Occasionally, I see people questioning what first bike to purchase for your children. Here is my quick review of the skuut balance bike $80.
Background: A balance bike is basically a small bike w/o pedals and a limited range of movement of the handlebars. The child scoots forward flintstones style and quickly learns how to balance two wheels. Eventually, they can move to a full bike w/o training wheels.
Use: We purchased for X-mas in 06 when my son was 1.8 years old. He wasn’t tall enough for his legs to reach the ground over the seat so we kept it in the house. From about 2 years to 2.4 we he rode it around the house to build his confidence. At 2.5 he was ready to head outside. Within 1 day he was fully riding outside. Now he is 2.8 and is flying. He has a range of about 3 miles with me running alongside or biking behind him (very slowly).
Skuut Review: $80. The skuut is cheap compared to the like-a-bike (240-280). It does have some construction issues, but they are pretty easily fixed because of the wood construction. He rides it almost everyday, so it is starting to show wear.
Now that looks cool. Are the tires air filled? How is the construction quality?
The skuut is definately cheap. I didn’t think it was going to be an issue until my son started riding it every day. Now, I’m glueing it together and the fabric seat is wearing through.
The brake would have helped on Sat. My son went a bit too fast down a hill and overshot a bridge/corner. Total endo/face plant. He did, however demand that he had to do the hill/corner again all bloodied up before we left the park. I’m sure the other parents were horrified.
AWESOME. I learned to ride a bike by doing that with a tiny bike we had kicking around - it had pedals, but I easily could touch the ground with both feet so I never used them.
My son went a bit too fast down a hill and overshot a bridge/corner. Total endo/face plant. He did, however demand that he had to do the hill/corner again all bloodied up before we left the park.
I must admit I had all kinds of conflicting emotions in a nanosecond:
Horror: I was running right behind him, and the crash looked BAD.
Protection: Picked him up immediately and was relieved to hear him cry and talk.
Equipment check: After I picked him up I picked up the bike to see if it was damaged.
Shock: That he wanted to ride the hill again and absolutely wouldn’t leave w/o doing it.
Pride: Self-explanatory
Dread: Knowing that Mommy wasn’t going to be pleased.
Those balance bikes are starting to show up everywhere on our mountain bike race weekends. This has to be the end all be all of them. A guy built it for his daughter to match his new bike
yep pneumatic tires, and the construction seems good. The brake is a drum that actually has some stopping power. Sorry to hear about the spill, but as always, kids prove to us that they are resilient - E
The specialized runs for $140. It looks like a good upgrade from the wood bikes.
Sorry forgot you had to be logged into that site to see pics. Should be working now.
Just got a balance bike for my 3 year old and to his mom’s surprise he loves it! He loved to ride his tricycle and the thought was pedaling was the interest - not! He took his first awesome jump yesterday - waiting for first roadrash.
We bought the Kazam - it is another good option.!(data:image/jpeg;base64,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)
Cool video. I did not even know bikes like this exist. My daughter at 5, almost 6 has been struggling. This gives me some ideas.
My kids were 4 and 6 and still had training wheels (horror of all horror’s, I know). So anyway, I decided that since they already had bikes I wasn’t going to go out and purchase bikes without pedals. I took the pedals off of their bikes and then took them to a parking lot by the house that has a very slight hill. I put them at the top of the hill and let them go down it a few times and then walk the bike back up. After 10 minutes or so, my son was ready for the pedals to be put back on. He started going down the hill and then pedaled and didn’t stop (until he hit the fence at the other end)! Easiest way to teach anyone to ride a bike, in my opinion!
