Just seen a nice kawa green islabike Rothan on ebay at a good price, but it doesn’t have a brake. I’ve notice many balance bikes are brakeless, is it essential? Or something I could add later?

My little boy first rode his brake less Puky at 22 months, it has no brakes and I don’t think he could squeeze it if it had. It’s a tiny thing, as he gets bigger i’ll sell it and buy one with a brake.

So to sum up, I reckon it depends how big/old/strong your child is 🙂

He will be two on saturday, tall for his age, but no bruiser. I’m thinking I should buy it and source a brake when he is used to it.

It’ll have the mountings for one. He’ll be fine at this stage. But just wait til they get a bit of confidence up. They absolutely fly!!! A brake may be in order then

Yup, buy it & fit one later if you want..

They brake quite well with their feet, the important bit is getting the bike so he can have feet flat on the ground, when my Jimmy was able to ride & balance etc but was still on tip toes he couldnt brake as easily as all it did was lift him off the saddle now he has grown a bit feet braking works just fine… He is still too small for a proper brake.

We live at the bottom of a hill that is something like 15% at the steepest point, so I am trying to get Rose to learn to brake.

She can go down it without the brake fine though, it is just that her shoes get worn down quite quickly when she zooms down the hill.

Really though, you don’t need it at all unless you live somewhere crazy steep, and even then, you won’t need it for ages.

I don’t think they ever actually need anything more than foot braking – she’s ridden all the way round Derby BMX track without a brake for example, and that is quite a zoomy place.

Or, as little P found out the other day in centre parcs; a tree, some bracken, a face, and wet roots – all work as suitable velocity reduction devices…..

DrP

No need for a brake – it’s what the soles of wellies are for.

Thanks all, looks like a goer then and it will match daddies patriot. 🙂

ours had a brake and it got Daughter Lazarou used to using it before she progressed to a big bike.

so if given the choice I would say yes, but plenty don’t have one and it’s not really a big issue.

Yeah – there’s no desperate need for one on a balance bike, but it is a bit of a hurdle to overcome at some point. In retrospect for us being able to put one on our (1st gen) Rothan would have been good for introducing the concept before setting off on pedals. If you can add one later then that would be perfect, but they sort it all out soon enough really 🙂

Brake is on here as she wanted it on to be like #addnamehere
Nearly 3 and can use it when her hand starts on it but can’t transition to using it yet when riding.

I put it as fairly important requirement above other bikes like the Specialized as it means hopefully braking can be learned before pedaling rather than both at once. I can also see it as useful when older and still using the balance bike to play on.

Plus skids are for kids.

My daughter had the Isla Rothan for her second birthday (with brake) and I got her the Cnoc 16 for her 4th birthday 3 weeks back and was amazed. Not only did she scoot start and just pedal off, when I asked her to slow down she used the brake and skidded to a stop.

We’d done a lot of ‘rides’ when she was on the Rothan and she’d picked up braking then. I’d say a lightweight balance bike with a brake should be every childs first bike.

She asked to go out for a ride yesterday and we went 5 miles with no complaints.

they will learn to balanc ebeofre they can brak eand i doubt the little hands can pull the lever even if they can unclench from the handlebars – ceertaily mine were able to cycle and ride long before they could brake properly

Would liek one but i dont hink it is essential YMMV

Can they spell though?

Depends where you live. Our road is on a very slight slope but on a balance bike you can pick up a fair bit of speed in a short space of time. Luckily, minime has the brake sorted and loves nothing more than skidding to a stop. The one on the Scoot/Zoom bikes has a reach adjuster so its easy to wind it in dead close to the bar so even little hands can reach it. Minime has just turned 3 and has been using the brake almost since he started riding his balance bike properly about 6 months ago…

Helpful but definately not essential and we live somewhere quite hilly. First son rode his balance bike and just wore out about 3 sets of wellies. Son no. 2 had a rothan with brake and loved to pull massive broad side skids. It is very hard for them to slow without skidding with a brake as there is so little weight over the wheel. Both boys got on pedal bikes and could ride them within about 2 mins no problems (age 3 1/2). Balance bikes are ace.