Recommend me: Balance bike

munsterleinster · 24-06-2014 12:04pm #1

Want to get a pair of balance bikes for twin 2 year old boys.

I have an Islabike Benin for their older sister but their Rothan seems a bit expensive.

Any recommendations for what's good (quality & value)?

Rua_ri · 24-06-2014 12:09pm

We got the decathlon "Run Ride" balance bike and its fantastic.
Great price too. Ring the store in Belfast and they can talk you through delivery ( if needed ). They do deliver to Ireland.

Its very light and our son still loves it.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/run-ride-new-kids-balance-bike-red-white-id_8237693.html

Rgs
Rua

Stephen_C · 24-06-2014 12:22pm

I cant post links anymore for some reason but there is a great website called twowheelingtots.com that do a great independent comparison of most of the top balance bikes, also gives pros and cons of what to look for when buying.

One of the bikes they recommend is the Firstbike balance bike which can be got from balancebikes.ie for €130 which is a bit cheeper than the isla bikes

JMcL · 24-06-2014 12:38pm

Look no further than the Decathlon Run Ride above. It's superb value (though a tenner more expensive now than when we bought it 2 years ago), I really can't see the point of paying 2-3 times as much for alternatives. It's light, quick and easy to adjust bar/seat height. Our eldest girl got loads of use out of it, and her younger sister is just starting to show an interest, and I anticipate her brother will get use out of it too when the time comes

bambergbike · 24-06-2014 12:47pm

My niece has had a very happy experience with her balance bike from Lidl. It was all-plastic, fairly robust and light enough for it for it to be relatively easy to carry the child and the bike when she ocasionally ran out of steam half a mile from home. It also had one of those crash-pad things on the handlebars with the words "X-bike" on it, and I managed to convince her that X-Bike was short for cross-bike and meant the bike would handle rough cobblestones, gravel, grass and sand very well. We stuck a few more Xs on with glittery sticky tape to improve the cross bike magic further. (When she discovers CRC and co. I'm sure I'll get the blame for having introduced her to the concept of bike fettling.)

Now she's nearly four the saddle is up as far as it goes and she's beginning to outgrow it and has moved on to what she calls her "pedal bike with NO(!) pedals".

dermabrasion · 24-06-2014 1:40pm

Fitzcycles in Kilmacud have aluminium balance bikes, very high quality. My 3 yr old flies around on it like a nut bar, at crazy speeds. he wears out shoes every 3 weeks using them as brakes. They also ale them in plywood.

Wally Runs · 24-06-2014 1:50pm

We have used this: http://www.imaginarium.ie/evolving-bicycle-56862.htm a bit more expensive but with advantage that you can add pedals later on (http://www.imaginarium.ie/set-velobike-pedals-56864.htm) . All our kids moved from the balance bike to bike with pedals to a proper bike within days.

Mind you I have seen normal bikes with the pedals and shafts just taken off used as balance bikes with them added back later.

REBELSAFC · 24-06-2014 1:55pm

Try this fibre glass option

http://www.balancebikes.ie/brands/FirstBIKE.html

You can get cheaper but these are well worth the extra few euro
We have two of them for our 4 year old and 2 1/2 yr old and they are great....practically indestructable.
We got them a year and a half ago and they are flying around on them still with little or no damage done to the bikes. The 2 1/2 year old is still nervous enough on his one but the 4 year old is nearly ready to move on to a pedal bike.

I found the customer service with the site excellent. I had a problem with a "lowering kit" for the bike and they were very helpful

munsterleinster · 24-06-2014 4:38pm

Cheers folks..
Like the look of that fiberglass bike, but the Decathlon seems like good value.

Rua_ri · 24-06-2014 5:22pm

munsterleinster wrote: »

Cheers folks..
Like the look of that fiberglass bike, but the Decathlon seems like good value.

I don't think you will beat the Decathlon for value.
My son is flyinig around on it for over 6 months now and it will be passed down to the next with only a few scrapes.
All the other kids in our area have had a go on it too, some aged 9.
It is built to last.

I looked at a lot of balance bikes ( strider, Rohan, hotrock, imaginarium, cube, some wooden ones ) and settled with the run ride as i couldnt see why the others were so expensive compared to it, or what they offered over the run ride.

I have an Islabike Cnoc 14 awaiting him in the next month or two as he now wants steps on his bike.

Good luck with the purchase with whichever you choose.

bambergbike · 24-06-2014 8:36pm

Probably no point overthinking it, anything that doesn't weigh a tonne or cost a fortune will be fine. But if you think you may end up occasionally carrying two little lads in one arm and two little bikes in the other, maybe pick a make where it'll be easy to tie two of them together with a strap or something and carry them as a single compact unit.

bonnieprince · 24-06-2014 8:53pm

Don't waste your money on buying a balance bike. Buy a normal bike (for a 3/4 year old) and remove the pedals, chainring, chain and crank arm. Most kids bikes have a chain guard so nobody should notice the missing bits. When your children are confident enough pop back in the pedals etc. They also become more confident as they are using the same bike with pedals. I did this for my eldest when he was 3, for around 6 months and he has been on the pedals ever since and is loving cycling. I would highly recommend this approach.

Recommend me: Balance bike

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