daughter’s birthday in two weeks, thinking of getting her a bike, any recommendations out there?

my kids have got on well with the specialized hotwalk balance bike. really helped with the transition to stabilisers and then no stabilisers.Basically the balance bikes give them the confidence and he had the stabilisers on for a day or two on his 14″ bike and when we took them off he was away. only 3 years old too and now confidently dropping of kerbs etc

i have just bought my nephew an islabike rothan. It turned up the other day and looks ace.

I’m prob gonna get one of these in a few months when my youngest (only 14mths atm)
http://www.striderbike.co.uk/

Havern’t seen anything smaller.. and I don’t really like islabikes

Child 3 is now on the Hotwalk and zooming about. The other two romped onto a proper bike and away. It’s stood up to the abuse well.

I like the look of the Islabike, but the ability to sit a kid on a bike is much better than just browsing the interweb.

Got my nipper a ‘First Bike’, a GRP balance bike which is lighter and much cheaper than the Like-A-Bikes (wooden).
It has ‘restricted steering’ which is key (without this they over-steer and wipeout a lot).
Depending on height of your daughter I suggest also getting a ‘lowering kit’ which drops back wheel even further for better stand-over.

It’s a great product. My boy’s been loving it & the missus is a fan coz it’s light enough to strap to buggy.
Highly recommend it.

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We got ours the default option for his 2nd birthday – Islabike Rothan. To say he loves it would be a large understatement!

I’m looking at the moment for one for our lad (2 and a bit). Toddlers have such wee legs that you need to make sure they can touch the ground properly on it – I’ve tried him on a few that were too big.

My wife is insisting on getting one with a back brake, to teach him to stop. Not sure it makes much of a difference on a balance bike but couldn’t hurt I guess.

Rothan has a back brake but apparently very few toddlers ever use them! It’s a great bike though – well made but light.

The back brake on our Rothan got used – not very much maybe, but it gave him the right idea for when he moved onto a bigger bike.

Wives, eh? 🙄 a 2yr old has no need for a brake. in true STW style just tell her it has one. 😆

aracer – ours uses it as a fun device – he find it funny that the lever stops the wheel! He’s not quick enough on it yet to need it yet!

Got my nipper a ‘First Bike’, a GRP balance bike which is lighter and much cheaper than the Like-A-Bikes (wooden).

Though no lighter or cheaper than a Rothan – YMMV, but I don’t really see any advantage compared to one of those, and much prefer the look of a Rothan which seems far more like a proper bike than a toy. Slightly disappointed as I followed the link expecting to find a more economical alternative.

My wife is insisting on getting one with a back brake, to teach him to stop. Not sure it makes much of a difference on a balance bike but couldn’t hurt I guess.

Mine barely had the hand strength to use a brake at three let alone two, one of the reasons Specialized incorporate back pedal brakes on their smaller models.

No brakes on a HotWalk, and they get to some frightening speeds but usually get away with it. They’ve got two brakes at the ends of the legs.

If you’re anywhere near Newbury, Banjo Cycles have a HotWalk in the Window for £75 I think, that’s a bargain if it’s likely to get handed on.

‘First Bike’ with lowering kit gave the lowest seat of all the toddler ‘steering-restricted ‘ balance bikes I could find.

Here’s a movie of my boy on his when he was 20 months old…

http://gallery.me.com/barnabyedwards#100085

One thing to watch out for on the Spesh HotWalk: the seatpost is limited in how far it can be lowered because the bottom of the seat tube is closed. This doesn’t apply to the Islabike Rothan, which can have the saddle much lower as a result. My two-year old isn’t exactly tall, but he’s not a midget either, and he didn’t take to his HotWalk straight off because his feet didn’t touch the floor when he was in the saddle. (I was quite chuffed with myself when I got round this without cutting the seatpost up by nicking a bit of tubing off my old lawnmower, which fortuitously happened to be exactly 20mm diameter, same as the seat tube.)

The Rothan also has a back brake, and will probably eBay for more when it’s been grown out of. If I was buying again I’d probably just get a Rothan.

The Rothan is fantastic.

Stevew jnr loves his, he is 2yrs 3 months and for the last few months he has been bombing around everywhere (I bought it when he was 1 as I got a bit excited about getting his first bike….). It is really well made and light – although he loves it you do end up carrying it after a while so the weight really matters.

It has a really low standover height too so any little toddler legs can deal with it.

Got some great video of him ripping up my local woods ride spot the other day, so very proud!

Depends how big they are, my little girl has a scoot at the min but couldn’t ride it til she was two and half as it was a bit big. I have a isla cnoc14 in the shed for her fourth birthday next week that looks great.

Little lad is one and has a puky which is much smaller than the scoot and he loves it

In action 🙂

we had our big boy james rolling around on a islabike rothan; he was balancing well, when he was 20months old. He skoots along, leans into corners etc. We’ll get him a pedal bike (probably another Islabike)when he’s 3 and I’m absolutley positive he will take to it within a day.

Islabikes are good for any kids, not just because they are great bikes, but also as they keep their value.

They’re a bit more expensive than other brands to start with but you’ll get most of your money back when you ebay it later.

BTW – posted a Q here theother day asking about full finger gloves for our 5 and 6 year olds to ride to school in the winter and didn’t get much response. Anyone here got any recommendations?

My little-un has a Rothan I bought her last christmas. They’re a quality piece of kit. She absolutely loves it!

rightplacerighttime – cannondale do good kids gloves. Look up local stockists fella. As they’ll need to try them. I got my 3 and 6 year olds gloves from Ken Fosters in Chorlton, if that helps

More props for Rothan – its just so right – they can get quite a speed up when pointed down hill so reccomend buying the back brake as we had a few over the bars and into walls incidents which i would rather forget!
My 4 year old has just moved onto pedals on a Cnoc 16 and the Rothan has passed down to his sister

firestarter – I’m torn between the Puky and Strider for mines first bike.. she loves anything with wheels already so think she’ll take to a balance bike pretty early, but has stumpy wee legs 😕

What’s the min seat height from the floor? (or min inside leg) for one of those wee ones?

Ta.

Gw floor to center of saddle lowest bit where bum goes is 295mm mate

ah.. cheers for the info.. strider it’ll be then (they’re 11″ so 280mm ish)

We got my little boy a Skuut – thats not him!

For his 2nd birthday. Its a nice bike, but a little big for a 2yo. He still hasnt got the confidence to ride it as his feet dont quite lay flat on the floor (25mnths).

‘First Bike’ with lowering kit gave the lowest seat of all the toddler ‘steering-restricted ‘ balance bikes I could find.

Except for a Rothan obviously – according to specs a First Bike with lowereing kit is 31cm, a Rothan 30cm.

Brassneck – I’m not far from Newbury so will check that out