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My daughters coming up for 2 years old so I'm looking at the options.
Read a few threads and it seems there's so much choice and as you can't seem to go wrong with most of them.
The Rothan and the Frog tadpole were top of the list but these are at the pricier end .. Not really convinced I need to spend that much. The bike will be passed down to her brother though so I do want something that will last.
I was looking at the Strider for £60 but just stumbled across the Puky that a few seem to have recommended. Seems like a decent but of kit for £60/70 if anybody has experience of them...
my 2 year old daughter has a Y Velo balance bike. Check them out they are really good and solid. It has 2 wheels at the back which can be converted to single wheel too.
Just noticed the bike for aged 2+ has 'soft foam tyres' ..... Not sure I like the sound of them....
I wanted pneumatic tyres and they're on the 3+ bike.
I found a specialized hotwalk on eBay for £40. Nipper loves it. Has a few scratches but generally good condition and he doesn't care. Been really impressed with it and he's flying on it now.
Put my daughter on a balance bike at 2 going on 3. Within 6 months she was ready for a pedal bike and transitioned straight across. I wouldn't spend too much on a balance bike - maybe look second hand? I just got my daughter a cheap plywood one off eBay for about £20 and it did the job perfectly. After no more than 6 months she was on her first pedal bike - she beat her elder sister, who I put on stabilisers rather than balance bike, to peddling. There was no stopping her then. It certainly got her sister to man up and she wasn't too far behind after that.
We have a Puky lr1 with the bigger wheels. It was great for our daughter but is still too big for the nearly two year old. I'd not be bothered by the tyres on the little one. The wheels on balance bikes just go round. They don't do any hard cornering, accelerating or other things that wear tyres. However, as suggested above, second hand is a good bet IMO.
Puky 'soft tyre' was absolutely fine for the eldest, used from before 2 until a few months after 3. Transferred onto a Isla Cnoc without any bother.
Puky here, now on son number 2, been great
Lasted really well and helped my eldest graduate to his islabike
I had a puky for when the little lad was tiny he loved it
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We got a Puky for our boy when he was 2 (he's nearly 3.5 now). It has been great and he has had a lot of enjoyment out of it. As others have said I wouldn't worry about the solid tyres. He won't be doing much that requires lots of grip. We bought ours new (felt like good value at £60). One thing that's really good about the Puky compared to some other makes is the platform. Once he got a bit of confidence he was quite happy to put both feet up in the middle either when going downhill on his own or being pulled uphill. The fact that you can adjust the saddle and bar height with quite a big range is also very useful.
Well you've convinced me to give the Puky a try and Amazon are selling it for only £54 posted so job done.
Thanks
Pity.
I've got a Hotwalk and a 12" Hotrock that I'm going to get on the Classifieds later.
My kids loved the balance thing, screaming around corners with no pedals to catch.
Our puky is on kid number 3 now. Very well used but still going strong!
My boy has a yellow Hoy, still uses it now at 4 along with his commencal Ramones 16 (peddle bike)
The hoy is very well made..
If you don't mind blue Evans have a ex demo for £55 normally £110
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/hoy/napier-balance-bike-one-size-ex-demo-ex-display--ec118763
Puky is fine unless you're an eco-mom
We have two Puky LRMs. They're excellent. Eldest is nearly 4 but still prefers it to his Cnoc 14.
I can make you a custom one for 2.5k 🙂
We got a Puky for our daughter when she was 2 and she rode it till she was 4.
Nice and light; I think it's an awesome balance bike.
I'm just about to advertise my daughter's no-longer-needed Likeabike which has suspension and is very cool. Previously had a Hotwalk which didn't go as low seated as this and obviously wasn't as comfy. As used by Jackson Goldstone and seemed to give him a good start on bikes!
http://www.likeabike.co.uk/m3b0s337p8/LIKEaBIKE-Jumper
Was going to stick it up for £60 plus postage?
I've got a hardly used Frog Tadpole in spotty colour scheme I'd be happy to sell.
My daughter never really got the hang of it preferring to use a pedal bike with stabilisers.
Drop me an email if your interested.
It really is a lovely bike.
I did post a for sale on here a while back.
I just picked up a Decathlon one with brake second hand for 15