Which balance bike for small 2.5 year old?

[PenguinsdontEatPancakes]

We are after a balance bike for our small 2.5 year old. This is mainly because her big sister is getting a 'big' bike for Christmas and I know she'll get far more chance to ride it if DD2 has one too.

She's quite small for 2.5 (probably roughly age 2 in size, although her legs are reasonably long). And I'm not planning on it being a massively 'serious' bike so would rather not spend big money (e.g Islabike would be out of our price range).

I know balance bike threads have been done to death, but I can't find anything specifically on this so wondered if anyone had recommendations?

We got a red puky balance bike for my DD when she was 3. The seat is easy to adjust, think it would be small enough for a 2.5 year old. She loves it. It's solid and seems well made. She quickly got the hang of if and can keep up with my DS on his bike. Think it was between £50 & £60, but you might be able to find it cheaper.

I second the PUKY bike. Although I wouldn't go for the smallest version - we bought the LR1 for our daughter last Christmas (she was just 2). She now whizzes round on it - it was a little big at first (she is small for her age) but compared to the smaller model, it was a much better buy. I paid about 80 pounds for it inc delivery and a pump.

They have good resale value so you can always sell it on after she's outgrown it unless she has a younger sibling who can use it.

A Strider bike might be quite good.

Sorry. I somehow missed these replies. Thank you. I will check out those brands.

Penguins - we had an identical problem a few years back, with our v small ds2. We found the puky bikes looked lovely, were sturdy and well made, but just still too big for him!

We ended up getting this one from toys r us. If you are after a wholesome wooden one then this might not fit the bill, but we had so many lovely comments about it and ds was bubbling with excitement that his bike was just like his big brothers. We heard one little girl say in amazement "look mum, a baby on a bike!" (He really was very wee for his age :))

Its tucked away in the garage for our grandchildren as he has outgrown it- or at least it was until I fell unexpectedly preggers with dc3 so it will have another outing sooner after all.

Has withstood lots of knocks (and bigger children riding it) and moulded wheels are surprisingly sturdy. Only down point is that where it has been chucked on the ground so often, the rubber handle grips have worn through on the ends but these are easily replaced.

Hope you either find a nice small bike or dd has a growth spurt!

I know you've said Islabikes are out of your price range but have you checked to see if there are any secondhand ones available?

We had a similar issue with size (though in our case it's DC1 who's small). I had a look at several balance bikes but some of them are actually quite heavy, which means that the bike topples more easily (also means it goes faster downhill once they have the hang of the bike - not sure that's an advantage from the parent's POV ). It's worth checking that your DD can lift the bike up. Our DD couldn't physically lift the heavier ones from the ground. We bought an excellent condition secondhand Islabike for £60; DD neither knew nor cared that it wasn't brand new. Islabikes are aluminium; steel is a fair bit heavier (my road bike is aluminium with carbon fibre forks, weighs about the same as the Islabike balance bike - some of the steel balance bikes weigh the same was my relatively heavy aluminium mountain bike). Wood can be lighter or heavier depending on type and quantity used.

It's also worth looking at other features. The Islabike has brakes. These were essential for DD as she could really get up speed. She also liked doing skids... The islabikes are the only ones that use scaled down components too, so little brakes for little hands. Obviously if you can't find a secondhand Islabike, or they're still out of budget, these are still aspects you might want to check regardless of the brand.

DD's now 4 and we've bought her a Cnoc, next Islabike up, because she wants pedals. DS has been riding her Rothan (isla balance bike) since 18m. He's big but not THAT big!

It may be worth sending an email round to parents of your DD1 asking if anyone's likely to be getting rid of a balance bike around Christmas time, or even if anyone has a balance bike you can look at/test out first? If you can wait till ater Christmas, you may find that there are suddenly lots of used balanced bikes available on Gumtree, eBay, etc, as they've been replaced by shiny Xmas presents. Depends on whether the bike is DD2’s main present or being bought because you need it so that DD1 can ride hers!

We've got a strider bike it's brilliant because it's so light, if they're small they can't really control any weight .

Are u near a decathlon? V good value ( think £35) and when dd started school they ran a bike training session. After balance bike she learnt to ride 'real' bike in half an hour x

We've just bought a second hand ISLABIKE for DD, who will be 2 in Jan. It still looks a bit big but is in good condition and was about £45 from someone in a nearby village - definitely worth it!

I can recommend the red Puky.Dgs had the blue one which was a bit big at first but we were able to borrow a red one and it was perfect-he was a very small two year old and it lasted till he was nearly 3 and ready for the bigger one.Before 4 he was pedalling his Isla bike [no stabilisers].

My DD has a strider. We bought it for her 2nd birthday and she mastered it at just over 2.5. She's on the small size but it fits her perfectly. We spent quite a long time deciding and in the end we were won over by how light the strider is - makes it really easy for her to control and she can easily get it up and down steps etc.