Continuing on the cheap theme, there's the Banana Bike LT at £40
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Banana-Bike-LT-Lightweight-Toddlers/dp/B06VTD32J1/
Don't look too closely at the welds!
I've seen the Chicco before, can't find a saddle height measurement though (it's probably the critical measurement for a balance bike, but missing from so many). I have to say I'm not too keen on the Chicco, the geo looks really short and upright. A comparison:
As I mentioned above, my daughter had the Indi Bike from Halfords first of all.
It was the smallest balance bike we could find that was lightweight & seemed like the best value for money.
We knew it wouldn't last her that long, but she was really keen to get started & this seemed like a no-brainer for £25.
It was actually much better than I expected it to be - she loved scooting around on it & it gave her confidence. The limiting factor in how long we could keep it was the saddle height adjustment, but then the whole point of it was something to get her started.
It looks virtually identical to the Vitus Nippy Superlight balance bike - I'd be amazed if it's not the same basic bike (only difference seems to be the handlebar clamp) - and the Vitus is almost twice the price.
We then moved onto the Bananbike GT - I think the GT just has spoked wheels with pneumatic tyres, while the LT is a bit lighter & has plastic wheels and foam tyres. I thought that because she was getting more adventurous & faster the pneumatic tyres with a decent grippy tread was more important than a slight weight saving.
It's a great looking bike, really well made with proper headset and stem etc. The wheels are nice & the tyres seem grippy.
Here's a couple of pics from her first go on it - saddle is a bit low..
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49833062711_3345096ea5_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49833062711_3345096ea5_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iVztop ]IMG_20190903_182419[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49833367862_b10dac09fa_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49833367862_b10dac09fa_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iVB36C ]IMG_20190903_181708[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
I get that certain brands might be better built with good resale & will survive for several kids etc. but to be honest the banana bike is really well built, will easily survive being used by several kids coming up through the ranks (my daughter's looks virtually new) & when a bike costs £45 as opposed to £120 or almost £200 (Islabike Rothan) resale value is virtually immaterial.
We're now moving onto first pedal bike territory & I really can't decide if we should hang on & wait for her to be large enough for 16" wheels, or get her a 14" wheeled bike to tide her over.
Seeing the spectrum of bikes I can now see how you can get from a £30 bike to a £180 bike. On specification/features these bikes aren't equal, but the key is which of these really matter. Some online buyer reviews you see on the cheaper bikes are fairly dismissive of more expensive ones, saying this bike is fine, why pay 3x more? Well, there are things the cheaper bikes lack, but are they needed:
- Steering limiter (this seems essential for a average sized 2 year old)
- Low seat starting height (essential for a smaller child)
- Large range of seat adjustment (essential if they're going to use the bike for longer)
- Rounded/flush bolts
- Rear brake (even if you remove it at first)
- Pneumatic Tyres/Proper wheels
I think it comes down to either:
- Cheaper balance bike, then either another balance bike or first pedal bike fairly soon after
or
- Islabike Rothan, which could span both the first balance bike and second balance bike range but... it's not a pedal bike
Can't find the BananaBike GT for sale. Is it only sold on Amazon? They only have the LT version for £40. How much was the GT?
EDIT: using the CamelCamelCamel price tracker it looks like the GT was around £40 too
We’re now moving onto first pedal bike territory & I really can’t decide if we should hang on & wait for her to be large enough for 16″ wheels, or get her a 14″ wheeled bike to tide her over.
Do you know where she is on the growth chart? Might not be on a 14" for long. If you know the min and max heights for the 16" you'd be able to get an idea from the chart as to how long it would last.
