I don’t know about sizing but we got a guardian bike for my 6 year old and we’re pretty happy with it. Not sure how well it truly works as a balance bike because we got him the 20” which he was barely big enough for. It’s also a bit heavy to be a balance bike. He preferred to use his old 12” strider as a balance bike until he was comfortable enough to pedal. If you can find a 14” strider on fb marketplace that might be a good compromise for the time being, since you can get pedals for that.
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Oh, I have the perfect bike for you on sale right now! Ridgeback Scoot XL 14-Inch Balance Bike in Blue – Tikes Bikes
Also in pink and red.
Larva had the 12” of this bike, and it was already a very big-little kid bike because the frame is longer and taller than most balance bikes, and the XL is even bigger and with 14” wheels.
Unless you think you’re going to jump to pedals instead (and yes, they do come off easily on good kid bikes) and even if you do this is still a great bike for trails and pump tracks and stuff for stability as a true balance bike.
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You can really take the pedals off. Spore rode a 14” with pedals removed for most of age 3-4, and when we added pedals he picked it up quite quickly since he was already comfortable on the same bike.
I don’t think you need to spend $500. I would look in the used market for a good, lightweight option - lightweight is worth it since it’s such a huge % of their body weight. Woom 3s go for around $300 used (oof) or Woom 2s go for around $200. The good thing is if you get those used, you can turn around and resell them for almost the exact same price. There are great quality brands with similar emphasis on kid-friendly geometry and lightweight that aren’t as “famous” as Woom (Isla bikes, Pello, Prevelo, Cleary, etc) and probably cost ~$100 less on average and even more discounted used because it’s not the name brand. https://www.twowheelingtots.com/ is a great resource.
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Thanks to you and @frogger and @AnneBeddingfeld , this is all really helpful and has stopped me from making a mistake (trying to use too heavy a bike as a balance bike).
Further research reveals that the cuckoo, who is 3.75 years old, is a whopping 42" in height has a mere 17" inseam, so she could ride a smaller 16" maybe if she was really confident but she’s not.
I was feeling a false sense of urgency. There are 6 weeks left in the school year so I can stalk FB Marketplace and Nextdoor for a while, seeing if I can grab a Woom 2 or something in that vein. If nothing turns up, I can buy something.
The Ridgeback is maybe a little rich for my blood but Two Wheeling Tots also recommends the Retrospec Cub Plus XL, which is a similar concept - a big 14" balance bike - but a lower price point and still quite light: https://retrospec.com/products/cub-plus-xl-14-kids-balance-bike-2-6-yrs?variant=44048705978540
I don’t love the Strider for her because I think she would really like a hand brake. I see her trying to slow down her tricycle and using the foot brake on her scooter, and she’s strong enough that I think once she gets going she might be really fast.
While I would snatch up a good price on a Woom 2 or whatever, pedals aren’t a priority. She’s tall and growing fast, she may be ready for 16" when she’s ready to pedal.
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W went right from a trike to pedaling a very small two wheeler at that age, but shifting to the next size up from that really threw him because it had hand brakes! So it’s a good idea to make that change right from the beginning.
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Forgot to ask, did you remove the crank arms or just the pedals?
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We did just the pedals. For a couple months he kept flip flopping between wanting to try pedals and going back to scooting. So it was nice to have that be minimally disruptive. Taking the cranks off entirely would be even lighter though, if you want to go that route.
Another vote for hand brake sooner rather than later.
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I am also Team Handbrake, especially for bigger kids.
I think maybe Retrospec didn’t have the XL when I was looking? Or if they did I’d already seen the Scoot and I was in love. I may have had…reasons (see below) for buying it over others, but the only regret was not getting it sooner. It was worth it, even with Larva on pedals three months later, because I credit it for getting her on pedals.
Which any appropriately sized balance bike would also have done, lol, but I am very sentimental about it. Terrible financial ROI, though. The Woom 2 for first pedal bike paid for itself because I bought it off the Marketplace and sold it a year later for the same price.
Reasons.
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There’s a Woom 2 on the marketplace for $300 and now I am agonizing over whether I should buy it or stick with my plan of getting a pure balance bike. She hasn’t independently mentioned wanting to pedal but when I asked her if she was interested, she said yes. $300 seems a little steep but I suspect it will still get snapped up.
ETA: Advice welcome. I am agonizing over this way more than it’s worth!
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It’s not an outrageously good price and it’s early enough in the season that there will be another eventually. It’s also not a terrible price if she wants to give pedals a try, even if it ends up sitting in the garage for a while longer. Either decision is fine.
The Woom 1 Plus is another 14” balance bike to keep an eye out for used.
Myself I’m starting the hunt for a 24” for Larva, because I know what I want and she could make the leap by the end of the season and probably will have to by next year.
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The important thing is what color is it, lol!
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LOL, it’s blue and I’m sure she would rather have pink! I was waffling and I think it’s pending now to someone else. The Cub Plus XL does come in pink (only pink and gray, not the greatest choices).
Your two bikes together are SO cute!
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After growing out of the 12” balance bike we bought <$100 14” and then 16” bikes from Walmart/amazon. We just removed the pedals until they were ready for pedals. That worked really well for us and didn’t break the bank. D2’s new 16” bike is a Walmart bike that we got at play it again sports for $30.
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FWIW, my mites are very light for their height (current tot is 10% weight and a little above 50% height), and so the weight stuff really matters on the bikes for them. We have done used Wooms for Latte and it’s been wonderful. The learning hand brake, then being able to take pedals on and off as she waffled about wanting them, was wonderful. Wooms sell fast in our area so I’m not at all worried about offloading our Fleet once Luna outgrows them all.
We also had one we got that needed some work, and it was as easy as an adult bike to do. You can replace everything on them just like a “real” bike so that’s a very nice aspect. That one we’ll easily be able to sell for much more than we bought it for, which is really nice too.
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If I see another Woom 2 I will snatch it up, now that I have seen how fast they go and for what price! The mid price balance bike I’m eyeing is also very light, actually lighter than the Wood (cuckoo is a skinny thing, too - 37 pounds fully dressed) but of course no pedals.
Did you do the freewheel kit or leave the coaster brake?
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We got the freewheel kit but Latte figured it out before we installed it.
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Freewheel! Though if getting it used, often they come with it pre-installed (I brought home the Woom 2 with freewheel installed and the coaster wheel in a grocery bag and handed it off in exactly the same way) since the ability to pedal backwards is like 60% of the point of a bike like that.
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The coaster brake is legally required for small kids bikes, but that was added ~1960 before other, more effective brakes were invented. Various groups are filing for the specific brake type to be removed from legislation.
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This is so helpful! I’m sure those dumb brakes are why B1 struggles so much
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