To consider spending £60 on a balance bike for a 2nd birthday?

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DS is going to be 2 shortly and me & DH quite like the idea of a balance bike. The puky one gets good reviews and looks good but as much as I think DS would get on well with it, part of me is thinking "£60 for a 2nd birthday?!"

AIBU to be considering spending this amount??

Just realised I left the bit out where I meant to say that 2 year olds can control their speed and direction and be in control.

Ds1 learned on a puky and it was great but quite heavy. He didn't master it until he was 3; he was on pedals at just 4. For ds2 I bought a second hand Isla bike - smaller and lighter - that was only £60. He is getting to grips with it already.

I would recommend a balance bike as the perfect second bday present.

If you can get one with a brake. The madthings rode them from 18 mths/2 yrs and would use the break etc, I always jogged alonside them.

Madthing5 got a Cnoc 16 isla bike for her 4th bday :) and Madthing4 just got an early bday present of a hoy bonaly 20". My kids cycle to school everyday, it's two miles and are always out on their bikes at the weekend. We are a ccycling family though, dp has four bikes... Ime it's worth getting a good quality light bike for kids. You can get them secondhand and always pass them down or sell them on.

I got a Strider for DD3 for her 2nd birthday. It was the lightest one available and it went the lowest, which considering she was tiny seemed like a good idea (she was 10kg and under 80cm at 2). She is now 5.4 and still rides it, so I consider it money well-spent (and the cost was of that order). If I'd got a heavier one, she wouldn't have been able to use it until a year later.

Dd had one at 2 - 80 quid I think from mil. Absolutely brilliant!!

We got DD a Puky balance bike for her 2nd birthday. She completely refused to use it because it doesn't have pedals. It is now in the roof waiting to see if DC2 will give it a go, otherwise it will end up on eBay. We bought DD a bike with stabilisers for her 4th birthday and she loves it, but will be on the stabilisers for a while.

What is £60 really, I'm as poor as piss but the kid will get so much pleasure from it. Consider buying a proper little bike, my dc was three when they could ride without stabilisers.
Ellie Kelly shoes cost that much.
Money well spent I say.

We bought our 2 year old an Islabike Rothan for Christmas last year. It's fab. She can lift it herself as it's so light. The seat has a good range for height adjustment. It's been a hit. We got it second hand on Gumtree.

We had balabce bikes. Best thing ever. My only thoughts are

1. do u have one child or planning more? I would get better quality to pass in.
2. I spent time carrying ours when first in use. Wooden ones are much lighter.
3. as they're so good at their job mine were on pedals at 4 so it's not used that long
4. I tried the normal bike without pedals. It doesn't work. Don't do it!
5. get the lowest seat u can find unless your 2yo has long legs Happy shopping Ps after buying expensive ones I then bought a cheap £20 new off a Cardiff company on ebay. Fab but smaller

Bought DD one for her 2nd birthday on advice of friends. Was about £60. 2.25 years later it's still never been riden. The £10 second hand one with stabilisers that we bought last summer on the other hand..........,, .

My 4 year old is only just big enough for a balance bike. He got unlucky on the inside leg measurement genes.

If you can afford something and it will last, go for it!

It's a fantastic way to teach them to ride a bike. Much better than stabilisers. The sooner the better I say, as long as his feet touch the ground.

we just got an old tiny bike (from the tip i think) and took the chain and pedals off.I think we had to use an angle grinder though, the pedals took some getting off!

I believe you on point 4 Cadenza
I was thinking that would be a good idea, but have thought more about the actual chain etc... could be a pain. And heavier.
I'm thinking of getting either a Stompee or a Zooom for my DD's 3rd birthday in the spring.

We had the puky one - it's great, DD has ridden a proper bike without stabilisers from the age of 3.

Definitely get it

We got our DS the i balance ( that's the brand) from tesco direct just before Christmas. It was only about £40 and us great. Plus though, we had tesco vouchers to use up, so it cost next to nothing.

For my sons second birthday we bought him the wooden one (can't remember what brand it was) for £45. It was too big for him to begin with so had it lying about the living room until he got the hang of it at 2 and a half. It wasn't until his third birthday that he really got the hang of it so got him one for £50.
I would buy a cheaper one for his second as he'll probably be too small for its, anyway, and then you can buy him a decent one on his third.

I haven't read all of the responses as I have an apparently 'starving' toddler who can't wait for dinner (despite the fact he hasn't stopped grazing all flippin afternoon!!) but I fully recommend a balance bike.

My ds became obsessed by bikes at a very young age as his daddy is a keen biker so we bought him a Haro Z10 when he was 18 months old. We got it half the price as a friends' brother owns a bike warehouse and passed on the trade discount

Anyway, ds is now 2.9 and is riding a bike that he got for xmas with no stabilizers. The transition has been pretty good.

We got DS a chicco red bullet for his second birthday. It's great however the saddle is now at its highest point and can go no higher. DS is now 2.4 so it hasn't really lasted. Whatever you get check the growing room! He also has a mini micro scooter which is fantastic - certainly worth the money as it will last a few years.

Thanks so much for all the advice. We did go with the puky in the end as I liked the low middle bit. He should be ok as his leg is 31 and the minimum height is 30. Although it took him a while to be comfortable scooting on his scuttlebug so expect the same with this. We got it in a gender neutral colour as we do hope to have another DC so it should hopefully last!

Well done - you won't regret it!