I have been tasked to buy a balance bike for a friend,,
I do like the look of the wooden ones,

Our little one will be getting an Isla bike for his 2nd birthday next month.

decathlon plastic one, easy seat adjust, steering limiter, hand guards and only £30 too.

proper Islabike and take the pedals off, saves buying another bike.

Isla bikes hold their value well (check e-bay). Specialized do one called a Zooom (more colours) and well made, my grandaughter loves hers!

Second the Decathlon £30 one.

Likeabike might not be the cheapest but lovely build and it will easily last our 3 kids (currently on number 2).

Picked up a ridgeback scoot from the classifieds.
Quality bit of kit

Islabike, seems expensive until you get one and see how it's put together. Just be warned though, when you come to upgrade you'll find that nothing else compares, and you end up buyng more.

what PTR said +1

proper little bike. those wooden things look terrible.

my 3 year old has a ridgeback scoot she's had that about a year and my 1 year old has a puky , he flies round on it faster than he can run. its proper tiny 😉

the Puky looks cool. I didnt realise there were even tinier bikes than the scoots available 🙂

My son had Specialized Hotwalk, which was awesome, nice and light and very well put together.

It also had pirates on it, which was a winner 🙂

firestarter – how old was your wee boy when he first rode that Puky? and is he tall/short?
also, is that a foot plate so it can be used like a scooter too?

Kokua has rear suspension though. Much tricker.

Get a 12'' Spec Hotrock and take the pedals/cranks off it for a "longterm" cheaper option.

My boy had a Kokua and loved it. He pedaled the Hotrock at aged 3yrs 4mths on his own :O) Got a CNOC 16 waiting for his legs to grow in the shed 😀

Those Pukys are proper small.

My boy James has Islabike Rothan. He learned to balance after 3 days, when he was 22months old.
He's 2 1/2 years now, and loves to get on a slightly downhill bit of pavement so he can stick his legs out and pick up some speed. On the flat I have to jog to keep up with him.
He loves his bike but now he wants to know where his pedals are!

"legs up"!

balance bikes are brilliant!

stabilizers are a fantastic example of a complete waste of time

HI the puky was about seventy iirc he has been riding since he was about 15months and hes only little. The foot board bit is where he puts his feet after a big push. Couldn't use as a scooter tho. As you can see in pic its way smaller than the scoot. He loves it 😉

My two boys used a 30-year old Raleigh BlueBell, I removed the stabilizers at about 21/2 and made them scoot with the pedals still in place. Bike was great, had solid tyres, fixed wheel and front break with adjustable reach. I think balance bikes are over-rated compared with ordinary 12" wheeled bikes. Once kids can ride a scooter, they are ready for two wheels on a bike.

Having taught dozens of kids to ride, the single most useful piece of advice is to not be too pushy; the second is never put stabilizers back on! Oh and to balance a bike you must steer into the fall. If you ask most adults how to balance, most won't know that this is how to do it. Kids don't care but will try it diligently. So walk along holding one end of the bars with them as they pedal.

Balance bikes aren't over rated. If anything they are under rated IMHO. Nothing worse than stabalizers. Learn balance and then pedals are easy.
I'd agree with being pushy. My lad set his own agenda but it did help that he see's me or the mrs on our bikes everyday. He decided one day that he wanted to pedal and didn't want to be help. A proud moment for me.
Tim

+1 for what timbur said.

my son had a Hotwalk, and loved it. He was off and running in a matter of hours. Although, i would (should) have bought the 12" hotrock, and taken the pedals off.

It's nice and light, which i think is a real bonus as he can pick it up, and manouvre it much more readily than a wooden one.

I'm a big fan of balance bikes too. They all work just fine, but you mostly get what you pay for. I've seen Islabike Rothans ridden by large grown men, I'm not sure I'd trust all the balance bikes I've seen to withstand that. But then all you have to do is stop the grown men riding them and the problem is solved 😉

As long as they fit well then they'll be fine. For a good stride the saddle needs to be quite low, which is why the option of taking the pedals off a little bike often isn't very good. So check inside leg measurements against specs (or the real thing if possible). Cranks get in the way too a bit. The simplicity is a big thing, nothing in the way and nothing to distract – I'm still not sure if brakes are good or not on balance bikes.

The best thing about balance bikes is that they're not just a stepping stone to pedalled bikes – they're just brilliant fun. They can explore bike handling in a different way than with a pedalled bike without the additional stress/complication.

Our oldest is 5 1/2 and still has fun messing about on his Rothan*, and his Cnoc 14, as well as riding his Beinn 20. Call me an Islabike fanboy if you like but in the end nothng quite matched up on spec and weight 🙂

* will be his brother's next summer sometime I think!

big smile from a little man. I can almost remember my first bike feeling.

fantastic

My two (just turned 3 & 4.5) have a Rothan & 12" Cnoc. Tried the youngest on the Cnoc with pedals removed, but even with saddle as low as it will go its too high for youngest. Rothan is great bit of kit.