Hi,

Can anyone recommend a small balance bike, probably with 10″ wheels, that will fit our very small 2 year old?

I’m struggling to find anything small enough that has a seat height that goes as low as 24cm.

There’s lots of 12″ wheel options but generally the min. seat height is 30cm or higher.

All I can find so far is the 10″ Frog Tadpole mini for £110 (24cm min. seat height) looks great but nothing to compare it with except a couple that are £150+ so way out of budget.

At the moment he has a Toddlebike 2 which he has been zooming around on, but it’s just too low now and the small plastic wheels tend to throw him over the bars if he goes over a twig etc!

He’s growing quite slowly, I have a secondhand 12″ Frog Tadpole put away from him but it could be a year or more until he fits that.

Any ideas are welcome.

I think the strider has one of the lowest standovers and is really light too which makes it easier for them to pick up themselves.

10″ wheels here, my boy loves his.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/run-ride-500-kids-balance-bike-orange-black-id_8349386.html

Puky? Think they work out as 8″ wheels

https://www.puky.net/en/k/laufrad_lr_m_plus/p/Laufrad_LR_plus_kiwi

We bought a Decathlon one when our daughter was about 2. She’s pretty small and slight, and it was fine.

Lasted extremely well, and will do for our second in a year or so. She likes it so much that I’m having troubles getting her to transition to her new bike with pedals!

Just checked – 10″ wheels.

Have you looked at Black mountain bikes? They do a balance bike you can then add peddles & drivetrain to and the the frame adjusts to grow with the child. Could be worth a look.

Puky LRM has a step through frame so the standover is really low. Brilliant little bikes that will last for several children so they’re a safe bet to pick up second hand.

I went with a Puky LRM after doing the same research for my short lad. Great bike and sold it on for a good price too

I bought the bigger tadpole for ours when she was nearly 3. It’s been decent but the handlebar is a standard diameter and it looks the same on the mini. The grips are also quite chunky lock ons. So even if your 2 year old fits stand over wise holding on won’t be easy. The bars plus grips are fatter than on my own bike! I wish I’d coughed up for the isla bike.

That Puky thing looks decent.

I’m having troubles getting her to transition to her new bike with pedals!

I took the pedals off my kids bigger bikes so they could scoot on them like a balance bike. Once they were happy and could balance on it I put pedals back on and they were away.

We got my daughter this one from Halfords:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/indi-balance-bike-10-wheel

She is teeny weeny & she’s had this from around 2 and a half. It’s got 10″ wheels, the saddle goes really low & it is pretty light compared to some other balance bikes that we looked at.

For us, it was between this & the Decathlon bike. The Decathlon bike has a brake.

My lads are tall for their ages but both were keen to start on balance bikes at about 18 months, having been around older kids who were riding, so both were small when they started.

I ended up getting wooden balance bikes (no-brand cheap ones) and modifying the “seat post” bit by drilling extra holes to lower the seats. For the eldest this meant making a new seat too, just a bit of 18mm pine cut to shape and painted to match the wheels and grips. For the youngest the seat was removable from the “seat post” so I reattached it in a different position to allow it to go lower.

On both bikes the seat angles were crap, so drilling extra holes allowed for all sorts of adjustments to get a good fit.

I recommend a Puky LRM too. It was the lowest standover one I could find. My lad started riding it just after his 2nd birthday, as he was still too short for his Islabike.

They can be found for about £60 new, or £30ish on eBay. Bombproof and made in Germany.

Another recommend here for the Halfords one – our small little one has loved it since 18 months or so..

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/indi-balance-bike-10-wheel

my lad went from a toddlebike to a strider pro.  nice thing is you can upgrade the wheels when they get mire confident/stronger.  He has just turned 3 and starting to ask for a bike with pedals now, likely I’ll get the strider 14 when it’s available (hopefully in time for Santa)

Another vote for Puky here – our son has just progressed from his to a pedal bike after 18 months of balancing, now it’s ready for a quick clean up and hand-me-down to our little girl.

Good thread, thanks!

My little girl has just turned two, she is small too so though I’d have to wait till she was a bit older before getting her one. Apparently not.

I’ve obviously been a bad father!

I’m off to do some research

cheers

https://photos.google.com/u/1/photo/AF1QipMva7t-hU6whlDQQpz6qQOI9z77VfC9cx3hiX1l

this thread got me on a nostalgia trip back through our photos – here’s a quick clip of my lad discovering the joy of gravity on his Puky at 2 1/2

Thanks for all the replies, lots of ideas to go and look at, not heard of the Puky before.

You can over think these things. My eldest had a wooden one, fixed steering, cheap. From great little trading company. By 4 he was riding his first Isla cnoc with me to the park. Youngest had an Isla balance bike with proper steering, posh alu, etc. Hated it. He rode his first proper bike aged 8. Cheap wooden one was just fine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036SUP1C?ie=UTF8&tag=theukusho-21

I’m a little sad that the only thing my 18month old boy likes doing with his Strider classic is spinning the wheels while it is upside down. He otherwise doesn’t want to know. He did take more interest in the beginning but he struggles keeping it upright even before getting on it. He much prefers his 4 wheel non-balance Puky Lino.

Both mine are average or shorter and were able to get on a Rothan from 18 months (when smaller than the recommended size), the seat drops a little lower than it officially states as the seatpost tapers into the saddle (so just don’t overtighten it). I have also seen people take the seat out completely and fasten something like pipe lagging/cushion directly onto the frame to get a few more cm.