My son is 1 in a few weeks and I’m thinking about getting a Rothan for him. Mainly because he’s loving a pull along trike.

Now I know they recommend from 2 years, but for the parents who are familiar with the ‘red book’ will understand, my son is approx the 110th percentile on height /weight/etc.

He meets the minimum inside leg measurement, can walk, has a big enough bonce for kiddies helmets and basically is the size of a 18-24month old.

I realise he won’t use it to its full potential for a while – but it’s not silly to give it to him now is it?? anyone any similar experiences?

for the parents who are familiar with the ‘red book’ will understand, my son is approx the 110th percentile on height /weight/etc.

You must have a different red book to me – mine is only marked up to the 99.6th percentile. Now I wonder why that is?

I find it very hard to believe yours is anywhere near as tall as an average 2yo – according to my book, a 99.6th centile 1yo is shorter than a 9th centile 2yo. Are you absolutely sure he’s tall enough – according to islabikes the approx min height is 88cm which is a good 4cm higher than that 99.6th line? According to the book, my oldest was 89.5cm at 2 (a bit over the 75th centile) and ISTR we had the saddle right down on the Rothan when he got it on his birthday.

I would leave it until April/May when the weather improves and perhaps even then that would be a bit early. You don’t want to put him off.

Its not about size but co-ordination – and he’s plenty of time to ‘grow’, no need to rush it.

Might as well buy it now with the rate Islabike’s prices are heading up.
Fwiw, though, tend to agree with a racer- our wee lad , got his Rothan at 23 months but lacked the nous and coordination to use it for about 6 months, even though he’d been walking since 7 months.
No need to push him onto the next thing just yet if he’s still having fun.

bought my 11 month old a Pukylino, he’s now 16 months and this is his main transport around the house, prefers it to walking, he can push and scoot and has learnt how to steer, he even pulls a trailer.

He is tall enough to ride a balance bike, but, and this is crucial, watching him on the pukylino, he’s not ready, he’s too young/stupid. He’ll quite happily ride off steps without the consequence and can’t be reasoned with.

But, you can watch the brain developing day by day and I reckon I’ll give him a balance bike in a couple of months, every day his ability to understand what I’m telling him improves. The key is his cognative ability, not his physical ability. It won’t be long, I’m glad I’ve waited 6 months.

I bought my son a Rothan for Christmas, he would have been 18 months and whilst he’s pretty big for his age, I doubt he’ll be ready to use it as intended until the summer at the earliest.
The saddle is at the very lowest it’ll go and even then, still probably half an inch too high for him to comfortably sit on it.

He’s a solid walker but definitely doesn’t have the coordination to scoot on it yet. Has more fun on his Scuttlebug.

Should also mention my oldest got going on the Rothan within a month or so of his 2nd birthdy and was riding a pedal bike when he was about 3 and 7 months. My youngest had access to the Rothan from when he was 2, but wasn’t really interested at first and didn’t get going on the Rothan until almost 2 and a half, but was riding a pedal bike when a month or two younger than his older brother.

Not sure what that proves – but it shows that he might not be interested if you get it (and is likely to get frustrated as he’s unlikely to have the coordination, so you might put him off), and riding a balance bike earlier doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll ride a pedal bike earlier.

aracer – the 110th was to put perspective based on the scale of the chart – obviously In real terms he’s about 1cm above the 99.6th centile on the graph.

i was mainly focusing on the inside leg, overall height he is likely lacking

pictonroad – i’m liking the Pukylino – I reckon this will be better all round. the rothan can wait!

the 110th was to put perspective based on the scale of the chart

Would have been more useful to give figures actually on the chart, given you were supposedly aiming the comment at people with a red book. I’m still not at all sure what you meant by 110th even if it was a deliberate comment (the chart doesn’t start at zero).

If you’re focussing on inside leg, how are you measuring that?

Although my little boy isn’t tall we thought about getting him a balance bike at christmas he is two at the end of april, so he was more or less 20mths then. The reasoning was that he loves his little trike, razzing all over the place on it. But even though he got all excited about the bikes in the bike shop when we sat him on a balance bike he just didn’t get it. So to cut a long story short we decided to wait until his second birthday with the thought that over the summer he can get used to it and be not only bigger but also better at understanding why it falls over if you put your feet up when not moving :o) i didn’t want to push it on him so he ended up not liking it.

So i would agree with the above comments and say wait a bit and get a little trike in the meantime, we’ve got one of the little wooden ones with a tiger face and tiger print seat cover which get worn as a hat!

aracer – unfortunately i don’t bring the red book to work with me. My point is that he is quite large for a 1yr old and outside the normal range according to the book.
anyway, a few good points here and taken on board – off to the puky website….. 🙂

Bought my son a Rothan when he was 18 months old not expecting him to use it till he was a bit older. How wrong was I as he took to it like a duck to water although I had to take the seat off and just put a bit of foam over the top of the seat tube for the first 6 months. He is now 2 and a half and riding sections of red routes on it (Follow the Dog at Cannock Chase).

I think the main thing is to let them do things at their own pace.

do it.

i bought a lidl wooden one, very cheap. my daugher hated it. it sat unused til’ my son was old/tall enough then he took over and for about 2 years went everywhere – at speed. he rode a real bike when he got one for his 3rd b’day, without stabilizers, within 2 days.

if i was doing it again no hesitation on buying the isla.