1. Foot rests. The brands that have them say they are necessary. The brands that do not, say they are not. This is entirely a matter of personal preference, and functionally, both types of bike will teach the exact same fundamentals of balance, cornering and steering. However, a bike with foot rests is going to encourage "lazy" riding, or put another way, a lot less kicking and a lot more downhill cruising. The bike without foot rests is likely to give your child a better workout, use up more of their energy, maybe resulting in a bigger appetite and improved circulation, and deeper sleep. For what it's worth, don't let the foot rest be a deal breaker one way or the other. If they are there, fine- as long as they don't cause bruising of the inner ankles from striking them. If the bike doesn't have them, that's fine too. There will be a lot more kicking and a lot less slacking. At the end of the day, no child is going to complain as long as they get to zip around on two wheels.
2. Weight. It's an important part of the buying decision. Think about it: a typical two year old weighs about 30 pounds. The muscles are not developed enough to handle a bike that weighs as much as they do (such as the department store junk bikes that many parents so fondly purchase for that hit of instant gratification). Could you imagine riding a bicycle that weighed as much as you? No. That would be a motorcycle, and when a motorcycle tips over a strong adult can barely get it vertical again. Bottom line- a balance bike must be light! Ideally, under 10 pounds. But is it really a deal breaker if the bike weighs 11 or 12 pounds? It's all relative. If your child is 3 years old, they can easily manage a 12 pound balance bike. If they are only 2, then pick a bike that's in the 7-9 pound range. As with the price of bikes, when it comes to weight, you get what you pay for. Be wary of balance bikes weighing under 7 pounds because chances are, it uses cheap EVA foam tires that are one electron away from being NERF football material. They are slick, they have poor road grip, and they wear very quickly. Don't get too hung up on weight for 3 year olds, be more cautious for 2 year olds, but buy a bike with natural rubber tires that are inflated. The air in the tires cushions the ride and protects your child's soft bones and spinal tissue from trauma and potential injury.
3. Brakes. Again, brands that use them like to brag, brands that do not like to avoid the subject. Here's the thing about brakes.. If your child should ever decide to ride their balance bike bare-foot, or with flip-flops (it will happen) they will inevitably discover at some point that rubbing the soles of their feet on pavement in order to slow down, is painful. More importantly though- brakes are an integral part of bicycling. If we are trying to teach kids "the whole package" we need to give them "all the tools". When they learn to read, do we teach them only 20 letters of the alphabet? Of course not. If the brake is short money to add to a bike (assuming it is available separately, usually it is not) just get it and be done with it. Don't worry if you think they aren't going to use the brake for the first year. (That's only your low opinion of your child anyway- stop thinking like that!) Surprisingly, the brake is a tremendously fun part of the learning process. The ability to easily stop gives a feeling of control, and control breeds confidence, and confidence breeds success. No brakes on the balance bike your heart is set upon? No worries, go ahead and buy it, but plan to teach those last 6 letters of the cycling alphabet later on (and never let them ride without shoes!)
4. Steering limiter. It's a gimmicky way to attract helicopter moms [and dads]. The steering limiter prevents the handlebars from turning farther than 20-30 degrees, thereby preventing the dreaded "jack-knife-flip-over-the-handlebars" accident. It's an emotional decision for a parent, because that image of falling and flipping is too much to bear, as if kids don't ever fall down when a limiter is present. (they do) Bottom line, if the bike has a steering limiter, great. If it doesn't, also great. Kids do not have enough reach in their arms to turn the handlebars more than 25 degrees anyway, and proper cornering only requires 5 degrees of turning (plus a big shift in body weight). This feature is over-blown. Don't make a big deal out of it.
5. Frame materials. Now there are four: aluminum, steel, wood and composite. Any of these will do the job just fine, but some have advantages. Wood is a beautiful, renewable, sustainable natural product and has lots of merits, a smaller carbon footprint and minimal impact to the environment. Toxic paints containing heavy metals are not used with wooden bikes, usually it's a non-toxic water based sealer that is used. But where the wood bikes fail is ironically, outdoors. On a long enough time-line, the wood will deform, warp, check, split, crack, splinter and delaminate. If you fail to take good care of it, this will happen relatively quickly. If you leave it outside over-night, the morning dew settling on the bike will potentially ruin it. Steel bikes are a fine choice is you think the bike will need to take some abuse. They tend to cost the least and so it's not such a big deal when you notice some paint chips after the first week of riding. Steel frames are very stiff, the same as their more expensive (and lighter) aluminum equivalents. There will be minimal flex and minimal shock dampening qualities in a steel or aluminum framed balance bike. That's why the inflated tires are so important. You can control the tire pressure so that trauma is not transmitted to your child's soft skeletal and spinal tissue. (2 to 2.5 Bars is recommended- higher pressure defeats this purpose) The stiffness of such a bike means that the front and rear wheels are always perfectly aligned, which is why some parents prefer them over the spongy and flexible feel of a composite balance bike (usually an injection molded, re-inforced nylon material, similar to a lot of other products such as trash bins, milk crates and McDonalds trays). There are only a few such bikes on the market, and they claim to be the answer for protecting spinal and skeletal health from road shock, but this is also over-blown, kind of like the steering limiter. A composite bike is fine for 2-3 year olds weighing under 40 pounds, but 4-5 year olds weighing over 40 pounds can be observed twisting the bike laterally (due to the frame's flexibility) Some parents would rather have a stiffly aligned bike than one that flexes, so make it your personal buying decision when you consider the pros and cons.
6. Seat. The seat of a balance bike should be ergonomic, meaning that it should have the shape of an adult bicycle seat. It is ideal if it's a little bit smaller than an adult bike seat, but this is not a major concern. We have observed some bikes with swoop shaped seats and others that are more like a horse saddle than a bike seat (usually it's the wooden bikes). One thing we prefer to see is a seat with a smooth surface- one that lets the child adjust their position fore/aft on the fly. As professional bike racers will tell you, the bike shorts need to slide easily on the saddle, so that the shorts do not slide against the skin and cause chafing/irritation to the sensitive skin down there. Kids are stabilized on their bikes with their hands and arms, there is no need to cradle their butts with a sticky saddle material, which effectively locks them on there and makes it impossible to bail when control of the bike is lost. There's a lot to consider here, so pay attention. Look at your child's crotch when they are standing in front of you, now look at the seat on the balance bike you are considering. The seat's width should be compatible with the space down there. If it's too wide it's going to bruise the inner thigh right below the crotch. Use common sense.
For now this is certainly enough information to help you to correctly make that $100-200 buying decision. Decide which "features" are most important to you and narrow down your list using a process of elimination. This will make your buying experience a lot less overwhelming with the huge number of balance bike choices now available, and remember: none of them are perfect.
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