Once upon a time, there was an inventor who decided that children would learn how to balance on two wheels more successfully if bikes were smaller, lighter and less complicated. The LikeaBike was born in the 1990's in a woodworking shop somewhere in Germany. It was small, light weight and had no cranks, pedals or chain. Foot to floor propulsion and foot to floor braking was thusly born, and literally millions of children age 2-5 have benefitted from this original idea, all over the world, relegating training wheels to the same junk pile as rotary phones, dot matrix printers and 8-track tapes. What has any of this to do with steering limiters on balance bikes? Well, as they say if you cannot explain it very simply, then you do not completely understand it.
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| LikeaBike is an award-winning balance bike that has been imitated in one way or another by every brand which followed it. |
Look at this picture of a wooden LikeaBike balance bike. This original design has not changed in 20 years. As we can see, the integration of frame and fork is such that
limitation of steering is not a choice, it is physically necessary.
Some Many would contend that this is a deficiency of the bike, but thank goodness for clever [emotional] marketing. By presenting the horrible image of your child [potentially] turning the handlebars 90 degrees at high speed and flipping through the air (this never happens), LikeaBike's weakness was changed into a strength. The supposed "safety feature" called a steering limiter was then designed into many of the newer balance bike brands which now populate the market,
because it sells.
We recommend that parents avoid getting too excited about whether a balance bike has a steering limiter or not. It is a design flaw that has been masquerading as a safety feature for the past 25 years, and if the adult bike that you rode every day had a steering limiter, you would fall down. A lot.
Where to buy LikeaBike Balance Bikes:
WeeBikeShop: Balance Bike Professionals since 2007
