Review of the Smart Trike Recliner
By Gary Johnson
I recently purchased a Smart Trike Recliner. I bought it mainly because it serves more than one purpose. First, it’s a reclining stroller that a parent – or in my case a grandparent – can push a child in. Second, when the time is right, the Smart Trike converts into an independent tricycle that the child can ride on independently.
I was a little apprehensive about buying it because I hate assembling things. If I was buying a bicycle at a store, I would rather pay the extra $10, and purchase it already assembled.
And, if I couldn’t purchase an item already assembled, I would ask my wife to put
it together. She has much more patience than I do.
When I got the Smart Trike home, I opened the box and I unpacked the various parts to the Recliner. The first thing I noticed is that I did not see a package full of nuts, bolts, screws and an
instruction book as thick as a dictionary. I was surprised to see that most of the
screws were already in place. All I had to do was remove the screws, attached the
part, and screw it back together. That was a real help because I could actually
see where the screws belonged.
The second thing I noticed was there was no thick instruction book. There was a
colorful, easy-to-understand fully “illustrated” assembly instructions.
The Recliner came with only 15 parts to assemble. Each one fully illustrated and
clearly identified A through O. I took the parts out of the box and placed them on the floor in the same order as they were on the instruction sheet. So far so good.
On the right side of the instruction sheet, there were 20 illustrations. For example, in Illustration #1 it illustrated that you have to attach part A to part C. It was that simple for all 20 steps.
Yes sometimes the screws slipped out of my hand. Yes, sometimes I misread the illustrations and put something on “backwards” which I had to undo. Yes, sometimes, I jumped ahead and put on Part 18 before Part 17, a no-no in the world of assembly. But, all-in-all, it was a pleasant experience. Thank you Mr. Smart Trike.
When my wife Gina came home and saw the Smart Trike Recliner fully assembled in the middle of the living room floor, the first thing she asked was “Who put that together?
I proudly exclaimed “I did!” Now she thinks I’m a Rocket Scientist.
She had never seen anything like a Smart Trike before. I showed her that it’s not only a stroller that reclines so that our grandchild Zoe can take a nap, but it converts into a full blown tricycle that she can ride independently when she’s two or three.
“Imagine that,” Gina said as she took the Smart Trike for a stroll around the living room, taking control of the vehicle with its great telescopic adjustable steering handle. “Look, it even has a seat belt and a back bucket and nifty storage bag,” she said as she pushed it out the front door.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” I asked. “To get Zoe,” she said. “It’s never too early to get a girl her own set of wheels.”
