Balance Bike Packaging: How much is too much?

Some bikes are wrapped in so much bubble wrap, foam, masking tape, zip ties, plastic, and cardboard to choke a hungry goat! We're not sure what this says about the durability of the finish of these bikes, or of the hardness of the components. That is to say, if all the parts that make up a bike are hard enough and sharp enough to damage each other and need protection, how much damage will they potentially give your child? So- a defect-prone fragile finish needs to be protected from itself during shipping. What about the kids? Should we protect them with bubble wrap every time they ride one of these bikes?

The FUJI Rookie was a good quality balance bike, now discontinued. Packaging was adequate.

 What we have found over the years is that the higher quality bikes by LikeaBIKE and FirstBIKE use minimal packaging for their bikes. There is nary a piece of plastic to be found- just a cupped piece of cardboard separating the front wheel from the frame. Models like the LikeaBIKE Mountain and the LikeaBIKE Forest come out of the box with both wheels attached and the handlebar loose- wrapped in tissue paper!. The FirstBIKE comes out of the box with only a piece of cardboard. You simply attach the frame to the fork and install the wheel. The only plastic packaging is the pouch that holds the instructions/tools in it. We like the minimalist packaging because it proves that the quality of the materials is at least as durable to withstand some gentle rubbing against the inside of a cardboard box, as it should be!

FirstBIKE: Popular in Europe, now also in the US

FirstBIKE is available in high end toy shops and bike dealers all over the US

Quick update as of 10/25/2017: Firstbike has been relegated to what is referred to as "cold product" for the past few years. They rode the bandwagon and made some money, but the party's over. So many superior products have joined the market that out-perform FirstBike in many ways. The biggest distinction is that FirstBike is a toy. Lots of new top shelf bikes have been introduced by the actual bike industry. Better to buy a real bike, not a toy. The best place to find one? WeeBikeShop

We love the lines of this new-to-the-US balance bike, recently featured at Cool Mom Picks..
FirstBIKE is constructed of an unbreakable nylon composite- the same tough stuff used in automobiles, watercraft and airplanes. There is no paint to chip or wood to splinter, FirstBIKE balance bikes have completely smoothed and recessed parts and fasteners throughout- nothing to snag your child's skin or cut their fingers on- even the wheel spokes are ovalized and polished smooth! The steering limiter prevents jack-knifing from sudden sharp turns and the 8.4 pounds makes it among the lightest bikes available. An optional hand brake is offered that is wired to a drum on the rear wheel- recommended for families living in hilly neighborhoods.
Available in five models that offer an array of colors and tire options, including an airless polyurethane rubber tire that grips any surface like it's on rails- unlike inferior EVA foam tires). MSRP $159.95-199.95 at WeeBikeShop.com

FirstBIKE USA Launches US Distribution of a Premium Toddler Balance Bike

WeeBikeShop Launches US Distribution of a Premium Toddler Balance Bike

FirstBIKE vs Strider Comparison Chart

For an enhanced buying experience with an industry leading company specializing in balance bikes, visit this secure website and browse the premium selection of balance bikes, helmets and accessories: https://WeeBikeShop.com

FUJI Rookie Balance Bike

White bikes always look high-end in our humble opinion.

We are big fans of FUJI Rookie balance bike for a few reasons:

• Aluminum frame
• Premium brand name
• Free bell!
• Big comfortable shock dampening pneumatic tires
• one color- pearl white- isn't gender specific and makes buying decision easy
• Each bike has a serial number, just like every other Fuji Bike

If your price point is around $100, we encourage you to give the Fuji Rookie your serious consideration. For about $40 more you get some high end features and benefits found on bike costing 2-3x more.

UPDATE: The FUJI Rookie has been discontinued at the end of 2011. FUJI did not really make much of a marketing effort and bike shops were reluctant to stock a balance bike that comes in only one [sterile-looking] color.

Balance bikes with foot rests: hot or not?

We're not crazy about foot rests on balance bikes. Children learn to balance more successfully when they put their feet down as stabilizers whenever they need to. This instills confidence and puts them in control of [not] falling down. This is also partly why [for tots] a bike with pedals needs to have training wheels- because the pedals are in the way of using their feet for stability. So it stands to reason that giving kids a platform to rest their feet is counter-productive, though we recognize it as a feature that pays dividends when kids are rolling down looooong gradual hills (which hopefully aren't steep and which do not cross other streets!) Even so, foot pegs welded to a balance bike's frame defeat the purpose of removing the pedals in the first place- which is to get them out of the way and uncomplicate the learning process!

We have also observed that certain brands of balance bike which feature a foot rest can potentially injure a child because as children push off the ground to gain speed, sometimes their feet hit and get tangled with the foot rests. This is not so much a problem with the wildly popular KaZaM as it is with others on the market which have a welded tube added underneath the frame.

Bottom line: Foot rests are not a deal maker or breaker when it comes to balance bikes. Top of the line LikeaBIKEs do not even offer them here in the US. Neither do the all-new FirstBIKE or the FUJI Rookie. It's just a gimmicky feature that doesn't add any real value to the learning process and which could potentially cause a lot of painful bruises on a child's ankles.

FIVE REASONS WHY TRAINING WHEELS ARE BAD

FIVE REASONS WHY TRAINING WHEELS ARE BAD:

1. Weight: The typical children's bike with 12" tires and training wheels weighs nearly 30 pounds. Would a 160 pound adult want to ride a 160 pound bike? Sounds dangerous! Balance bikes typically weigh only 7 to 10 pounds.

2. Cornering: To ride a bike around a corner, a cyclist must lean in the direction of the turn. As we can see from the picture, any attempt to hold the bike perpendicular to the ground while cornering would be a failure. It is impossible to correctly corner with training wheels.

3. Bad habits: It IS possible to execute a turn with training wheels. Unfortunately, your child will have to lean left to turn right and lean right to turn left. Doing the opposite of what is supposed to come naturally is not recommended. This is a primary cause of crashes right after the "training wheels" are removed.

4. Safety: See No 3 above! It's more important to know how to balance and corner on a bike than it is to put force onto the pedals (that's the easy part). A balance bike has no pedals, so feet are instinctively used as stabilizers. With training wheels, there's no need to use feet for stability, making it unnecessary to ever put a foot down- another dangerous bad habit that needs to be un-learned.

5. Speed: Not only will a child on a balance bike easily pass a child on training wheels (how embarrassing!), their motor skills and balance will develop light-years faster too. Faster success is better for a child, especially when it boosts their self confidence. The training wheels are wasting your child's time and energy, and cheating them out of learning balance correctly - not to mention being slow and a lot less fun.

For an enhanced buying experience with an industry leading company specializing in balance bikes, visit this secure website and browse the premium selection of balance bikes, helmets and accessories: https://WeeBikeShop.com