Balance bikes to normal bike

[LizziePizzie]

Is there a brand/ type of balance bike that you can eventually put wheels on? It's my DD 2nd birthday coming up and that is what we would like to get her.

You mean eventually put cranks+pedals on?
You could get a 12" wheel regular little bike with pedals & bottom bracket. Take off the pedals+cranks+bottom bracket until you think she's ready for pedaling, then put them back on.

But have to say I think it's much easier/cheaper to buy a good quality balance bike, and also buy a basic pedal 12" wheel bike from carboot for £10, and have both available.

best brands?

You mean best brands for balance?
I would avoid anything with plastic (not pneumatic) tyres. Punctures are a faff but you could inject slime into the tube to reduce the risk & plastic tyres are just a very rough ride for the child, otherwise. I'd choose solid wheels over plastic ones, even.

You could do a lot worse than buy a 2nd hand Islabikes Rothan off of Ebay, I've seen them going for under £70 recently, even ones in quite good nick. A 2yo will not care if it's less than perfectly new looking. And it will have resale value if you look after it.

We have a LikeaBike which is terrific, but not as robust as a metal balance bike & new the Like-A-Bike costs more than the Rothan (for instance).

Brakes are a good feature, saves wear & tear on their shoes!

St. John's St. Cycles sells decent quality balance bikes, I think (look for them on own website or Ebay).
Wiggle.
Hudora & Puky are popular, but they seemed heavy when I looked closely.

Personal dd had bike with trainer wheels didn't get on with trainer wheels at all so looked into other ways. This was 7-8 years ago and balance bike were just coming in hard to find and expensive as she had a bike. So went to the local tip and brought for under a £5 a smaller bike. Got home took of the pedals and in under 6 months pedals went back on then with in day she was able to ride her bigger bike.

Not sure you can buy from the tip an more but car boot sale are good for things like that. The important thing is the bike has to be to small for the child so feet can be placed flat on the ground.

Agree with Adventures (great name!) - Islabikes are great, and have the advantage of having a brake, so the child already knows how to use it when they move up to a pedal bike. They're much lighter than most. Our Rohan was used heavily used by our two girls, and was still in great condition by the end and got a good resale price on Ebay. They both learnt to ride a normal bike within hours, and neither are particularly blessed in co-ordination skills.

We couldn't afford both, so got a good quality bike and took the pedals off. Worked a treat.