Jack and I are mountain bikers. Realizing there was a fat/plus size balance bike available from Early Rider made us smile and want one…really bad. Thanks to the folks at NRG Enterprises, we have got our hands on this little beast of a bike for a couple months to shred the local trails and driveway.
Arriving at 8:30 am on a warm Spring morning, we opened the box to find a monster truck of a balance bike. With 2.4 inch wide 14 inch diameter knobby tires, the kids’ eyes lit up. With a one and 1/8 inch headset, 8 lb 4 0z weight, riveted faux leather seat plus sealed bearings all around, my eyes lit up. An unusually narrow bar was unexpected for the 3-4.5 year age category so we quickly remedied with a wide BMX bar and lock on grips we had in the garage. Some quick laps up and down the street proved this little bike could roll over obstacles with ease.
After pre-school we headed straight to the local bike park for some dirt jump lines and the downhill tracks. My five year old is getting a little big for his likeabike jumper so he was stoked to have a bigger balance bike to ride the berms, rolls and bridges on the trails. We dumped the tire pressure and ripped a couple of our favourite trails.
Coming in at around $200 USD, the Trail Runner XL seems to be an ideal bike for 3-5 ‘s who live for single track, ride primarily off road, ride in the snow and/or live in a rural area with dirt roads etc. This balance bike has loads of traction, is very stable and rolls over absolutely everything. Our plan is to keep having fun on this little machine and see what it’s capable of. Check out video below for Day 1 on the XL…look like fun?
Like what we are doing, please give us a Facebook like below.
