. However, the black paint is easily blended with a Sharpie in order to pass the 50/50 test. The only other minor complaints I have are a lack of a kickstand, cramped Schrader valve access, exorbitant battery price, and limited battery life. The latter two can be worked around by installing a battery mount and running equivalent power tool batteries in parallel and even switched. Battery life is about 20 minutes of solid runtime with degradation in performance after that. These are batteries that largely sat around discharged as the intended users emigrated from the country, new batteries may see better run times.

I hope you have one of those wee air pumps for basketballs

There are cheaper alternatives, such as Thumpstar and Oset, available, yet they generally lack the ability to swap a battery, are lower performance (less of an issue if you’re throttle limiting anyhow), and may be better suited to your use case. I wouldn’t dismiss them out of hand.

After a year of bobbling about on a 12” Strider I felt that my three year old was ready to try a motorized vehicle. He has fairly long legs for his age and I opted to search for a used 16” Stacyc thinking he would grow into it quickly. A couple of months later he was flat footing in the lowest seat height. His first run on the bike was at an open grassy field. We talked over what would happen and how he would ride it and he was looking forward to riding. Immediately slamming the throttle to wide open, his head is snapped back and he starts laughing and laughing as the bike whirs his 30 pounds along. We repeat and he gets used to doing circles, traversing obstacles that would cause him to crash had he been rolling on 12” wheels, and him grinning ear to ear the whole while.

First ride

I relent to letting him run on some nearby blacktop which has a scattering of obstacles. I stress to him that you should look where you want the bike to go and not at something you don’t want to hit. This, likely, is a mistake, because now he’s worried about hitting things. A minute later and, crack, he runs dead on into a cement bench for a table. Thank goodness it was only at 5MPH, all he’s done is scuff and scrape the head tube. We do a few more runs and pack it in. He screams all the way about wanting to keep going.

Over the next couple of months he will grow in his ability by leaps and bounds. He now takes sharp turns, plays games riding at you, and it’s still all smiles. When weighted down with a thirty pound child the throttle input is fine enough that a child can creep along at below walking speed, the trick is getting them to practice that instead of rolling wide open. When his hand is bigger he’ll be learning to use the brakes and allowed to have the speed limiter backed off. As it is, he’s not quite ready for it at just under four years of age.

I turned the limiter to 7.5MPH once. He was not prepared for the increased acceleration and top speed, and I watched in horror as he slammed the left handlebar into a tree hard enough to blow bark off as he spun to the ground. He lay there, dazed and in the verge of tears, and I tell him, “Wow, you took that tree out!” He laughs. I did it, I changed the frame and got him over it. He gets on the bike and rides straight at another tree. I’ve made a serious miscalculation.

A number of children in the neighborhood have remarked upon the bike in a positive manner. In my little suburb I have had no noise complaints from any neighbors, nor requests to stop him from riding around in a little common area. The same couldn’t be said of a 2 stroke ripping around and spewing smoke into the air, and to which I’m already pondering where I’ll be able to take one to use if he wants to keep going up in size and power.

I think it was worth convincing his grandparents to split the cost of a used bike with me. I’m less sold on full MSRP, though if you’re dead set on transitioning to a PW-50 the control layout is the same. A JR-50/KDX-50, or TT-R50, runs proper motorcycle controls and may add a layer of confusion when making another hop.