Having made a balance bike and getting a fair bit of interest on here, CRC Hub and various other places I was wondering if anyone knows what would be involved in getting one tested to make it a product that could be sold on the open market?
I know frames need to CEN(?) tested but are there criteria that need to be met for a complete bike too?
Any info greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Steve

Good to see that you are thinking of progressing with your project as the bike you built was great.
I have no advice on CEN but you will also need to jump through some hoops to get product liability insurance. I hope that you are intending to build the bikes in the UK and that you can do something to register and protect your design.
Best of luck with the project and I hope to see the bike available soon.

Probably best ask a small bespoke manufacturer for their advice, not as though you are a competitor making mountain bikes. Spotted this: http://www.18bikes.co.uk/news.php?articleshow=392

I’m sure Brant might impart some wisdom on this one? On-One certainly would know the drill on this.

First up if you haven’t already get hold of the relevant standards, you can probably by them from the British Standards website or ‘acquire’ elsewhere.

Looks like BV is possibly your best for testing. Intertek may also offer something.

You could try this site for test houses:

UKAS

“CEN” (COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION) is used as a catch all term for the current lot of Harmonised EU standards for bicycles:

BS EN 14764:2005 – City and trekking bicycles — Safety requirements and test methods

BS EN 14765 – Bicycles for young children — Safety requirements and test methods

BS EN 14766:2005 – Mountain-bicycles — Safety requirements and test methods

BS EN 14781:2005 – Racing Bicycles – Safety Requirements and Test Methods

apparently bureau veritas are accredited to conduct the testing described in most of the of the above Standards with a couple of minor exceptions, as well as as well as BS 6102-1:1992 – Cycles — Part 1: Specification for safety requirements for bicycles, which might now be superseded by the EN suit of standards (anyone know?)

EN 14765 would probably be most appropriate/applicable for a Balance bike I’d have thought…

AFAIK A balance bike would be classed as a toy, so would need to comply with BS EN71 and need a CE mark, but not necessarily CEN testing.

As a bare minimum you would need a technical file which details the design, FMEA/Risk assessment, calculations and test results, QA data etc. and a declaration of conformity which states which standards the design complies. If you are to be the signatory, you need to be absolutely sure that the list of standards if appropriate and that it does meet those requirements!

AFAIK A balance bike would be classed as a toy, so would need to comply with BS EN71 and need a CE mark, but not necessarily CEN testing.

Correct. You need to assure that the testing you do is relevant and uses the most stringent tests applicable at the time |(ie CEN now for most bikes) but balance bikes aren’t covered by the children’s bike CEN based on the criteria (lack of pedals mainly). It does provide good guidance on protrusions, grip / brake dimensions etc though so is worth referring to.

Just looked it up and He’s right you know,

Applicable Subsections:

4.15 Toys intended to bear the mass of a child
-4.15.1 Toys propelled by a child or by other means
-4.15.2 Toy bicycles
-4.15.5 Toy scooters

Covers Toy Bicycles, scooters and the like, so define your product as a toy and you need only demonstrate that it complies with the less onerous requirements given BS EN 71-1:2011… There are still some test requirements, but they should be more appropriate to a toy than a bicycle.

You could save yourself the cost an hassle go to a company like on one offer to set them up with your frame an tale a percent of the sales profits an more

+1 ruffride idea….or Dragons Den

Kickstarter

Would maybe out perform a lot of the bikes some of the companies listed here actually make 🙂

It’s a lovely thing for sure.
Would be fascinated to see a properly costed bill of materials though!

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like I need to do a bit of research.
Brant, I’ll do a costing of materials etc and see what it comes out at..

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like I need to do a bit of research.
Brant, I’ll do a costing of materials etc and see what it comes out at..

The changing of a labour of love to a volume, marketable product is the challenge here I think.

I’m a production engineer by trade so doing large quantities isn’t an issue. I’d love to see loads of kids riding around on these so I think that side of things would be fine, it’s the business side of things that would cause more of an issue for me..
If I could just get a UK bike company to do that stuff for me 😉

I’m a production engineer by trade so doing large quantities isn’t an issue.

So if you want to drop me a line we can have a chat.

Steve it is a very cool looking bike for your little lass but putting it out as a bike for lots of other toddlers will be a real challenge .

My Daughter has just got her son a balance bike and it was around the £50 mark ( he is only 3 and loves it ) but he wont be on it for long before he goes real bike and will rapidly grow out of each one of those . ( I want a baby Fatty for him when they are available )
Yes there will be the few parents who will buy one but can you make them affordable without going to the far east for manufacture .

Not wanting to pee on your chips but look at the last few years we have been doing lights to see .

What sort of price point are you wanting to sell these for? What are people offering?

drop me a line we can have a chat

I’ll do some costings and let you know.

Chris, yeah I see where you’re coming from. The Chinese have flooded the lights and made good(ish) lights available to the masses at very affordable prices. This is good and bad as it’s got more people into night riding, which is great, but not done the custom builders like you any favours.
Where I see my balance bike working is with those who want something more niche/different. There are people who spends thousands on bikes and could see those as potential buyers. Some are happy with run of t’mill stuff whereas there are always those who want more..
A limited run could be the way to do it..make 100, sell 100, bish bash bosh.

How much do Halfords sell balance bikes for?

When I brought one for my first son I got the same spec as more expensive makes for £50 to my door had choice of 10 or 12″ wheels rubber tyres an tubes, a brake an alloy frame. It lasted my first son a year an now my second son in all weathers an they hammer it. I think you’ve made an awesome bike but I think people only wana pay £60 to £70 could you make money at that on this if so I’d say do it sell it enjoy it mate.

I got minimatt an Islabikes Rothan, £130 which I think is the most I would ever spend on a balance bike, they hold their value really well so when the inevitable happens you can still get a fair bit of money back. I have seen balance bikes made by some big name manufacturers that were £160 though.

From the limited “market research” above it would seem that some where between £50 and £160 is the price band for a balance bike.
Steveid has made the Rolls Royce of balance bikes and it is a thing of beauty but I can’t see him being able to make it in limited quantities to sell direct for less than £200. The minute retailers margins get added in the whole thing becomes unviable.
To make this work some compromises will have to be made to the design eg the Fox CSU will have to go. The production will probably have to move off shore and a serious amount of units made to get a good ex factory price.
I’m sure that Brant is the man and it’s good to see that you are collaborating.

https://law.resource.org/pub/de/ibr/din.en.14781.e.2006.pdf
this is for racing bicycles.
a german customer wanted to know if ours held up.
so we built a fixture, even though we knew it would.
I’d suggest you find thepdf for kids bikes and build up a fixture to test it, you might want to get it officially certified but it’s good to know the answers to those type of questions before you ask.