Has anyone else had a look at the Zum Zum balance bikes which are currently advertising on this site? I was really interested in the design and excited to see Steve Peat involved too as he’s a real cycling hero of mine. I was about to back the project on kickstarter (my boy won’t be 18 months for a while yet but no harm in getting the bike early!) When I saw that a company called brum brum bikes are claiming that the design was their idea originally and has been stolen, so high drama in the balance bike world it seems as this has caused a news article about the bikes on Pinkbike to be removed (or at least I can’t access it now)!
I’m not sure if I should back the project now or not, does anyone know of any more news/info on this? I’d be surprised to see Peaty putting his name to a product which might turn out to be dodgy.

There’s probably other threads about this but All is not what it appears apparently. the brum brum bikes might have actually got there second, allegedly. All a bit messy for a product launch either way,

I did a quick search before I posted this but didn’t see another thread about it (was a bit surprised by this), do you have a link?

Thing they seem to be missing is an adjustable seat height… pretty important for a balance bike IMO

Someone mentioned a ‘similarity’ to Brum Brum Bikes, anyone any idea which came first?

I wanted to back it, but then the Mrs noted how “knees around the ears” all the kids looked. I know the seat height is adjustable, but, visually not to the extent required?…

Comment made by Brum Brum:
We, at brumbrumbikes, had a meeting with a group of ”potential investors”, sad to say they were nothing but backstabbing thieves who stole our third prototype and started a whole new business (zumzumbikes) with it and calling it their first model. What’s more depresssing is that Steve Peat, nicknamed ”Sheffield Steel”, world champion of mountain biking, would join and support such a low group of criminals without checking the facts and who might approach him. We sincerely hope that the police and journalists will show their true faces to the public. Another interesting thing is that today our webpage http://www.brumbrum.me was attacked and shut down by hackers, coincidence?

Just found this in a comment at http://www.mtb-mag.com/en/zum-zum-a-childrens-bike-with-150mm-of-travel/

Not sure if it’s reliable but tensions seem high

Also just stumbled across this Cedric Gracia endorsed balance bike, looks like all the old DH personalities are at it!
http://www.production-privee.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=2437002

Someone mentioned a ‘similarity’ to Brum Brum Bikes, anyone any idea which came first?

They do look remarkably similar.

Zum Zum:

Brum Brum:

I could see the makers of the ZÜM Balance Bike getting quite upset about the name too!

I had a quick read of the Pinkbike article before it was deleted.

Summary:
BB: we thought of this first
ZZ: no, WE thought of it first

BB: We have the European patent!
ZZ: No, WE have the European patent

Everyone else: Easy enough to find out – tell us the patent numbers.

BB:…..
ZZ:…..

There is currently a comment from Brum Brum bikes in the Kickstarter comments (reproduced here in case they pull it):

BRUMBRUM TEAM 2 days ago

Description of copyrighted material:
The copyrighted material is the design of the balance bike. It was first developed by Krisjanis Jermaks and limited liability company Tu Jau Zini holds the design patent for the European Union. Our intellectual property is protected by design patent and the actions of ZumZumBike infringes our patented rights. We are aware of the persons involved in the infringement and we have started criminal proceedings in Latvia against those persons. Also the trademark Zum Zum is similar to Brum Brum Bikes, which is a registered trademark of the patent holder. The actions of Zum Zum is a clear violation of the copyright law and currently this violation is carried out via Kickstarter and you are aiding a violation of the law. We kindly request to suspend the Zum Zum project, otherwise we will have no other option to defend our rights in the courts of law.

Description of infringing material:
The infringing material is the design of the balance bike ZumZum. It infringes the design and technology developed by the holder of the copyright and the trademark BrumBrum Bikes.

As you will see if you compare the web page zumzumbikes.com and our web page brumbrum.me and http://www.facebook.com/BrumBrumBikes, the Zum Zum company is violating not only the design and technology, but also the trademark Brum Brum Bikes, as the copied material is clearly evident.

To which Zum Zum (aka NextGen Bikes) appear to have replied:

NextGen Bikes LLC 2 days ago

This is one of many comments we have received in the last days from the same people. We want to make this clear to anyone who reads – there are no criminal proceedings against us that we would know of. We DO have a design patent and we can show it too. We have not infringed any patented rights. This is our bike and our design.

Our supporters do not need to worry – if these people were right, it would all have been settled with legal actions. This is not the case and it is obvious that these people are simply creating a commotion to advertise their own product.

We will not stop and be intimidated by bullies with an agenda. We are really committed on creating this bike and we have everything in best order. We plan to spend our time on improving the bike and answering any questions you might have.

Every project ever has had some unexpected situations, but the main thing is to never lose focus and keep working on your goal.

All very interesting. 😕

Personally I’m entirely unconvinced by the entire design and thought the kids in the promotional video looked like they were struggling far more than they would on a “normal” Islabike / Frog / Hoy balance bike. The “natural suspension” seems more of a hindrance than a help.

I was really interested at first but the more I think about it the more flawed it seems. Surely as the child gets taller/heavier this will lead to the effective seat height getting lower as the “suspension” is compressed more.

Comical seat height on both, form over fuction.
In summary, both shit, buy a Rothan.

Yep – this is going to be an interesting one to watch play out!

Have a look at the Kickstarter page. The bike has a whole 4cm of adjustment, with an additional 3cm available if you change the wheels..!
The balance bike my kids used had 12cm of adjustment out of the box, and they used all of that.
Who needs an embedded NFC tag to read information about the bike on their smart phone?

The Zum Zum doesn’t seem to be offering anything that existing balance bikes don’t already do, and do better.

To be fair it is very light, but that’s about the only good thing which can be said about it. Suspension is pretty much unnecessary on a balance bike IMHO, but a large range of adjustment is essential.

The early rider my son has may be heavier, but is a simple wood design that looks cool, has an adjustable seat, and was dead easy to propel along…

I wouldn’t buy this one, but it is a funky design. Would the original designed step forward….

DrP

Like all good copyright cases the answer is probably both or neither or not provable.

all just looks like this to me:

Ergonomics were left as an afterthought – nowhere near enough adjustment in height

I’m assuming if your kid’s a fatty the seat will rub the rear tyre?

Brim brum takes up to 85 kilos. That has to be a bloody fat kid.

In summary, both shit, buy a Rothan.

This.

To be fair it is very light, but that’s about the only good thing which can be said about it.

It’s not even that light. Kickstarter says 3.4kg

A Rothan is 3.5kg and that extra 100 grams gets you a brake, proper grips, a lot more adjustment in seat height, an adjustable stem and saddle.

It does seem like a bit of a flawed design, specifically as the saddle is sprung, the seat position will get lower as the child gets older/heavier, which is exactly the opposite of what you would want!

Hi all – there’s a story about this on the front page now

Ta!

Comical seat height on both, form over fuction.
In summary, both shit, buy a Rothan or a Ridgeback Zooom thing.

FTFY. Why the hell would you buy a wooden balance bike for your child that has a non adjustable seat which is hovering somewhere over the middle of the back wheel? Do we ride bikes like that? No. Buy your kids a bike with a proper metal frame thats been proven to take the absolute pounding kids will give it and won’t delaminate when its inevitably left out in the rain / ridden through puddles / razzed in the woods.

Of course if you live in Cheshire and drive a Range Rover and have no conception of what a bike is, other than little Brutus wants one for xmas, knock yourself out.

In summary, both shit, buy a Rothan

+2, or a Zooom, they are also good, have a brake and comes with 2 lengths of seat post and they are not made of spongy wood so can be ridden in mud and wet.

brumbrum claim 2kg, which is light (so maybe zumzum haven’t ripped it off very well). Not a good enough reason to buy one, but a potential selling point.

Tbh zumzum article bout wanting people to invest into it is BS!

THEY should stump upthe manufacturing costs not rely on initial orders as investment.

Sketchy mofos!

Reminds me of the A417 Flyup project! But worse!

I take it you are new to KickStarter then singlesteed?

That’s pretty much how it always works.

They’re both nice looking.

Both flawed WRT seat height.

The zumzum also has spoked wheels which is crap for a toddler’s bike.

The zumzum also has spoked wheels which is crap for a toddler’s bike.

So do most balance bikes.

In my experience toddlers don’t get fingers caught in the spokes, instead they tend to get them wedged between the tyre and seatstays/forks – typically by spinning the wheel then poking at it with inquisitive fingers.

They soon learn 😀

In summary, both shit, buy a Rothan

But it must be good. They’ve paid Steve Pete to be photographed with it and everything.

They’ve paid Steve Pete to be photographed with it and everything.

Is he the BrumBrum version of ZumZum’s Steve Peat?

So do most balance bikes.

Crap because ‘it’s cheap and lots of people do it’ doesn’t seem like a great reason to accept it to me.

When we bought ours, I didn’t do a lot of research, but quickly found the Skuut.

I’m late to the party but had to comment..I watch the vid and just thought what a pile of shit! Sorry no other way to describe it the kids in the vid were far too big and looked like they were really struggling to ride them…I was expecting some awesome ‘toddlers shouldn’t be able to do that’ ridding. To then come on here and see 2 companies arguing over the design is mind baffling!

If you want suspension on a balance bike get a LikeaBike Jumper!