Now I know the majority of the population are not thinking about bikes for kids before the age of two but here at theBikeDads.com we are not regular folk.
My daughter is now approaching 12 months of age and I have had her on a bike since she was 8 months old. No she is not the next Rachel Atherton, or Tracey Mosley. She is not large for her age, on the contrary, she is my little Peanut and we have been shredding through the kitchen on a bike like device. If you follow us on Social Media you would have seen Sierra and her shred mobile.
A friend of mine lent us a little Punky Bike. It is from Europe and haven’t found a way to get one in North America. It has four wheels for stability and handlebars to hold on to. She can’t touch the ground but that doesn’t matter- we still shred. As we have progressed she gets more excited when it is that time of the day to grab the handlebars and grips to shred the hardwood. I still hold her on the bike, but she is starting to use her toes to push like a balance bike and the look of excitement as we travel together is priceless
We have had lots of emails and interest from people in www.TheBikeDads.com community to see what else is out there to purchase in North America.
I appreciate quality products that last and can be passed on to other people when I’m finished with them. I ride bikes that set me up for success and want my kids to as well. The Punky bike has a powder coated steel frame, has a plastic headset that limits turning the wheels too sharply and non-bearing wheels with an aluminum axle that are quite and more suitable for smooth surfaces. I know it will last through quite a few hand me downs. So I set out searching to see what else is out there.
There are a lot of toys and plastic junk that kind of looks like there would be some promise, but upon holding them in your hands, you realize that their the typical lifespan will end up being 3 months and then end up taking up space in the Landfill.
What I found that looks promising:
I will be researching and reviewing these over the next coming months.
Do you have any more pre-balance bikes I should add to the review list?
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Jack from www.TheBikedads.com
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My daughter got a Radio flyer “scoot about sport” for her first birthday. its been great for doing laps around the house and now at 18 months she is picking up the balance bike super fast.
My son is 19 months now and has been using his balance bike solo for about 3 months now. I went with a woom balance bike and got the strider rocking base for him for his first Christmas when he was 9 months. It seems to have really helped him learn the finer points of balancing and he loved hoping on his bike to play whenever I was working on mine. An added plus is that he seems to be ahead of the curve now in balance and coordination all around. it’s just one example of course but think it might be worth looking into for those of us who “just can’t wait!” haha
Love it! We love our spherovelo, but the roll isn’t as smooth or predictable as I’d like. By the time little guy would be ready to take off the stabilizer wheels, he was big enough for the balance bikes with 11 in seat height. Friends have a chillafish bunzi, which I didn’t think I’d like due to more plastic than I think is a good idea, but it’s actually pretty great. The chillafish quad bike looks OK to.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll check out the Chillfish Quaddie, it looks similar to the Punky but with a better seat adjustability.