After a balance bike for my two year old. Was initially looking at one of the nice looking wooden ones, but realised they haven’t got brakes…so now thinking of getting her an aluminium one with a brake. any thoughts which type are best?

and where is the best place to get them?

btw….don’t think shes ready for anything too ‘enduro’ just yet….

my kids could ride their [ normal] bike way before they could master braking
IME they wont need it as they will be
1. at walking pace or slower
2. able to brake with their feet easier than operate an actual brake
3. Unlikely to be practising on anything really steep

YMMV but it would not be something i would care about as neither of my kids learnt on a bike with a brake

I got the Islabikes one a Rohan. It was brilliant until some bastard nicked it from my front garden

I’ve recently bought one for my niece and sent the following to a friend going through the same decison process:

The conclusion I came to is that you want 2 things first, light weight (easier for the child to move around and also easier for you when you need to carry it) and range of size (you want some they will grow into rather than be too big for in 6 months). There is some debate whether you need a brake (some would argue they are too young to use them, others that that are essential), whether you need pneumatic tyres (better grip, easier to replace but could puncture and do need to be pumped up) and whether you need footrests (if they go quick they may need somewhere to put there feet, or should they just pick them up?), all have points for and against, I decided no, no fussed, no in that order…

After much research I drew up a short list of:
Islabikes Rotham – Very light and Islabikes have a great reputation for kids bikes in general
Strider ST4 – Online company, great looking bikes and they run a toddlers race series for competitive kids/parents
Hoy Napier – Very well designed and in a suitably neutral yellow colour
Cube Cubie – What I bought. Light, looks great and happened to be in the window of a shop I go to.

In honesty, any of the above along with the Specialized Hotrock and the Ridgeback Scoot would do a brilliant job, it’s only my bike geekery that made me look so much into it. In terms of price, you can spend £30 or you can spend £300. I spent about £100 but if you want to spend less the Decathlon Run Ride is about as good as I would find at the cheaper end of the spectrum.

Hope this helps.

So how did they stop?

Of course you don’t mostly need a brake on a balance bike, as they just slow down the same way they speed up, but once they move onto pedals they need to be able to stop, and it’s handy if they’ve already learnt braking with a hand lever. Both my kids could use a handbrake before they got pedals. Though your kids must have been really slow 😉 as mine went a lot faster than walking pace on a balance bike and we do also have hills here.

As for what, of course we had an Islabike Rothan – interestingly when we got ours the brake was optional and I didn’t get one as I thought it unnecessary, but added one on shortly after getting it.

My first boy had a Scoot and loved it. Second boy hated it, so we gave the Scoot to my niece and got him a pedal bike with stabilisers, which he mastered straight away. Now the stabilisers and pedals are off that, at his request, and he scoots it 🙄 five minute job to get one piece pedals off though, so if was doing it again I’d get a pedal bike and take them off to start with, so stages 1 and 2 using just one bike.

My daughter had an Early Rider balance bike (a wooden one). No complaints.

It doesn’t have brakes and that was never an issue.

We have an Islabikes Rothan too – with a brake. It’s a great bike for a 2 year old and the brake is a must after they get the hang of scooting along. Soon get too fast to stop with feet alone without risking a big crash.

Our 5 year old still rides it!

My son got a Stompy on his second Birthday, approaching four now and he still uses it. At first he didn’t use the brake, but he does like to do the odd skid now, usually as he shouts ‘BALANCE!’ at the top of his voice. Most of the bike is really well made, but the headset always has play in it.

I bought a kokua jumper second hand when my son was 2 . Really well made and the handlebar limiter is useful, although he has broken it 3 times. I put a front brake on it when he turned 3, he can now ride with his feet up on the rear stays so have got him a pedal bike for Christmas. You don’t need a brake and avoid the wooden one’s as they are too heavy. I paid £80 for it and we go out most weekends so a very cheap activity for kids!

So how did they stop?

Crashing mainly 😉

we rode a flat place where it was not really an issue tbh but they put their feet down- they were riding for ages before they were above walking speed.

We got a Stomp Stompee for our kids as mentioned a few posts back. Its great, not expensive, light and the brake works. Skids are for kids and my 3yr old daughter loves getting sideways 🙂

This always comes up on these threads. Not saying there is anything wrong with your approach – you have to do what your kids will do – but the issue with taking pedals off a normal bike is the size. Both mine started on the Rothan at 2, and I still had to use a cut down seatpost to get them so they could touch the ground on a Cnoc 14 when they moved onto that at 3. Clearly there are smaller pedal bikes than that, but not anything which will go as low as a dedicated balance bike I don’t think.

JY – my kids both rode to nursery on the balance bike (about a mile, lots of ups and downs), and the youngest also did the school run on it when I was taking his big brother (though he’d moved onto a pedal bike for that more than 6 months before he started at school 8) ) – that’s down quite a decent hill where he got more than running pace on the balance bike and I wouldn’t have liked him to do it without a brake. Clearly as you say circumstances vary.

cheers guys. I guess having a brake is probably less important earlier on, but might be more useful later. I like the look of the decathlon one. 35£ is a bit of a bargain. Islabikes Rothan looks like a good option too. might keep an eye on ebay for one of those.

@g5604

You don’t need a brake and avoid the wooden one’s as they are too heavy.

Whilst I’d agree on the brake not being essential, the Earlyrider bikes are lighter than their equivalent Islabike by 1/4kg.

At the end of the day, kids learn faster than a fast thing, so you’ll not harm them if they have one with or without a brake – they’ll pick it up.

We’ve had two of the Earlyriders for our boys, have given one away to friends to let their son learn, so will be getting rid of the other one on here soon. Well used and abused, but still working fine.

try a cruzee balance bike. my lbs have them in stock and they are seriously light. I thought my lads strider was light but this is about half the weight.

Junkyard – lazarus
my kids could ride their [ normal] bike way before they could master braking
IME they wont need it as they will be
1. at walking pace or slower
2. able to brake with their feet easier than operate an actual brake
3. Unlikely to be practising on anything really steep

YMMV but it would not be something i would care about

I thought all of those things, and was proven wrong on all counts. Kid was ripping down the hill into our estate faster than I could sprint after him.

Standard response – Islabikes Rothan
Small and light. IMO most of the wooden ones are too big.

I’d tell you how good resale value is on them but I’m never selling the Rothans. Too many good memories.

As for brakes you don’t need them but they are nice to have once old enough to use them.
3 1/2 year old can pedal fine but still chooses his balance bike 70% of the time.

1. at walking pace or slower
2. able to brake with their feet easier than operate an actual brake
3. Unlikely to be practising on anything really steep

1. Plenty of time spent running for me.
2. True but skids are fun once they learn how to use it.
3. No not us never took them into the woods…

Mine both rode to nursery on their bikes* 8)

It was flat there though as it is to school – tbh i think they are about the range you can get to from my house without a hill that would be too large to do without brake.

We used to offroad by the side of a river so again flattish so no brake not an issue
OP it seems to matter what terrain you will Ride/push/roll so you may or you may not require one.

* strangely they have not got much faster on them but we do get much further now.

I guess having a brake is probably less important earlier on, but might be more useful later.

In our case “later” meant after about half a dozen rides. She was flying on the Rothan in no time at all (despite hardly being able to stand over it on the first attempt) and I just cannot imagine not having a brake on it. It took her a good couple of rides to work out that the brake was better than trying to stop like the Keystone cops! Once she got the hang of braking we took it on some fairly steep hills and she was just fine. They learn really quick at that age.

strangely they have not got much faster on them but we do get much further now.

Maybe it’s because they don’t have any brakes.

Explains why those velodrome riders are such slouches.

Explains why those velodrome riders are such slouches.

Great analogy, not.

PUKY to the best balance bike. you can get a one with a brake or without.
Also I has a very low step through and very low centre of gravity.

My little one has the smallest one without a brake. he uses his feet to stop.

I thought all of those things, and was proven wrong on all counts. Kid was ripping down the hill into our estate faster than I could sprint after him.

Exactly my experience too. At the time I bought the balance bike, I didn’t think a brake would be important. But it certainly was a good move. Plus she knew how to use a brake properly long before she had a pedal bike.

My little one has the smallest one without a brake. he uses his feet to stop.

That works until they reach a speed where they look like the Keystone cops and then they start either crashing when their legs can’t keep up or they slow down.

EDIT : All depends on the size of the hill and the problem with a big hill is they then need to get back up it.
As i said the lack of a brake on a balance bike was not an issue for me but it does seem to be terrain specfic
ORIGINAL
So your posts was not a sarcastic reply 😯
Re read my posts and notice the past tense.

Junk – I have re-read your posts and it sounds like the lack of a brake actually held them back. We had a different experience to you and I think some of that was due to the fact that our balance bike just happened to have a rear brake. She learned how to use it because it was there and she was curious about what it did. Had she not had a brake, maybe her riding development might have been different.

I wasn’t being sarcastic – sorry if it came across that way. You’ve said it yourself that they rode really slowly for ages and could actually ride pedal bikes BEFORE they knew how to brake. It was the other way round for our daughter, who could confidently brake on pretty steep hills on her balance bike.

So for the OP, why limit the scope for riding a BB (basically no hills) by not having a rear brake at least? If it’s there the kid will learn to use it. Simple as that.

Yes your kid is more awesome than mine and I apologise for holding mine back. I hope they can forgive me that I am not more like you.

In order to let the OP get his thread back i am leaving as this is pointless.

No need to get upset, our daughter is actually very timid. It’s not pointless if the OP learns from all our experiences.

Mine didn’t have a brake on his balance bike and was shredding the gnar on it. He was going so fast I had to ride to keep up with him, and he was doing trails like the orange at Laggan and dirt jumps with a big run in slope.

Feet can stop you even if you are going fast downhill and they can help you corner, mine figured out that if he was going fast down a trail a little bit of right foot down would help him turn right etc 😀

Not having brakes on a balance bike certainly didn’t hold him back – his first pedal bike was a back pedal brake, but he was using hand brakes before he was three. He is still only 3 and comes fast down steep trails using his front brake only must sort out that rear brake I suppose

That said, I have nothing against brakes on balance bikes either. And I can obviously see the advantages, but for me it wouldn’t be a deciding factor.

Oh and just out of interest, do your kids use the soles of their shoes or the toes? Mine used the soles so it wasn’t too bad for shoes either – he had a £10 pair of Asda boots that lasted until he outgrew them!

blimey, theres always a little tiff in these threads!!

I reckon a brake cant be a bad thing so will probably get one with. Thanks for input, defiantly given me something to go on.

Has anyone got one of the decathlon ones (for their kids obviously!)? Any good?

I believe hora of this parish did

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/islabikes-are-they-really-worth-the-money#post-4364060

hmmm, maybe a second hand more expensive one might be wise.

Read the comments on those previous threads (though ignore most of what hora writes). Provided you can afford to tie the money up, an Islabike is actually quite cheap because of the very low depreciation. Other alternatives are of course available, though I don’t think anything else has quite the same resale value in the s/h market.

Paid £100 brand new for our Rothan, sold for £70 after lots of use by two kids.

aracer – that link is pure class and for that alone I can forgive all the sleepless nights worrying about carbon bars or whether a Cannondale Lefty stub axle is going to snap off 🙂

Also was happy to pay the £100 for a new Rothan and now just starting its second life with daughter no.2
Resale value of £70 would make it about £15 net per child. Hardly worth fussing over a cheaper alternative.
Great little balance bike, bought after research on here a few years back as it happens.

Our first lad was bought a wooden balance bike by the father in law, I didn’t really agree with it as I wanted him to have something that would grow with him.. one day he was too small for it and before I knew it he was too big for it.. that is the negative of the wooden ones.

Number two has an Isla bike Rothan coming to him for Christmas, after seeing the first bouncing whilst trying to slow down with his feet (never started the whole foot drag thing) I like the idea of a brake, each kid will quickly adapt to whatever they have though, I would suggest the most important thing for the kid is weight and colour, other adult stuff like cost and brand is probably unimportant

Buy a decent 12″ wheeled bike with pedals, brake and removable stabilizers. Not PC around here, but both of my Teens were riding without stabilizers before their third birthday. I’ve subsequently taught many children to ride, and balance bikes offer entertainment but not a faster route to riding.

Balancing is easily learnt on a small-wheeled scooter.