brakes for a kid's scooter
 

I rescued a "Magna Overburst" from a curbside giveaway today. My two little boys are thrilled. This has 12" pneumatic wheels and looks very similar to this scooter by Torker: http://www.torkerusa.com/bikes/kids/2010-scooters

Problem is, both front and rear brakes are busted. How do you twist caliper arms? ! Anyway, anyone know of a source for these low-grade long reach calipers? Are they just BMX calipers brakes?

If they don't have posts to mount the center pull style BMX cantilever style brakes then side pull BMX brakes would very likely be the cheap fix. When googled I found some $10 BMX sidepulls from jensonusa.com.

Real low-grade replacement calipers can occasionally be found in department stores, but it's for darn sure you're not going to get help with determining the reach! Long-reach BMX calipers can be substituted, and will probably work far better than the originals.

Sounds good. I will acquire some BMX-style calipers post-haste. I also found on craig's list someone selling a nearly identical one (diff brand, of course) for a whopping $20, so it looks like both boys will be able to scoot around the yard. Thanks!

Forget the brakes and buy them new shoes with good rubber. They probably won't use the brakes anyway.