Daughter is 2 in a couple of weeks and looking at getting her a balance bike to start her riding on. Can anyone recommend one? There are quite a few out there and unsure if it’s worth going for a Isla or Frog bike.

Also, should I get one with a brake or will it be too hard for her to use it?

Any thoughts on this? Seems to be a fair bit lighter than some of the other bikes

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/balance-bikes/ace-of-play-balance-bike-vanilla

We got a frog tadpole at first but he didn’t like it. Then got a cheap little one from halfords that he loved straight away.
The frog has a break and he is only now really using it at just over 2, this is about 4 months on from when he started.
If you are just planning on getting one for some time then get one with a brake as for a start they won’t use it anyway

1 – a light one. You’re going to end up carrying it!
2 – brakes? Six of one and half a dozen of the other, really. Mine didn’t have a brake on theirs, Spesh Hotwalk, and the eldest went straight on to a proper bike and was riding properly by the second time out. No brake means they focus on the balancing bit, and IMHO is better for learning about controlling speed than with a brake. With is better for stopping, without is better for controlling. If that makes any sense at all.

one of these Kokua

never really saw the need for a brake. The kids will use their feet to slow down.

as he says up there. It’s all about learning to balance and steering. When he moved to a pedal bike it took him about 20 mins to figure it out and then off he went pedalling and braking

Youngest daughter had a tesco cheapy balance bike, then a micro scooter at a later age.

No real need in my view to spend good money on a balance bike – they don’t get that much of a hard life. I think ours was less than £20 at the time. Wish we had similar for the elder two – as others have said, made the transition to cycling with pedals a lot quicker.

My daughter started off without a brake but soon became evident that she did need one.
It was easy enough to modify the frame to take the XTR/XT one I had spare 😀

My boys strider bike was brilliant, used loads from the age of 2 and now on a frog pedal bike without needing to use stabilisers at all .
The strider also has very low stand over so is really good for little ones ..
We never used a brake

Puky LRM – great robust little bikes and a good size for 2-3. A brake isn’t necessary until they are older IMHO

Excellent, thanks all. Good to know many haven’t bothered with brakes and their kids went on to ‘proper’ bikes quickly. Quite fancy the strider, although the Puky gets good reviews I just don’t like the look of it

I went with a cheapo decathlon one, it did have a brake but more just happened to have one rather than it being a choice. Weight really wasn’t a consideration either. Best thing was the £3.99 carry strap you could get to sling it over your shoulder

Puky seen 2 kids and waiting for the next one to use it.

Both took to it pretty quickly and were fine with brakes after a few hours on the next bike up.

If you want light and you’ve got money buy Early Rider, we have 2, the Alley runner which you can convert from 12″ wheels to 14″ and get fat tyres, it looks like a mini fat bike. Comes with carbon handlebar and seat post and cart bearing wheelset. The other bike is a 16″ belt drive with similar finishing kit and V brakes.

I got a cheap one earlier from amazon, worked OK for both of our girls, brake was never used and I removed the kickstand it had as it was just a useless ankle snagging device, but it was heavy, and as others have noted this becomes an issue when they dump it halfway round a walk and you have to carry the thing…

Doing it again I’d consider something plastic maybe, ours was unnecessarily robust.

I agree that early on it’s necessary to have a brake and can make things more complicated. However my eldest got pretty proficient on his before he was anywhere near big enough for a “proper bike” and the lack of a brake did cause issues. It’s not coming to a stop from pootling around on the flat that’s the issue, it’s coming to a stop down anything other than a shallow incline. If the hill is of any length at all it becomes an issue. Even on the flat braking with shoes costs a flippin’ fortune in shoes if they get keen and bike as often as possible… keep that in mind if you’re comparing prices 🙂 Despite being a growing kid who usually gets through shoes because they’re too small before their anywhere near work out, he was wearing holes in the toes dragging his brakes as it were down hills 😯

And that’s a shame because when they really start to balance on them it’s great for them to pick up speed down a hill. Ours was a strider pro, and with hindsight I’d get one with a brake (and probably the Isla one – he finally moved on to a CNOC 14 small for his third birthday and they’re fab).

Strider here too. Really good for the low standover, little miss blobby is pretty small, at 3 still a fair bit too small for the smallest pedal Frog, and she loves her Strider. Doesn’t have a front brake but that’s never been a problem. I guess it would depend on how long they are on it and what they end up riding on.

Yes standover is what made me chose the Strider. First was on it at 18 months and wasn’t particularly small but just made it that much easier for him to figure our getting on and off at that age. He was on it until his third birthday when he got the CNOC. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, just that if they really take to it, the lack of a brake may be an issue (or an easy retro-fit option for one, that footbrake they offer(ed?) is a ridiculous idea that strikes me as being very difficult to master for a skill that will be absolutely useless to them once they no longer have a strider..). Certainly isn’t to get them started, though.

I just got one of those £20 plywood jobbies off amazon. No brakes. Did the trick fine. It was only in use for a couple of weeks to a month or so, as soon as I could see they could balance and roll with their feet up I got them straight onlto a pedal bike. No sence in faffing around on a balance bike any longer than they had to.

Puky here for our two. Mainly chosen because they have one of the lowest saddle heights. Oldest son was desperate to get riding even before he could walk 🙂 Daughter loves hers too – she did 4 km at Cannock on it last weekend.

My boy is on an islabike one which seems exceedingly well made and light. I haven’t compared any others though.

Anyway, he’s loving it and it’s great to watch him enjoying it. It’s just a shame summer will be over soon.

A bit cheeky, but I’m selling a strider with a rear brake kit if you’re interested?

My son couldn’t fit on his elder sister’s old balance bike because he’s been wanting to ride it from a younger age, and as we were about to go on holiday and taking the bikes I decided to spontaneously buy him a more low slung one. And with a brake because her’s didn’t and it’s too damned hilly where we live once they get competent and fast for shoe-braking to be sensible.

Got this:

Very impressed. Light frame, very low minimum saddle height, big volume tyres make it roll better and comfier. And a QR on the seatpost, which was really useful when we did 2.1 miles through the woods on Saturday including some quite loose steep stuff (for a just two year old), that his sister had to walk down because we couldn’t easily drop her saddle.

@chiefgrooveguru: we have that one too. Think we go it on offer from Halfords for £30 or so. Nice and light. 3 year old is beginning to properly get the hang of it now including the brake.

Ridgeback Scoot is very good, well made, nice and low and has a brake.

Picked a mint one up for £45 on gumtree and sold it for the same about six months later when it had done its job. So free.

Our local cycle club uses them exclusively for their balance bike lessons as they’re very well made, light and low, surprising how big some balance bikes are.

EDIT just re-read and if she’s only two it’s probably a bit big, suits from three up.

My little dude has a Rothan with a rear brake. He’s pretty good on it and is starting to get the hang of the rear brake although skids are a massive novelty at the mo! 😆

It’s brilliant watching him razz round Hicks Lodge on it.

they don’t get that much of a hard life

my boy had a kokua jumper and abused it for 2 years. it looks like it’s been hit by a bus and dragged down the road but still works perfectly – not sure a cheapo one would.
I think having no brake was a good idea but when he went to a pedal bike he still dragged his feet for a while which meant lots of shin bashing on pedals. but his hands weren’t big enough to brake when he first got a balance bike.

My son had a scoot. It had a brake but his hands were too small to use it so it was a waste of time. By the time he could brake he was on a pedal bike.

Our two have had Striders. They’re great for the range of heights they can fit. Our eldest never had any issue with the lack of brake, and picked up using them within about 10 minutes of getting her pedal bike. Our younger one is a bit less sensible and has had a couple of speed wobble crashes coming down hills (one fairly nasty face plant onto tarmac). A brake might have helped, or it might just help his confidence resulting in higher speed crashes…

Echoing some of the above, my experience of my own kids and their friends:

Weight is mainly pertinent to you (and/or your spouse) having to carry it at times. Kids will basically batter along on any old crap.

The brake on ours (Ridgeback Scoot, FWIW) literally never got used. When I resprayed it pink for Small Person Two the brake was left in the spares box.

To be honest I think when you’re looking at balance bikes and early pedal bikes you can over-obsess about stuff because, as above, at that age *most* (not all) kids seem to merrily ride any old crap. I’ve ridden with 5 year olds whose bikes weigh enough to anchor a small luxury yacht, but they just get on with it. The real question is often simply whether you want to buy the best, look after it, get top resale value and get back nearly all of your large upfront payment; or whether you prefer to pay less up front and write more of the value off as it gets used. This may be affected by whether you’re planning a younger sibling.

My daughter learnt on the cruzee balance bikes super light check them out think they weigh 1.1kg

Chicco red bullet. 25 notes.

It’s a balance bike.

My two year old rides along fine on it. Like a boss.

He gets a bit of stick from the toddlers unloading their islabikes rothans and frog tadpoles from the audi’s bike rack in Llandegla car park but he soon blasts past them on the three mile climb.

I see you have one of those super-popular Back Of The Head™ helmets for him 😉

Anyone want to buy a Spesh Hotwalk in red and white?

I see you have one of those super-popular Back Of The Head™ helmets for him

We found Specialized helmets to be good for sitting properly. First one we got was a Bell, which was useless. Next one was from Decathlon, which was great, but then trey stopped making that model.

I wish our ballance bike had a brake, I started my son off really early with a ballance bike and by the time he got to 2 and a half/ 3 he wanted to race down the hills at quite a pace and often crashed because he couldn’t really stop! Once into a fence head first! He has been a bit slow to get used to using the brakes on his pedal bike but getting there.
I will probably just see how dare devil my daughter is before I got a different one with a brake, because otherwise it’s been great (Spesh hotwalk) but do fear she will be worse as she tries to chase her brother down the hills.

I will probably just see how dare devil my daughter is before I got a different one with a brake, because otherwise it’s been great (Spesh hotwalk) but do fear she will be worse as she tries to chase her brother down the hills.

I’m certainly finding the second one is more gung-ho than the first, as he tries to copy/chase her! As soon as he sees a hill he goes up it, so he can go down it. “Up, down, up, down!” 😉

She took a while to get used to her pedal bike so flip-flopped between it and the balance bike for quite a few months and the first time she got back on the balance bike she was like “look, there’s no brake!”

I actually emailed Islabike with some suggestions of how to make kids bikes better, namely fitting them with bigger front than rear wheels, slackening seat tubes to keep the rider nearer the ground when at pedalling height, and slacker head angles with shorter offset forks to increase trail without increasing the front-centre. I think it would work really well!

Bez – Member
I see you have one of those super-popular Back Of The Head™ helmets for him

He won’t wear hats, sun hats, glasses. Won’t let anything on his forehead. Wearing the helmet like that…. Its progress I can tell you.

Thanks all, as always a wealth of info on here. I agree I am probably obsessing about things a little too much and comparing every little detail. At the end of the day it’s a balance bike to get her out riding and hopefully she will progress quickly to a pedal bike.

With this in mind we have decided to go for a Strider, good price (made better by being sold on Amazon and I happen to have an Amazon voucher)light weight and has the option to add a rear foot brake if needed at a later date. Just got to decide on colour, green or orange (hopefully will be passed onto child 2 at some point)

Thanks again and look out for a “dust in here” moment when she ‘hopefully’ rides it on her own for the first time thread with pictures coming to a forum soon.

I fitted a rear brake to my sons 2md balance bike (12″HOY balance bike) for two reasons, he had a 10″ to start with.
1.After he got confident on it and going as fast as he could he would look for things to slow him down like banks or long grass. With this is mind and him swerving to whatever he thought would slow him down, emphasis on swerving into danger.
2. Get him used to a brake for use on his next bike, 16″ pedal bike.

look out for a “dust in here” moment when she ‘hopefully’ rides it on her own for the first time thread with pictures coming to a forum soon.

Little Miss Blobby’s first go on her Strider from earlier this year… 8)

She’s really taken to it and is now zooming about on it. My boy who’s 2 years older never really got on with the balance bike but that doesn’t seem to have held him up in getting going on the pedal bike.

One thing I do wonder about with the Strider is if it would be better served with pneumatic tyres. The foam ones are nice and light but probably not that great on gravel trails and I do get the occasional complaint that it’s too bumpy.

*watching for later!*