Daughter will be 1 in November and is pretty much walking unaided at nearly 9 months so thought that a balance bike would make a good birthday/Christmas gift.

Any recommendations for a small, decent bike?

Cheers

S

Bit young IMHO. It’s the arm and leg strength they’ll struggle with.

I did buy a Rothan for #1’s first birthday but that was to head off the mother in law buying some plastic piece of crap with tassels! A strategy that has worked well.

Whatever you do don’t rush / push her into it (the daughter, not the MIL).

We were given a chicco red bullet. She loves sitting on it and being pushed but can’t touch the floor! Strength wise I have few worries given her physical development to date. If it required eating properly or sitting still for more than 2 seconds I’d be more concerned.

We got our little un a Halfords balance bike at 18 months. He loved it but did struggle simply with the weight – hes a strong boy but as soon as it started to topple he had no strength… And it’s a light bike!

Anyway, we didn’t push it but it was always knocking around and he like ”fixing” it when I worked on mine. Anyway, 3 months later he just picked it up and started riding round the room!

So… You never know when they’re ready but I think most would struggle at 1

Bought our eldest a balance bike for 1st birthday. Didn’t really get used till she was older as it didn’t click with her, plus at 1 she struggled with the concept of pushing, steering, coasting etc. She could walk at 10 months .

But she loved it when it did click and now rides a bike at 4 having transferred from the balance bike with zero stabilisers

The cheapy halfords one for ours at about 18 months, the issue was being able to fit on his frog which we bought first.

LikeaBike Jumper – with rear suspension. Much better than the Rothan.

If you have carpet around the house then removing the tyres will give the kid more clearance.

Mine all walked at 10 months. Youngest was into pushing anything with wheels around from very early on and always had lots of ride on toys, trikes etc around her. At 12months she just started scooting around the house on her sisters old micro scooter. I then got her a scuttlebug to zip around on. Balance bike (tiny 10″ wheeled one) was introduced around 15 months, at first she’d just push it around but was compitent riding it everywhere by 18months. a few weeks before her 2nd birthday she just got on an older boy’s bike at the park and pedalled away on it unaided. So the stabilizers were removed from the 12″ wheeled hotrock (another hand me down). She’s 8 now and still loves bikes (anything with wheels actually). That’s not the norm though. Especially for girls.
They’re all different and there’s no harm in having lots of different wheeled toys around for them. Not all kids are into wheeling around at all. some are massively. The Scuttlebug was great though (and super cheap).

https://www.micro-scooters.co.uk/

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/outdoor/ride-ons/scuttlebug-red-and-black-beetle/p/136803

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bikestar-RU-10-ST-01-Heartbeat-Bike-Red/dp/B00678XDB2/ref=sr_1_14?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1532860741&sr=1-14&keywords=10%22+wheels

http://www.toddlebike.co.uk

We had one of these for our kids and worked well for them. More a ‘pre-balance bike’s but more realistic about a 1 year olds abilities. Cheap as well and ok for indoor use. Recommended.

In my experience the motor skills needed for a balance bike are more in parallel with being able to run around confidently, it needs an amount of coordination and reaction speed beyond the early walking stage – but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

Our kids started on a scuttlebug ride-on then onto a Puky LRM balance bike between 2&3 years old.

We got a yVelo Twista when the little G was a bit over a year old. He managed pretty well on it (indoors mainly at first, it’s really low down and half balances on its own. He’s in one of the Hope Academy bikes now and loves cycling more than I do 🤔

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_kCSMNUm-J0

We brought a Jd bug balance bike which was nice and light, it’s seen out 3 boys now and has been great for them all. When searching for it now they  seem to have a plastic fuel tank on which ours didn’t have.

As a side note none of them really used it till they were 2+ years old.

Cheers all, much appreciated.

We got our boy a “puky” can’t remember the model but it has a deck so he can put his feet up (a bit like a vespa) more importantly it has foam / rubber tyres so its pretty good on hard surfaces- also he completely ignored it for 11 months!

We used a toddle bike (“pre-balance bike”) for both of our children – plastic and expensive, but very lightweight, usable indoors and out, great for learning balance, steering etc without being too dangerous or too much like hard work. Both loved it. Our eldest even managed to keep up with his parents on a half mile trek to the pub once he’d got proficient with it. Progression to a proper balance bike after that was easy.

http://www.toddlebike.co.uk

Plus 1 for a toddle bike. My son loved his, just bought one for my nephew.

We had a scutter bug thing four wheeled trike/bike then a rothan aged 2

Early Rider Spherovelos are where it’s at! Secondhand only these days as they no longer make them. Tend to go for around £25 here, take the stabilisers off as she gets older

Would link to an imagine but, you know, forum

toddlebike here, followed by a strider at about 18months