its my little uns 2nd birthday soon and i'm thinking of a balance bike for her. any recommendations? She's quite small.

I have a Spesh 'hotwalk' balance bike, and the seat goes down real low. He loved it, and was riding for almost 100 meters downhill within a few days. Brilliant.
He was 20months at the time.

I quite like the Ridgeback Scoot, will be getting two in a couple of months.

Not the Halfords one unless your girl is very tall – my 2 year old boy got one for his 2nd birthday in June – despite being 99.6th percentile on height he just only fits it (eg can walk while on it) now and that's with some bodging by me to cable tie the saddle to the top tube which dropped it by about 5cm.

Islabike if it fits.

We had a scoot, which was good as it had a brake, but the bolts that held the rear wheel in were a bit exposed and my son kept catching his heels when going full tilt, also there isn't a steering limiter.
The Likeabike was far better, I think the seat went lower, it was lighter, it had a steering limiter, but no brake, so they have to learn to stop themselves by dragging their toes. My son was still dragging his toes to stop a year after he started a pedal bike. The likeabike was left out in the rain a few times and has suffered for it, whereas the scoot looked like new.
I would steer clear of the really cheap copies, as we had one and it was forever falling to bits.

Strider.

Islabike Rothan – so good that a couple of his mates now have matching ones after their parent had seen little trb on his.

It did take few months to get the hang of it properly, now though the main disadvantage is that he can now ride faster than I can run, so he disappears into the distance and his ability to gain speed outweighs his ability to use the brakes meaning he's had a couple of good over-the-bars incidents!

Got spec hotwalk, she loves it. Good resale value.

How young can they be to get them on a balance bike?

Like a bike Jumper for me. Great wee bike. Light as a feather, steering limiter, bolts all covered with plastic caps, pad for stem, two seat posts for good range of heights and rear suspension. You can now buy a brake for it but we just went with cheap shoes and foot breaking!
Search pinkbike.com for kindergarten for an entertaining video of one in use. Can't provide link cause I'm at work.
Didn't quite reach that standard but Cam loved the local skate park and most of my favourite singletrack on his. Get a wee rucksack with a big handle to lift her clear if she gets into difficulty.

Same as LD. Can't rate it highly enough.
My lad pedalled after about 30-40 mins going from that to a 12'' Hotrock.

My boy has had a cheap wooden one for a while and loved it but is falling apart now.It has no brakes which i think he needs with the speed he goes down hill. Have a look on ebay i managed to get an Islabike Rothan 2nd hand cheap so hopefully that will be up to the job off road.

Daughter has the Ridgeback Scoot, I'd rate it very highly. She loves it and earlier this year she started riding a pedal bike without having needed stabilisers!
Despite the fact she can now ride a pedal bile she still loves bombing around on the Scoot 🙂

My daughter's Islabike Rothan arrived on Tues afternoon and it's a beautiful thing.

She hasn't used it yet, but it looks really cleverly designed and well-made.

Considering it cost about the same as a carbon handlebar I think it's quite reasonably priced.

Stabalizers need to be band IMHO. They really slow down the ability to balance which is easy to learn with a balance style bike.

I got at Norco runner bike like this one.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=21477

Got it for about £40 new thro e-bay. No stearing limiter, but light, fairly bullet proof, and adjustable.

I liked the Islabikes version, but quite expensive.

edit, not sure if the reviews on CRC webiste are related to that bike btw!

Scoot – flipped the seat bracket to lower it slighly so our wee girl could touch the floor better. Tried a Specialized and she fitted it great but went for the Scoot in Pink. Scoot seems bigger so it took a while until she was tall enough. Just turned 2 and now there is no stopping her! £83 from ukbikesdepot.com

We've got an Islabike Rothan and it is very good. Can't comment on any others though so thay may be good also.

My lad loves it. That'll do for me.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/proud-dad-moment-islabikes-content

My little boy is almost 2 (21st Sept) and will be getting an Islabike too!

Speccy seems to be the lowest saddle height, though I've not seen a Rothan up close – my two so far have been capable of sitting on it from around 20 months, one of them is tallish for his age the other not.
The big wooden things I've seen friends buy seem very heavy and high in comparison.

We bought Rothan for our little lad and he's got on well with it. Had proud dad moment when he was whizzing about on it and a couple of friends' older kids were more wobbly after having gone the pedals and stabilisers route. Think he'll pick up the pedalling easy enough and his balance is great

A Scoot or an Islabike. My eldest started on a Scoot when he was 2. Now he is nearly 4, he is on an Islabike Cnoc 16, which is great

We went for the Islabike Rothan, he got it at 18 months, and was riding with his feet in the air at 2 and a bit. For his third birthday he got a Cnoc 14, and there is no stopping him now, just started to jump, (at nearly 5). The Rothan is a really well made bit of kit, it's a proper bike, just like yours (better than mine…). The only downside is that after having one of these, all the rest look poor in comparison, it's the start of an expensive path.

the decathlon one for £30 is excellent – low adjustable height, steering limiter too.

You can also remove the plastic tyres and fit rubber ones (there is a valve hole ready in the rim for them).

Doesn't have brakes though.

Another vote for Islabike Rothan. Was the lowest seat I could find as my lad has short legs!

Bear in mind that although expensive, they really keep their second hand value – around £80+ on Ebay…

crc are doing the likeabike one for £104

i just saw a used one go on ebay for £96. Madness

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=16728

Check out the balance bike racing at BBB.They were being given away as prizes last year.

It's got to be the Like a Bike Jumper, my son loved it – it's light, well balanced and gives the little ones so much confidence. It also keeps it's value pretty well when you come to the time when you need to trade up.

That's a great price at CRC as well as they're usually around the £150. Snap their hand off for £100. It's a bargain.

Rothan here, bought partly with an eye on resale values…but no chance that it's EVER leaving the family! #1 is now pedalling a Cnoc confidently with no stabilisers having been used before he's 4 and #2 sits and walks around the house on it, she's just turned 2.

When she's done with it we'll put it out on long term loan to our friends until it wears out. Which I think will be never. Maybe get grandkids on it…?

They are beautiful, inspiring for kids (cos they look like a proper bike) and well made.

Our Jumper is about to go to my sisters lad but I've got a promise it'll be returned :O)

lend her your wifes, should be about the right size

Not a recommendation as such, but when I collected my son's Beinn 20 from Isla a year or so back she showed me the new design of Rothan. Was really impressed with the sheer thought that was being put into a bike for a 2 year old. Custom length axles with rounded end bolts to save ankles. Custom brake lever for little hands, etc.

Our kids love their Islabikes Beinn 24 and 20. Wish I'd known about Islabikes when they were 2.

Paul