Norwegian pinner Trond Hansen has launched a Kickstarter for his Kidreel, his solution to getting his kids out on rides with them.
Pete had a chat with Trond Hansen to find out where the idea for Kidreel came from and how they got it from concept to reality.
Check out the Kidreel Kickstarter here.
What was the inspiration for the Kidreel?
I just wanted to bring my son Trym on bike rides, but it was a hassle, so I started thinking about the best way to bring him along easily. In the wintertime I use a sled with a reel in the front, and this winter I realised that it’s the perfect solution for a bike too. I first just put one of hose reels on Trym’s bike before we started making one that suits bikes.
Once you’d decided to make the Kidreel, what happened next?
I only decided on making it after my friends convinced me that this was something every parent needs, not just mountain bikers. The idea of making it as a product to sell struck me, but I just thought the market was a bit narrow before my friends started using it every day for bringing their kid to kindergarden, in the city and so on.
Then we decided to go for it, and we decided that kickstarter was a perfect platform to get it started.
We made many prototypes during the winter and spring, and made deals with production facilities before we made the marketing content for Kickstarter.
How many people are involved in that process and what do they do?
We are mainly four in our team.
In addition to me, there is Henrik, a skilled engineer that is in charge of product development and production. Andreas who is in charge of sales and marketing. He also keeps track of the economy.
Magnus is a multi-talented young film and stills photographer who takes care of digital content, SoMe and the Kickstarter site.
I directed the Kickstarter film and I’m involved in all of the above.
In addition to us we’ve hired different consultants on graphic design, VFX, PR and product development.
What did you know you wanted to do with the Kidreel?
I hope Kidreel makes it easier for families to choose the bike instead of the car. All involved started using the bikes way more on everyday rides to kindergarden and grocery store etc. Every parent will understand how this helps.
When Kidreel is in the shops next season we hope to use this as a stepping stone towards realising other product ideas within our team.
Does it take long to get a working prototype in-hand?
I spent about five minutes on my first one, which was just an existing reel mounted on a bike. Once we started drawing out our own product we needed to invest more hours, but with today’s 3D printers this product was on a bike within the first week. It’s a really simple product to make and at first we used many parts from existing products for testing. It really took less than a week to get the first working prototype on a bike.
How many prototypes did you make before settling on what would be the production model?
We made 47 prototypes before filming our Kickstarter movie.
We even made a change during the Kickstarter campaign. Allot of people were concerned that the handle will hit the kids face and so on. We have tested this for a long time, and we have no issues with it, but the reel can technically hit the kids hand (not the face) if the parent is not paying attention when releasing the handle, so we decided to make the handle from softer material than the one we used for filming.
Beyond prototypes, what form did your testing take?
Mostly everyday riding with our kids, but we also used it a lot with grown ups. It’s easier for product testing, and the reel works great when one rider is on an e-bike and one is without.
We will aim towards this market too, but our main focus to begin with is kids.
What made you want to go down the Kickstarter route?
Since the product is quite simple and easy to produce, and it has a low cost we thought this was a good place to start. We didn’t need a big investment to get going, so we decided to try it out instead of going the traditional route with investors.
Kickstarter is also a great way to do market research and get feedback from a broad population.
Personally I also wanted to get it out there quickly. There are already a couple of different towing devices for bikes, and I’m not surprised if other brands or people are on the same track, so we wanted to move quickly to make sure we were the original with this specific solution.
Favourite moments?
The first ride me and Trym did with the reel. It was a good day.
Any disasters?
If you watch the movie, my son is upset and throws my helmet at my bike. That is not acting, he was pretty sick of camera men and such taking up his time at that point. I feel a bit bad, but we all knew that was the reactions we needed for the film so we went with it. He still complains about me just hanging out with my friends instead of riding with him that day.
Not really a disaster, but it was definitely not the best feeling to take advantage of my kids bad mood and put it in a movie. He did laugh about it and approve before releasing it though.
Did you have a Eureka moment when you new you’d got it right?
Not really, I had thought about it a while before I settled that a reel mounted on the kids bike and not the parents bike was the right solution. I was also contemplating where the ideal mounting would be. The handlebar or the frame?
It’s not like I just thought about it once and then decided. I went back and forth with different solutions in my mind before doing this, so it was a gradual thing.
My friends on the other hand had more of a eureka moment. They hadn’t visualised it as much and was more surprised how well it worked when they first tried it.
People to thank?
Henrik, Andreas, Magnus, Inger Lise, Heidi, Knut, my dad, Skinny D, Alexander and Mona @ Smood social, Tarek, Till and Manuel at Rasoulution, Danny MacAskill, Cam McCaul, Cam Zink, Embrik, Frode, and last but not least all of our 800 backers so far.
Where next for Kidreel?
Now we just need to get Kidreel mass produced and sent out to all the backers asap.
Once that is taken care of we want to get Kidreel in as many stores around the world as possible before we unreel our next product.
