I’ve got a Scoot balance bike, it’s ok but it’s heavy and the build quality is average.

I’ve also borrowed a bike with stabilisers which is as heavy as my bike and also has a freewheel which means as my daughter’s hands are too small/weak to operate the brake she can’t stop!

We bought a Micro Scooter and she took to it like a duck to water. It’s design is utterly brilliant, totally built around the constraints of 3yr old operation in mind in that it’s light, colourful, stable, easy to steer etc etc.

Can you recommend a bike with pedals and stabilisers (she’s 3.5 years old now) which is equally as well designed for it’s purpose as that Micro Scooter?

I’m sure it will be said again…. but stick with the balance bike till she can scoot everywhere then get her a bike without stabilisers. Like an Islabike. My 4yo has one and has been riding it since he got it for his birthday… Took a few goes to get the pedalling action sorted, but he can now start and stop by himself. 😀
He started on a scooter bike. If your daughter’s is too heavy Islabike do a great balance bike too! Not heavy at all.

Islabikes Cnoc 14. Nice low friction bits, scaled down bars/grips & brake levers. And very light.

And lose the stabilisers straight away, but perhaps remove the pedals till shes balancing on two wheels. If shes small get her a Rothan, they really are excellent.

As Graham has said she should not need stabilisers if she is going from a balance bike.
I bought my niece an Islabikes Rothan blanace bike for her second birthday. I just gave her on Sunday an Islabikes Cnoc 16 as an early (by a month) 4th birthday present and within 10 minutes she was riding it no problems. She just needs to master starting off, but if you give her a shove she is away. All she needed to learn was to pedal – which she knew from a pedal tractor thingy anyway as she already knew about balance, steering and braking from the Rothan.

Edit – And go for the Cnoc 16 if she fits it so that she does not outgrow it too quickly, which she will do if you get the Cnoc 14 – in my opinion

For value for money Decathlon bikes take some beating. They are light, well made and everything is the right size for the age they are aimed at…

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/12i-3962445/

My friends giant anthem because he rides it like a 3 1/2 year old girl

balance bike until 4yrs then a Cnoc 14 here

Thanks, some interesting options there. Maybe I am being too concerned about the freewheel business as the pedal bikes above all have freewheels. Probably what is more important is a useable brake it seems.

Probably what is more important is a useable brake it seems.

As a parent, the knowledge that the little one can stop the runaway machine before it plows into your car/the elderly woman next door/the road is a big seller for me! The cnoc we’ve got has better brakes than my commute bike.

My son is coming up to 3 1/2 and is whizzing all over the place on his Isla Rothan. Was hoping to wait until Christmas to get his first proper bike but it looks as though he’ll outgrow the Rothan in the next couple of months (seat post is at full extension now)

I really like the Rothan and his big sister has just had an Isla Beinn 20″ and it is a very nice bike but at a cost.

We’ve more or less decided that for my Son’s first proper bike we’ll do what we did with our Daughter and get a Ridgeback equivalent of the Isla. Price wise the 16″ is about £40-£50 less than the Isla and to be fair the build quality if good. Alloy frame and wheels, rigid fork, decent v brakes and a good weight overall.

The Islas are really nice but there are others out there which compare quite well too and at the younger ages might work out better.

Once you get into the 20″ wheel and above bracket I’d revert back to the Isla bikes option as that way you avoid the heavy and ineffective fork that you’ll find on comaprable bikes (plus other things)

+1 for the quality of the Cnoc brakes… Hard thing now is trying to stop the little bruiser from skidding almost every 5 yards 🙄