I really like the idea of Balance Bikes, I am still haunted by the days when I was learning to ride a bike myself and I struggled so much with it because I just couldn’t get my balance. Little Bean still cannot ride her bike without her stabilisers but try as I might, she just will not try riding without them. I keep showing her all the children in her class who can now ride a bike without the ‘extra wheels’ but she is just not interested at all. Beanie Boy on the other hand is a different kettle of fish, he wants nothing more than to ride his bike and is always eager to jump on it and have a ride around (with stabilisers). I think that perhaps given the right encouragement he could even be riding his bicycle by next Summer and perhaps that will be the encouragement for Little Bean too.
When the Kixi Razor Balance Bike arrived, Beanie Boy immediately exclaimed “Mummy is that for me?” and then punched the air with a “yeah” when I said it was. He has been begging me every day to build it for him but unfortunately for him we have had something on every single day which has taken up the time needed. That is, until tonight! This evening I opened the box and got cracking with his balance bike.
The bike arrived in three pieces, the front wheel, the handlebars and the remainder of the bike. It was very easy and straightforward to put together however it didn’t come with an Allen Key so it was lucky that I had one in my toolkit. I’m not sure if it was missing from the box or if you just don’t get one?
On first impressions the bike is striking in colour with the blue/green colourways. It feels strong and sturdy and is very tall – it is recommended for age 3+ but I think this would need to be for a tall 3 year old. I like that it has puncture resist tyres, one less thing to worry about!
We took the bike out into the garden so that Beanie Boy could test it out but as I feared it was about 2 inches too tall, he was adamant that he would be fine on it and with Little Bean’s help he mounted his Kixi Razor and then promptly fell off when Little Bean let go. Fingers crossed in the next month or two he should be tall enough to ride it without any problems. Not to be put off though, Little Bean tried her hardest to help him back on and then showed him how to do it, telling him (in her high pitched Mummy voice) “when you’re a big boy, you can do it like this”. He responded with “you can borrow it for now”. Bless them, they have their moments but they love each other really!
DISCLAIMER: We were sent the balance bike for the purpose of this post. All words, images and opinions are my own and may not be copied without my permission.