What could be more joyful than your baby’s first crawl or their first steps? Well, I thought little could match this early milestone excitement until we witnessed our toddler’s first bike ride. I might have even wept a little…
Our 3 and a half year old had been constantly asking for a pedal bike after being on a balance bike since he was almost two. My other half Justin @alldadstalk went through a lot of research to understand when is the best time to make the transition from a balance mode to pedals, how to do it and which is the best bike on the market. Transitioning a toddler to a pedal bike can be slightly challenging, therefore we were so excited when we discovered LittleBig Bikes THE BIKE THAT GROWS with your child (thanks, instagram, for the initial convincing pixels!).
Engineer and cycling enthusiast, Simon Evans of Irish company LittleBig bikes developed a great concept of a balance bike designed to grow with your child after spending time working in a bike shop while observing how parents always came back getting a new bike each time for different ages.
After testing the bike for a couple of weeks now and observing the toddler’s reaction to his new amazing toy, we can be completely honest with all parents reading this: if we had any idea the Little Big Bikes existed a couple of years ago, we would have gone straight for getting one. Yet as we didn’t know about it then, we purchased a tiny balance bike which did its job decently, however if we knew there’s a bike that could cover our child’s needs from the age of two to the age of seven (LittleBig claims to adapt to growing child’s needs), we would have made a different purchase. The balance bike was a good start, yet the lack of inflatable wheels made the ride uncomfortable once he was really confident in gaining speed. The LittleBig new bike came with proper air tyres and what a difference this has made!
Nonetheless we were truly amazed at how quickly Lucas had progressed into a more than confident pedaler. He only tried the balance mode for a few minutes, as we quickly realised he is ready for the pedals he’d been asking for so many times. We delayed getting him a pedal bike as we thought we must change several by the time he’s 7-8 years old, which would indeed become costly for any parent.
Designed & hand assembled in Ireland, the award-winning LittleBig comes with a sleek design and a great price attached if you consider the approx 5 years investment. Converting to a pedal bike can take a bit more work, but can still be completed in about 15 to 20 minutes. If you check the website, you’ll find a clever blog with lots of clever tips such as reasons why you shouldn’t use stabilisers on your kid’s bike.
From a mum’s perspective, I can only say that this bike is the best cardio. For myself! Trips outdoors are not what they used to be, I now must try harder and keep up. We used to drag him to the nursery, but now he’s so excited to wake up and jump on his big bike for a good ride out. During the weekend he’s doing bike competitions with Justin and he’s somehow always winning 😉
From the founder of LittleBig Bikes, Simon, an engineer who cycled around the world:
Kids won’t ever stop growing, so why not make a bike that can?
Thank you, LittleBig Bikes for creating such a great bike, it ticks everything on the requirements list. It will most likely be passed onto our second 😉
Also, thanks Blade & Rose for the cool outfit and wellies, ready for the muddy puddles!
