Which balance bike?

[michelleklu]

The LIKEaBIKEs are terribly expensive and I understand you get what you pay for but are there any other comparable balance bikes? Wood or metal? Plastic, rubber, or foam tires? Have you dealt with the company's customer service and if so how was it? For what its worth, my daughter is 36" tall.

Ooh also I read reviews on Amazon about how the Skuut handlebars, hubs, and wheels fall off after a couple of months. Skuut replied that they came out with a better, sturdier version in 2008. Does anyone with the new version have problems with it?

[indigosky]

We bought a Strider bike for DD a few months ago and have been very happy with it so far. She is 31 months now, and also about 36 inches tall.

I usually over-research everything I do and buy, and in an effort NOT to do that, I simply sorted through the Amazon reviews and chose the lowest-price bike that gets decent reviews. Yes, you can get higher reviews if you're willing to pay a lot more. And you can definitely save money if you're willing to accept a bike that doesn't review as well. And there are brands of bikes that aren't sold on Amazon, which means I didn't consider them at all, which is too bad.

But for what it's worth, I'm a satisfied customer so far.

[~Amy~]

DS has a Norco balance bike. It's got the foam tires, seat that's very easy to adjust & it's quite lightweight. DS is 26 months, about 35" tall & he can handle it very easily. We haven't had it long, but we've been very happy with it so far.

[corrieoseal]

We bought DD the Specialized Hotwalk. It's a great bike and super adorable. It retailed for $139 in our bike shop. We had to special order it as most shops don't carry them. DD LOVES this bike and it is so sturdy. Made with the quality and care that Specialized is known for providing in bikes. DD really likes the fact that it looks just like the regular big kid bikes that the neighbors ride.
http://www.specialized.com/cn/en/bc/...Girls&eid=4360

[Sierra]

You can get any children's bike and remove the pedals until the child is ready for them to be replaced.

[Tjej]

We got a Strider (it actually has one of the lowest rises if a person needs that - although it doesn't sound like the OP does). It's metal, foam tires. Works great. We've been using it half a year and no problems. Even got run over by an overzealous 5yo on a full-sized bike and only chipped a little piece of plastic off one of the wheels - no actual problem with it.

Tjej

ETA: Sierra - that works if you have a brain enough (or the right tools) to remove the pedals. We TRIED to do that.

[Sierra]

Originally Posted by Tjej

ETA: Sierra - that works if you have a brain enough (or the right tools) to remove the pedals. We TRIED to do that.

Sorry you had trouble. I could totally see that being an issue for me too. Luckily dw took care of it.

A bike shop could also do it for you.

Anyway, it worked great for us. Cost of our kid's balance bike was $0 (hand-me-down bike from a cousin with pedals removed).

[confustication]

Originally Posted by Sierra

You can get any children's bike and remove the pedals until the child is ready for them to be replaced.

Yep, this is what we did for my oldest- for about 5 years straight while she worked on the balance part lol. She's 8 1/2 and finally learned to properly ride this year- as soon as she had the balance down, we popped the pedals back on, raised the seat a bit, and away she went!

It's probably cheaper to have your local bike shop remove the pedals and put them back on than it would be to buy a balance bike- by far! (Or, google it, it's a 2 minute task once you have your courage up- even for me, and I'm mechanically reclined/declined/anything-but-inclined. )

[newtomotherhood]

We got DD a runbike by Miele it is super cute and seems really durable but I don't know for sure as DD is still a little short for it at 30.5 inch but she loves if I help her ride it around the house!

I figure in around a month or so she will start using it on her own!

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we go the Strider. We do have the tools to remove the pedals on a kids bike, but the Strider is only 7lbs!!!! A kids bike is WAY heavier. The lighter frame makes it much easier to deal with. Ds can carry it up and down our front steps, easily pick it up when it falls over, and when I inevitably end up carrying it home because he is tired of riding, it's super light!

Now if I always drove to the place where we rode it (I don't drive) or we only used it in front of the house the lightness would not be an issue, but because we will go many city blocks on the bike or take the bike along to a variety of walking distance parks, the lightness was a HUGE factor.

(and just to be honest we lucked out and bought it wholesale through a friend)

[jmo]

We have the new version on the Skuut bike and love it. We've had it for a few months and had no problems at all. My 4 yo is riding it now and I fully expect it to be passed down to my toddler in great shape.

[maeby]

Originally Posted by corrieoseal

We bought DD the Specialized Hotwalk. It's a great bike and super adorable. It retailed for $139 in our bike shop. We had to special order it as most shops don't carry them. DD LOVES this bike and it is so sturdy. Made with the quality and care that Specialized is known for providing in bikes. DD really likes the fact that it looks just like the regular big kid bikes that the neighbors ride.
http://www.specialized.com/cn/en/bc/...Girls&eid=4360

[Anastasiya]

We have two Striders (they are the lowest ones on the market so fit little kids well, until about 3-4 ish). DD is five and has a Go Glider- the big kids' version of the Glider bike.

We prefer the quality of the Gliders.

All have foam tires. The Glider has a handbrake.

The kids have never been given the chance to ride a real bike until a month ago, and both our 4 year old and our 5 year old hopped on and off they went, pedalling away! Really neat.

[ellairiesmom]

we got the haro 10 inch which i thought from all the threads here back at christmas time was the smallest.

i wanted her to love it soooo bad. i over-researched it & was involved in many threads here about them 6 months ago or so. i thought for sure she would be into it...

...the minute she saw it she said "no pedals?" & didn't want to ride it. we had her try many times in the house & even brought it to the park on nice days early spring but she doesn't like it & always talks about it not having pedals.

she points out kids on bigger bikes & tells us "they have pedals". she's something else!

she just had a height spurt so it's possible she will feel like trying it out but she really just prefers the small trikes she sees the neighbors & her cousin ride so we picked up a $40 Radio Flyer one on sale at TRU...it's tiny, folds & is pink...she loves it.

maybe dd2 will end up wanting to try the haro.

[paula444four]

Strider

We purchased the Strider balance bike for our son when he was 20 months old. He is turning 4 years old next week...so the bike is over two years old...heavy use...left outside even...and he is still riding it and loving it! It is still in great condition...looks great. Its so compact we have packed it in our large suitcase!! I would say it has been a superb purchase at right under $100 from the local bike shop. Looking forward to seeing my daughter inherit it...she is 15 months right now...but I can see her getting into it soon.

[Heidi74]

DS has a Strider, and, like the others here I have to say that we are very happy with it. I second the PP in that the lightness is wonderful. DS is lightweight for his age, and not having to deal with the bulk and weight of a regular bike feels safer and is easier on him, I think.

He has had the balance bike for half a year now, and is about to turn three. He loves, loves, loves his bike. We weren't going to put him on a regular bike until around 4-ish, but the other day my parents neighbors brought over an old bike for DS. (They had seen him ride the balance bike and wondered if we would be interested in a bike.) We adjusted the seat and let him try, and sure enough--he pedaled away down the driveway like a pro. This was at 2 years, 10 months.

We'll leave the pedal bike at grandma and grandpas house, since we don't want him riding a regular bike yet (he has the motor skills, but not the maturity), but it was fun to give it a shot at least. For now, the Strider is his favorite, and mommy is not ready for the freedom a regular bike would afford him.

[DoulaLMT]

I'm a huge Strider fan. We got one for DS when he was 18 months, and he balances beautifully now a year later at 2 1/2. I'm sure he could ride a pedal bike. The lightness is wonderful, because I've carried that thing around so much!! hehehe but that's not to say that it doesn't get ridden. He rides it every single day, rain or shine. We live in the country on gravel roads, and it has held up really well to that plus constantly being ridden through puddles and in the mud and rain. The only thing I'd suggest is the bearings went out on a wheel pretty early on. It was covered under warranty and Strider was GREAT about sending out a whole new wheel, got here in like 2 days or something, really fast. So my DH packed the bearings with grease to make it more water resistant, and we haven't had any more trouble, even with the longest, rainiest winter in the pacific northwest.

[HeatherB]

We got the SkipHop Wishbone for DS last Christmas. He *loves* it. We still have it in trike mode but he's definitely ready for balance bike mode. We went with it because we knew he'd get good use of it even if he wasn't quite ready for the balance mode at that point, and he has loved it from the moment he saw it! It's also got a very low seat, so he could actually get on it safely. Some of the ones I saw were just too tall for a 2yo.

[LiLeon]

Kazam Balance Bike

We got this for our 3 year old ds and he is 38.5inches tall. The seat is adjustable from 14" to 17.5". It is a metal frame with rubber tires, and is the only balance bike that I've seen that has a built-in footrest for the child to practice balancing while gliding. It is well-built and the handlebars can be adjusted as well. DS has really taken to it, and even his older cousins (4 and 6yo) love to come over and ride it It retails for about $99. Good luck!

[earthmama369]

We went super cheap. DH found a small kid's bike on the curb and brought it home. We took off the training wheels and the pedals, and lowered the seat as far as it would go. Voila, instant balance bike.

DD (5) used it for about a week, practicing pushing off with her feet (left, right, left), then lifting both feet to glide. Once she could turn in a circle while doing that, she felt confident enough in her balance that we took the training wheels off her regular-size bike and let her have at it.

I've decided training wheels are the devil, because they feel so wobbly and don't seem to actually help build confidence or skill, but I'm also thinking that it's maybe not worth a ton of money to invest in a balance bike when it's so easy to modify a regular bike into a balance bike. It took dd so little time to get the hang of it and build her confidence. We got the idea from a friend, who's taught several kids (ages 3-5) to ride their bikes that way. He said it never takes longer than a week or two once they're ready, and that seems to be right.