Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 58 total)
  • Best balance bike?
  • jamesy01
    Free Member

    Jamesyjunior turns 2 in a couple of weeks and a balance bike is top of his my shopping list.

    The budget is no more than £100.00. What does the STW massive recommend?

    havinalaff
    Free Member

    I cannot fault my lads specialized hotwalk. Its been perfect for him.

    therag
    Free Member

    Mine had one made by tiny bike to start and has a scoot now. Both good bikes.

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    pictonroad
    Full Member

    Highly recommend the smallest Puky, even converted it to the latest fat bike niche on Saturday whilst camping in torrential rain.

    He’s two next month and happily scoots it about.

    pictonroad
    Full Member
    jmatlock
    Free Member

    My son has been riding a ZOOOM since he was two.

    Came with 2 seat posts for when he gets taller. He loves it.

    ads678
    Full Member

    My lad had a super cheap piece shot that had pedal on the front wheel that I cut off. He was an absolute demon on it.

    Daughter has a btwin run ride, £30 does what it’s meant to, only down side is the solid tyres.

    jonnyrockymountain
    Full Member

    My little lad has just out grown his silver zoom balance bike, and I was going to advertise it on single track soon, but if your interested I can send you some photo’s? Would want £50 collected from Huddersfield? Email me at jonathantraverse@hotmail.co.uk

    tonyd
    Full Member

    I can’t believe no-one has said it yet! …… Islabikes Rothan!

    I might have a red one for sale that we’ve kind of finished with, I just need to speak to the owner 🙂 Mail me if you’re interested.

    ads678
    Full Member

    Op said max £100!!

    grantmccall63
    Free Member

    I have a very good condition Micro Balance bike. My 5 year old has gone on to a full size in the last 6 months

    I can put an advert in For Sale if you are interested.

    Check out the Micro website, they are cool bikes

    grantmccall63
    Free Member

    Email is grantmccall63@gmail.com

    tonyd
    Full Member

    Op said max £100!!

    Yep, but you can get them for under £100 second hand. Not sure how much mine would go up for (if he’ll part with it) but it wouldn’t be that much!

    Of course it’s nice to get their first bike new, in which case good point well made.

    twoniner
    Free Member

    Spesh Hotwalk for my Daughter and then went on to Islabikes.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    Got my daughters for about £40 off Amazon. Its one of those Plywood jobbies. Been perfect and wouldn’t want to spend any more than that considering they’ll be on a proper bike within a year or so. Its one of these, or something very similar…

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wooden-Balance-Scooter-Learning-Bicycle/dp/B0068RSAGA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377640383&sr=8-2&keywords=kids+balance+bike

    Markie
    Free Member

    I’d go for a second hand Rothan.

    twistedpencil
    Full Member

    I got my son the small Earlyrider when he was 18months, my daughter is now using it, though my son at 5 still jumps on it for a blast around the garden.

    Both of them love it! It’ll be getting an overhaul for number 3 shortly…. Then it’ll get framed somehow 🙂

    doof_doof
    Free Member

    I’d go for a second hand Rothan

    This. I replaced the steel post with an aluminium one, Schwalbe Big Apple tyres with Stans, titanium bolts and ceramic bearing upgrade, good to go*.

    .
    .
    .
    .

    *some of this is not true.

    rockfield
    Free Member

    Rockfield junior has a strider bike which he absolutely loves. Its a nice light aluminium frame with about the lowest standover height possible. You can fit a brake to it as well which I’m gonna do soon as junior is going pretty quick now!
    The strider bike importers are pretty active organising balance bike training and races all over the country which looks quite cool.:
    http://www.striderbikes.co.uk/
    we picked up ours brand new on ebay for £50..

    GavinB
    Full Member

    Scooot are cheap, functional, come with a rear brake and decent tyres.

    Isla Bikes Rothan are better frames than the Scooot, nicer contact points and v good resale value, but expensive.

    We ended up buying a couple of Early Rider bikes for our two from the very nice folks at http://www.keeppedalling.co.uk/bike-brands/earlyrider. Wooden, good tyres that are fine on rocky trails, loads of adjustment and steering limits which stop tank-slapper moments. Once they get bigger, you can reverse the forks. No rear brake though, which is not ideal as they get close to moving to a proper bike, but not a biggie.

    althepal
    Full Member

    Yon decathlon one was great for our lad. Hes coming up for four now and still tears about on it. Got a back brake too. For the price you canny whack it.

    hora
    Free Member

    Strider here. The National Cycling centre use Strider for their 2-4 balance bike sessions.

    Mugboo
    Full Member

    My lads been using a Puky since his feet touched the floor (21 months ish). Bought it 2nd hand for under £30 of eBay, it’s v well made and even takes my 12 st, almost…

    Anybody tries a Stompy off eBay? £45 with a back brake.

    danbarker
    Full Member

    I would recommend the Isla Bike Rothan as well. I know it is slightly outside your budget but when I compare by sons against other balance bikes you can see why it is a bit more. They are better built and better proportioned than any of the others I have seen.

    Ours has lasted well and my son now 3 is doing 8km rides on his. Last weekend he did the Minotaur at Coed y Brenin and the week before we did the last half of the Follow the Dog at Cannock. Not sure some cheaper balance bikes would cope with that sort of use.

    hora
    Free Member

    You are getting a 3yr old to ride 8km? Are you not at risk of putting him off/pushing him? Its your hobby and it should just be fun for him at this stage.

    danbarker
    Full Member

    I am not forcing him trust me! It is trying to get him to stop after 8km that is the problem.

    He loves his bike and asks to ride it all the time. I don’t believe in forcing kids to do things they don’t want too.

    hora
    Free Member

    I know but they are eager to please too. Its an over riding desire. I always take mine off the pump track before hes ready to leave.

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    We’ve got a Rothan. Can’t fault it.

    Not sure how you will get a meaningful answer as I doubt anyone on here has owned more than one balance bike.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Anyone gone for a Frog? They seem pretty good and are just within the OPs budget.

    BlindMelon
    Free Member

    Can’t fault the Decathlon one for £30

    nwgiles
    Full Member

    I got Evan a scoot for his 1st birthday, he is 4 in a couple of months and he still gets on it.

    joemarshall
    Free Member

    Rose has a strider. It is *very* light. They are as far as I know the only company that actually has a big community of riders and events, rather than just selling bikes, which is nice – they do regular racing and general fun sessions at various BMX tracks around the country. Very fun events too; the first race I’ve ever been to where the start has been delayed for one competitor to have a nappy change.

    It is super duper light, which makes a massive difference when I am carrying it home up the hill from the park, and makes it easier to ride as a bonus. I think it is the lightest, and has the lowest standover of the 12″ wheel ones, which made a difference when Rose was 18 months, but may be less important at 2. Friends have a cheap heavy one (Raleigh I think), which was much much harder for either their kid or ours to ride, Rose actually couldn’t even pick it up, even though she could happily ride her strider for miles (Not sure how far the furthest she’s done is, but she did a few miles of downhill under a ski-lift in Italy, and has done 2+ milers here). The solid (very lightweight) tyres work surprisingly well off road. It has nice footrests for the kid to put their feet up on, with grip tape on, which make it easy to scoot with feet right up for a long time.

    I wouldn’t bother with the brake, bit of a waste of time, stupid funny design of brake, and you don’t really need it, even on big bmx tracks and things; once they’re 3, you can get them a proper bike anyway, and in my experience braking is quite easy to learn at that point.

    Friends have a Rothan. It is okay, bit heavier than the strider, not such a low saddle height, does have a proper brake if you’re intending them to ride it for a long time. It has pneumatic tyres, but the solid tyres on the strider are fine, and it makes it heavier. Other than the brake, I don’t think it is any better.

    Both makes have really thought through making it toddler friendly, the Islabikes has taken a much more conventional tiny bike with no pedals approach, but got things like tiny grips and brake, whereas the strider, they’ve really thought about things like the footrests and the grips and the funny brake and the wheels in terms of making a toddler specific bike, but some of that makes the Strider better (the footrests), although the brake on the strider seems pretty stupid to me – Rose had the strength in her hands and skill to operate the small brake on her new pedal bike whereas she never really got the skill to operate the silly foot brake on the strider.

    theflatboy
    Free Member

    If the Ridgeback one is the Scoot, that’s what I think we’ll go for – looks like a decent mix of quality and not ridiculous price. Though would go for any decent second hand one at a good price.

    Edit – although now tempted by a Strider instead!

    hora
    Free Member

    Can’t fault the Decathlon one for £30

    Everytime our lad went off a kerb the bars spun, no matter what we did they still would move- prompt refund.

    Heres hora jnr this week on his Strider. Definitely no need for brakes.

    Please note the smile. He likes the helmet pulled very low over his eyes too – heaven knows why.

    natrix
    Free Member

    My daughter loves her Decathlon BTwin run-ride, for £35 it’s been great. The brake stops her scuffing her shoes on the floor to stop and so saves money on shoe leather 🙂

    D0NK
    Full Member

    Yon decathlon one was great for our lad. Hes coming up for four now and still tears about on it. Got a back brake too. For the price you canny whack it.

    YMMV ours was rubbish, hardly been used (don’t ask, sore point) but it’s wrecked.

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    Ridgeback scoot is what we got toppers Jnr. Got it 2nd hand but in perfect condition. Still in great condition. He went everywhere on it until he moved to a pedal bike at 3 1/2. Really pleased with it and would have happily paid full price for it. The adventure zoom is basically the same thing with different stickers on it. 2014 sees the I trod unction of a 14″ wheel version too. Kidimoto are also bringing one out shortly (a metal one with a brake that is). Will retail for same price as scoot.

    stAn-BadBrainsMBC
    Free Member

    My grandson has been riding an Early Rider for the past few years (getting his first pedal bike off grandad for his birthday next week) – looks good and has stood up tolots of abuse well local woods,skate park etc.
    He loved it and says he’s keeping it forever !!!

    jamesy01
    Free Member

    Thanks for all the offers and recommendations.
    LBS stocks Adventure so going to have a closer look at the Zooom rather than punt for something on line that we can’t see beforehand.

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    My son found the Rothan too heavy and long at 2 years old. Refused to ride (but coveted it all the same). Finally got on it last weekend and was just off like a shot. He turns three in 6 weeks. So in our case the Rothan was a 3+ bike really. Others may experience more success younger. I guess our lad isn’t the heftiest of boys.

    Happy days now though!

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