Where TF are my toboggans?

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No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
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When I was a wee lad we used to have plastic molded sleds. They could not have been very expensive. They had a handle on each side you could pull to drag that side and get some basic element of steering.

Now I see these: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=11124731

If you think I'm paying $50 for something that will pop (reviews are damning on inflatable sleds though i realize some are more puncture resistant than others) after 10 minutes you are trying to screw the wrong guy!

Where can I locally buy a decent plastic sled that doesn't suck?
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
I never was much of a fan of those sleds with the levers you pulled to "steer." Unless you're sending the kids down a hill with a lot of trees, then that degree of steering really isn't necessary. And if there are a lot of trees, you shouldn't be sending your kids down that hill!

Wooden toboggans are fun on bumpy hills - toboggans big enough for 4 or 5 kids. It's fun to see who can stay on until the bottom. Those plastic molded sleds are fairly steerable simply by using your hands in the snow. That's why you wear gloves! Plus, if there's only a couple inches of snow on the hill, you don't have those dumb lever things that gouge up the ground and get dirt & grass on the snow that ruins the sledding for everyone else (and slows them down.)

By far, the most fun my kids had was on the inflatable tubes. Not the stupid shaped crap like you posted from walmart - just regular tubes like they've sold for the past 20 or so years. I can't recall ever having one pop on us during normal use. What's really nice about the tubes is that you can make your jumps a lot higher - 3 or 4 feet high. 2 kids and an adult or two with shovels & you can have the kids jumping 30 feet or more in no time. And, the landings are much softer on a tube than they are on a plastic sled. Plus, the tubes are a lot faster on the snow.

If you really want to go big on price, get a kayak. Downhill winter kayaking is a blast! My friends and I go every year. Looking for a better hill that leads to a jump into the water though. (Water not required.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flztm1fF6s
(I wish we had hills/mountains like that around here! I laugh at all the morons on youtube who post videos claiming they have a speed record downhill, when they're not even going half as fast as Damon)
 
M

MotF Bane

No Lifer
Dec 22, 2006
60,801
10
0
DrPizza said:
If you really want to go big on price, get a kayak. Downhill winter kayaking is a blast! My friends and I go every year. Looking for a better hill that leads to a jump into the water though. (Water not required.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flztm1fF6s
(I wish we had hills/mountains like that around here! I laugh at all the morons on youtube who post videos claiming they have a speed record downhill, when they're not even going half as fast as Damon)
Click to expand...

rofl!
 
tyler811

tyler811

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2002
5,385
0
71
DrPizza said:
I never was much of a fan of those sleds with the levers you pulled to "steer." Unless you're sending the kids down a hill with a lot of trees, then that degree of steering really isn't necessary. And if there are a lot of trees, you shouldn't be sending your kids down that hill!

Wooden toboggans are fun on bumpy hills - toboggans big enough for 4 or 5 kids. It's fun to see who can stay on until the bottom. Those plastic molded sleds are fairly steerable simply by using your hands in the snow. That's why you wear gloves! Plus, if there's only a couple inches of snow on the hill, you don't have those dumb lever things that gouge up the ground and get dirt & grass on the snow that ruins the sledding for everyone else (and slows them down.)

By far, the most fun my kids had was on the inflatable tubes. Not the stupid shaped crap like you posted from walmart - just regular tubes like they've sold for the past 20 or so years. I can't recall ever having one pop on us during normal use. What's really nice about the tubes is that you can make your jumps a lot higher - 3 or 4 feet high. 2 kids and an adult or two with shovels & you can have the kids jumping 30 feet or more in no time. And, the landings are much softer on a tube than they are on a plastic sled. Plus, the tubes are a lot faster on the snow.

If you really want to go big on price, get a kayak. Downhill winter kayaking is a blast! My friends and I go every year. Looking for a better hill that leads to a jump into the water though. (Water not required.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flztm1fF6s
(I wish we had hills/mountains like that around here! I laugh at all the morons on youtube who post videos claiming they have a speed record downhill, when they're not even going half as fast as Damon)
Click to expand...


LOL I know of those wooden toboggans you speak. We had that one that held 6 kids and we always held onto each other. I recall that hardly any of us made it down the hill all the way. When one fell off the rest were sure to follow.

Those steeering sleds sucked also your right they tore up the hill. Two cardinal rules of the playground were "What happens on the playground stays on the playground" and the "Don't walk up the sledding path or you will get a face freeze" Meaning the rest of the kids would jump you and bury your face in the snow.
 
brblx

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
5,499
2
0
toboggan is a hat. you can't sled on a hat.

i like rubbermaid trashcan lids.
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,561
8,839
126
When I was growing up everybody had the metal runner sleds. It always took awhile for the plows to get to the roads, and they were ideal for road running. I found a sled like the first link at Ollies. I bet you could find one if you looked in local hardware stores.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,299
13,042
126
www.anyf.ca
I've always wantd to go down a ski hill in a bath tub. I don't know why, but it just sounds like it would be a blast. I want to try that at least once before I die.

when I was young I had one of those saucer ones, it went really fast but it was hard to control. Because it's not directional there's no loss of traction if it "drifts" it just keeps going. One day after serious freezing rain I went and had the entire hill to myself because everyone was aparantly too chicken. It was freaken awesome!

I wanted to see if I can break the icicles on the high voltage lines with it so I shot it and it got stuck. I jumped for it to get it loose without me touching the ground. Man I was crazy lol.

Later on I got one with the handles you can steer with, it was fun also until i decided to take a big jump made for snow boarders and when I landed it cracked it all and it did not go well anymore. :p

Fun times.

the classic wooden ones were fun too.

cl-series.jpg
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
166
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
lxskllr said:
When I was growing up everybody had the metal runner sleds. It always took awhile for the plows to get to the roads, and they were ideal for road running. I found a sled like the first link at Ollies. I bet you could find one if you looked in local hardware stores.
Click to expand...

The runner sleds were only good on packed snow though. If they could reach through to the ground, they sucked.
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
DrPizza said:
I never was much of a fan of those sleds with the levers you pulled to "steer." Unless you're sending the kids down a hill with a lot of trees, then that degree of steering really isn't necessary. And if there are a lot of trees, you shouldn't be sending your kids down that hill!
Click to expand...


boo!
trees add to the fun!

I remember this one hill at the edge of a cemetery, going down it was fun and all, but there wasn't anything to it.

One day we ventured back at the top of the elevation change, and found a little region some people decided was a perfect sledding spot.
One of the features was a "head chopper" of a log that fell over, keep your body too high and it wouldn't feel very good. Lots of little twists and turns that resulted both from regular elevation changes and the grooves other riders helped craft to avoid the trees that lined each side of the very narrow sled path.

Me and my sister were youngins when we ventured back there, our dad leading the way. :D

At the edge of a local golf course, there was a big hill. To the left was a little more advanced hill that was a fair bit of a steeper slope, also had what ended up being stairs that went in the middle. Snow packed over the stairs, well, also ice. And the hill on both sides sloped into the stairs, so no matter where you started, if you couldn't steer, you were flying down an ice path.
And at the end of said ice path at the bottom of a hill? A little mound of packed snow, serving as a jump.

Hitting that center path and jump with a saucer-shaped sled... ohh so exciting, except for the pain in my neck that resulted from flipping half way and landing on it. :D

saucers were where it was at!
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,561
8,839
126
DrPizza said:
The runner sleds were only good on packed snow though. If they could reach through to the ground, they sucked.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's why they were especially suited to road running. After a few cars drove on the snow it got packed down nice and tight, and you could fly down the hills. They sucked in deep fluffy snow on grass. You had to wait until the kids with plastic sleds or discs packed the snow down a bit before you got on the hill :^D
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
DrPizza said:
That clip is one of my favorites. Those sleds are more fun for the parents who are giving the kids a push down the hill. Ready? Set? <spinnnnnnnn!> Then count the number of revolutions the kid makes before the bottom of the hill. Some kids find this fun. Most don't.
Click to expand...

I would have been the type of complain to my parents I didn't spin enough!
 
StageLeft

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
I should consider a solid inner tube.

BTW I finally found at Walmart for $10 a plastic sled. No steering but otherwise should be good once the wind dies down a bit ;)
 
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