My eldest son is going to be 2 soon and I want to get him a balance bike. I’ve done a bit of research and read a few comments on here in the past and decided that the Islabike Rothan would probably be the best bet.

I realise they may be more expensive than some, but his little brother is only a year younger so it can be passed down. I think weight would be high on the consideration list, not because I want him to become a weight weenie but because his mum will no doubt end up carrying it a lot or hanging it from the pushchair.

So, thoughts, experiences, recommendations appreciated…

Thanks.

Isla. They hold their value as well.

You’ve already answered your own question. Islabikes are fantastic. Well worth the money for the quality, the detail and the absence of weight.

EDIT: If you can wait a couple of weeks I’ll have one for sale. We’ll just see how the little lady gets on with graduating onto her next set of wheels this weekend

Waiting for a new Puky to arrive (hopefully today) I had them recommended highly by a colleague so should be good. I’ll update in a few days.

£55 posted for my well used and shows it Rothan, if you’re interested in a secondhand one..

Isla rothan + 1

Stoner Jr could scoot by 2.5yrs and ride his Cnoc by 4. Now he’s four and started school last week, he rides there and back every day.

Im holding on to ours for Stoner Jr Jr, and after that they’ll still have some value left in them.

Some more here
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cooool-balance-bikes

CUBE are releasing one this year, price is about £130, also like the look of the Early Rider wooden bikes and the Monty 202 push looks sweet with 2.4″ rubber on 14″ wheels, I think I would try and ride that one myself!!

binners and vinnyeh – Since it’s his first bike I’m tempted to get a new one, but they’re pricey and will no doubt get knocked about. Let’s face it he won’t care if it’s new or not, it’s just me being vain 🙂

I’ll run it past wifey, what colour are yours and do you have any pics? My email is in profile.

Got our eldest a Zooom. Proper headset, seatpost QR, v brake on the back. he loves it. Only addition was some bar end plugs under the grips to stop cookie cutting when he drops it.

Its probably worth getting a new one. They really are a quality bit of kit. And you’ll hardly lose anything when you sell it on.

They come in grey grey or grey though, so you’ll need to accessorise

🙂

I love my daugter’s Rothan, and she quite likes it too I think.

But I got it for her 2nd birthday and although she’s past 3 now she still can’t ride it.

Must take after her dad.

🙁

Ollie – thanks for the link to the other thread.

I saw the kiddimoto bloke on Dragons Den the other night, nice idea and would be nice to buy british but too much form over function for me.

binners – Looking on ebay at completed listings you’re right. I could probably recoup a decent amount of the cost on a new one even after two of them have been through it. New and shiny it is! According to the website they come in red or purple at the moment.

I bought a very cheap Czech built one from some unheard of brand that has performed faultlessly. It really is cheap like you wouldn’t believe – the headset is a bushing not a bearing, but it works fine. Its a got a veebrake and slick tyres. The wheels don’t have great bearings but work fine. Its made of steel and the welds are pants but its quite light and has held together for 18 months abuse.

£30 off fleabay – can’t remember the name.

I love Islabikes but haven’t bothered to spend big yet on one. Perhaps the next bike for my eldest will be a Beinn 24?

Bought a Skuut for my lad. Its light, looks good, is relatively cheap (I’m sure I only paid £70 odd, but it looks like its £100 now) and is made of wood – I didnt like the look of metal ones. I initially thought it wouldnt last too long when I gave it to my son. Lots of creaks and saddle material is a bit weak. However, its over a year old now and looks just the same. My son takes it everywhere, he adores it 🙂 It gets a lot of looks in the parks too!

kids dont care and any old tat will do
Bike tarts even for our kids

Junkyard – yep! However the missus will thank me if it’s light so that’s the excuse I’ll stick with 🙂

I looked about and decided on a Rothan.
Three reasons for this:

1. Saddle height. The Rothan was the lowest of the ones I could find. Important for very young kids (mine was for her 2nd birthday)

2. weight. The Rothan was the lightest I could find.

3. Price. I could get a used Rothan for ~60 quid, then sell it in 2 years for ~60 quid.

Keep an eye on ebay. Just bought a rothan in excellent condition for £67.

1. Saddle height. The Rothan was the lowest of the ones I could find. Important for very young kids (mine was for her 2nd birthday)

FWIW, the lowest I found was Firstbike. They have a rear axle raising kit which drops the bike 4/5cms at the back.

Cant get much cheaper than this one, but it is made of scaffolding pole!

I got my daughter the kazoom for £50 (its really nicely built and has a platform to put her feet on) couldn’t justify another £100 for the other brands & really glad I didn’t now!

Second hand Ridgeback Scoot (from STW about £50 IIRC) has served my son well.
Just need to get him to ride his bike with pedals now he’s 4 1/2, he just loves the balance bike too much

I can vouch for the strength of the monty
Click

😆

Just a note to say not the Halfords Balance Boy (or various other incarnations of it) – not because there’s anything wrong with it – quite the opposite actually, it’s great – but because it’s quite big and my very tall (over 99.6th percentile height)son could only really fit on his at around 2.5 years.

Thanks all for the responses, lots here I hadn’t seen so food for thought.

FWIW I’ll probably follow the largest herd and go with a Rothan, and a new one at that as it’s nice to have shiny stuff. Apparently parents tend to try to (re)live their own lives through their kids and I’m damned if I’d accept anything but the newest, shiniest, bestest (my opinion, others may vary) bike there is!

FWIW I’ll probably follow the largest herd and go with a Rothan, and a new one at that as it’s nice to have shiny stuff. Apparently parents tend to try to (re)live their own lives through their kids and I’m damned if I’d accept anything but the newest, shiniest, bestest (my opinion, others may vary) bike there is!

Then you’ll want a HotWalk – been handed down (i.e. kicked to within an inch of its life) once already and still gets people going ‘ooh a Specialized!’ as brassneck jnr no. 2 toddles past, following no. 1. on his 16″ pedal version 🙂

Seriously they are mighty fine and easily available nationewide for a look/feel – my friend happens to be a Specialized dealer so I get good prices which was my major deciding factor 😉 – would have been a Rothan otherwise.

That Hotwalk does look pretty good. It has a lower standover than the Rothan and platforms for the feet?

I think the saddle on the Rothan looks better though, and it has a brake (I’m sure he’ll need it at some point). My LBS is a Spesh dealer so might call in, have a natter, and check one out. Rothan still favourite but this might be a contendor.

Is people going ‘ooh a Specialized!’ a good or bad thing? 🙂

ridgeback scoots are great and have all the features of the Rothan IIRC

+1 for Rothan

Doubles as a tandem as Spangels minor and I found out at the weekend!

I found the Strider- rider balance bike to be a lower setting that the Rothan. It also only weighs 3kg in total. You can by accessories to get it to last longer. I bought mine from Strider-rider

I have attached a video to show my son after just 2 weeks of having the bike[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6IzrLFuEyQ[/video]

Like a bike – Jumper

Jumper

Expensive but when you see a kid screaming along on it you’ll know why.

Check out the vid on the bottom of the linky…. he is better than most of us here…..

Islabikes are fantastic. Well worth the money for the quality, the detail and the absence of weight.

We got an Isla bike (Beinn 24) for our eldest and although it’s nice and pretty light I wouldn’t say they’re without fault. The chroming on parts of ours has started to rust well before that on a couple of cheap Halfords bikes bought at the same time and the rear mech has suddenly started playing up. They didn’t want to know when I emailed them about the rusting issue – not what i was expecting.
Although we’re keeping it for one of her younger sisters, I wouldn’t get another and I’ve built a SS On-One Pompetamine with disk brakes for my eldest – nice and light, perfect for her usage and looks cooool (and a bit cheaper).
For a balance bike that’s not going to be used for very long I’d get something cheaper than an Islabike.

I bought an Islabike Rothan, cos it is going to get two uses. My eldest didn’t really figure the brake until we got the CNoc now he’s a bit bigger.

I’d probably get one again, the grips are suitably sized for small hands, proper aheadset with stop to stop it going 180, feels like a good quality product but I wouldn’t be too bothered by it having a brake as I was when I first got it.

My daughter has just graduated from a Rothan

Fantastic bikes. Once she got the hang of balancing she could jump off the kerbs and do great skids.

Good value for money as well. I bought it for £100 and eBayed it for £82 after about 2 year’s use.