Anyone built a (wooden) balance bike?

Hi all,

My niece will be about one and a half this Christmas, so I’d like to get her her first bike.

I’m playing with the idea of making one myself, something like this:

https://www.instructables.com/Wooden-Balance-Bike/

Given that I would probably just buy a cheap balance bike (can get them for ~£20 on FB) for the wheels, am I just going to end up with a heavier, splinter-y version of the bike the wheels come off?

Specific Qs:

Am I likely to be able to make a wooden framed bike that weighs ~3kg that most metal framed ones seem to weigh? (I know I can do the maths on this, just wondering if anyone has any quick answers)

Any suggestions on geometry/sizing from anyone in the know? Feels like a silly Q, but head angle? Reach? Bar height? Planning on saddle with adjustable height (in increments).

Any other thoughts appreciated!

Thanks.

I think it’s a great idea!
How cool would it be to have your first bike made for you by your uncle? 😊
So much better than an off the shelf thing.

Never made one myself but there is no reason you couldn’t keep the weight down.

The guy in the video looks to be using softwood/shuttering ply, which is lighter but can suffer from warping and larger voids in the material. The Instructable guy uses Birch ply.

An alternative and quality ply is Garnica Efficiency/Poplar Ply.
Very light. Used in campers a lot.
Downside is it’s 3, maybe 4 times the price of shuttering ply depending where you go.
Garnica Plywood

You would need to reinforce appropriate sections but yeah. Cool idea.
Do it and carry this thread on 😊👍

Who was the clever chap who made a metal balance bike on here? I’m sure he’d know a bit about geometry. 🤔

P.s. I work with wood/ply a lot and am always very happy to help out where I can if you had any questions during the build. Just pm me 👍

Any suggestions on geometry/sizing from anyone in the know?

Long, low, slack in size XXS would be my guess for an 18 month old.

I was given a balance bike for my lad. It was cheap and heavy but he wasn’t that interested so we used it.

Went out with a friend and picked up his balance bike. It was so light it made a big difference. I’m sure it was a vitus

It wasn’t this one but it is cheap and would make a good donor.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-nippy-superlight-balance-bike

The best part of a light bike is when you have to carry it around when they’ve had enough of playing on it.

Good luck.

Ps will the parents understand that you took a perfectly fine bike and made a wooden one yourself?

I’ve toyed with this idea as well. Given how much time you’re likely to spend carrying it, I would prioritise lightness! I would imagine a plywood bike could end up pretty heavy unless you’re quite efficient with it.

Great idea! Thinking about it, my neice is due her first in a few months, so I’ll have to get busy…

If using Birch Ply, timber yards often have offcuts in decent sizes for very decent prices. My local sawmill, had 18mm grade AA at £7 for  450 x 1220. a hefty reduction on the cost of a full sheet, and a helluva lot easier to handle.

There’s no reason a wooden bike should be heavy…

We didn’t make one, but my kids loved playing on the cheap 2nd hand wooden one my mum picked up for them.

My kids had a wooden BB (bought not made) that was ok, but eventually we marked due to rain. Also weighed a ton vs the Hoy one we also bought. In the end the Hoy one won out because it was light, much easier to get going and had a brake for skids. As always the romantic notion of kids enjoying wooden toys falls by the wayside when they make their preferences clear (cheap plastic flashing noisy tat FTW!) 

As someone earlier said, all balance bikes spend at least 50% of the time being carried, so maybe design it with a D Loop on each end to attach a strap. Also my kids loved the wooden one because it had ‘downhill race bike’ triple clamp forks. Lol. I think making making their first bike would be great. Shame The Bicycle Academy isn’t around, then you could have spent £1k learning to weld them their first one. 

I got a great price on an Isla balance bike for my wee one.

Who’s going to appreciate the effort you put into this? If it’s you and the parents go for it, but a light second hand one might be a better bike.

If you fancy the project and won’t be sad when it gets dropped/ ignored/ rejected by a toddler I’d go for it

It would be a lovely thing to do

My mum stored my rocking horse my aunt bought me, so maybe a home made bike might become an heirloom

We had an Earlyrider to start, looks cool. I like the idea of building one. Agree about weight – I used Garnica for my van furniture. Good looking stuff, although it can have voids in it.

Geometry geeks might have some guidance on angles.

https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/littlebig-balance-bike-2015/

Thanks all.

My brother would definitely appreciate the hand-made element, so I think I’ll go ahead with making one.

Kayak, thanks for the offer, I’ve DMed you.

A chance to post this highly non-inexpensive balance bike again

Draisienne

I helped one of our students build a wooden bike a few years back, it was essentially two identical laminations in ash, for the main frame elements, with some custom dropouts. We re-used the seat tube/bb and modified a headtube to bring it all together. A similar approach, possibly just using the upper frame element might make a super balance bike.

@chives love that!! Impressed a student did this

I built a wooden push along trike years back for my nephews.  I even made wooden wheels and axles / steering head were made with plastic pipe and wooden dowels.  It was very crude but they loved it and loved the fact I made it.

So to OP even if what you produce is not as slick as the bought ones go ahead anyway.

I helped one of our students build a wooden bike a few years back

That is amazing Chives! 👌

I bought a Lidl wooden balance bike (18!) years ago for my youngest as it had decent pneumatic tyres and ballraced wheels for very little money.

It was very tall (you’d have to be about 3 or 4 yrs old to ride the thing) so I made a new centre section from birch ply to drastically lower the seating height. Everything else got re-used (forks, handlebars, rear wheel sideplates / “chainstays” etc). As he grew I could drill extra holes to reposition the “chainstays” so it still fitted.

It got heaps of use and was very battered once he’d finished with it so immense value for money. Still got it in the garage so will take a photo later.

Then there were also the two STW forum projects I did for oversize steel frame balance bikes 🙂

Here we go. This is in the final height setting  at which point he moved onto pedals. Looked like I also drilled the fork to run the front wheel 25mm lower in the early days. Original Crud guard to keep him out of the back wheel.

Construction is well under way, and going well! I’ll share pics when done (realistically after Christmas).

Those of you who have experience with balance bikes – I see some have little foot rests (or even just grip tape on the chain stays) for when scooting down hills – is this helpful, or does the kid just bash the inside of their legs on them? If I did have them I would make them removeable.

Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing it 😊

I built this for Endura this summer. Not quite a balance bike…

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/worlds-first-pedal-bike

https://www.instagram.com/willowbike/

That’s awesome @seventy 👏😊

Foot pegs or rests are great.

That’s great Seventy! 👍

Lovely bike and project. Elm and Ash.

Steering must be a bit limited, bit of a wide circle.

Looking forward to seeing the finished article. Such a lovely idea.

Steering must be a bit limited, bit of a wide circle.

yep, not such an issue once you’re up to speed but a real pain in the arse with slow-speed manoeuvres.