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Getting my Niece her first ‘bike’ for Christmas, obviously I don’t have a clue so over to you for your recommendations please
Decathlon, but get the one with the brake. (My daughter didn't need a brake 'cos she didn't go very fast so we bought without, when it was passed on to my son we found he rides at top speed and 100pc does need a brake.)
We found the Scoot balance bike to be the smallest stand over height and its nice and light.
I started a few kids off on these (not all mine) and then moved them onto the Zooom a little later which is a bit larger and has a rear brake.
I just bought a Specialized Hot Rock for our surrogate child for his second birthday, but hes a big lad for his age. I really like the fact that this bike has a platform to put his feet on once he gets rolling.
Early Rider Spherovelo
We bought ours when she was one, took until about 15 months before she showed any interest. She's now also 21 months and we've recently removed the stabilisers (castors) and she fly's round on it.
I've got a hand me down Spesh Hotrock which I'll try her on when she's 3.
2nd hand islabikes one is good and will shrug off a lot of crashes. The brake is good as some kids go silly fast and crash a lot. Well they all crash a lot, it just feels better that you have given them the option to slow a bit before they crash.
Puky LRM is one of the few that will fit a very young child thanks to the step through frame. Bear in mind that many kids just don't have the balance or reactions to ride until 2-3yo so they need something that they can comfortable walk around with both feet flat and sitting down.
<p>Second the Islabike Rohan. Yes it's painful but it was about the only thing we could find that would fit our daughter. Always a bunch going second hand if you are up to stripping it down and tarting it up first, they may even do resprays.</p>
I bought our little girl a Verenti Nippy Balance Bike for her second birthday. It is cheap, light and well sized for that age.
The lightest one you can afford, with a brake.
My lad is now on his second. From about 14 months he was on a mega cheap thing from smyths, which was super light but with solid plastic wheels. from about 2 he has been solid on the wiggins one we bought. Its great, had a brake and looks smart.
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/wiggins-pau-balance-bike-12-wheel
Our little girl is getting one for Xmas - but we checked her did size first and I’ve got her one from Halfords for £30. It’s white with little animals all over it. Reason being is it has a very low stand over height as she’s quite small and it’s really light. If she takes to it, when she’s a bit bigger I’m going to get a decent one with a brake. She’s coming up for 23 months old.
The lightest one you can afford
Yep. Brake optional. I went for a HotWalk for mine, no brake. That way they focus on just balancing and riding, and (IMHO) develop better spacial awareness of their speed surroundings and they need to slow down before they're going too fast.
Mine went through two children, emerged in surprisingly good condition, and I sold it for more than i paid for it. Which was nice.
Don't spend a fortune just in case she doesn't take to it. Balance bikes were a complete waste of time for my little 'un.
Have a look at Black mountain*. Their small bike starts as a balance bike and as your child grows you can lengthen the frame and add a drivetrain.
*Full disclosure here, my son did the product design on it.
Our little girl is getting one for Xmas – but we checked her did size first and I’ve got her one from Halfords for £30. It’s white with little animals all over it. Reason being is it has a very low stand over height as she’s quite small and it’s really light.
Good Choice.
We got this for our daughter - she is really weeny & the Halfords Indi balance bike looked to have around the lowest standover height possible. It was also surprisingly light - much lighter than some of the other options we looked at that were 3-4x the price. Crazy.
We only paid £24 for it.
She didn't really show that much interest in it until perhaps a few months shy of her 3rd birthday, but now she absolutely hoons around on it. I would have probably preferred one with a brake, but I don't think she'd be able grip to use it anyway, so probably a moot point.
If you want one with a brake, the Decathlon one looks hard to beat IMO.