Customer Reviews

Schwinn Scorcher Boy's Bike (16-Inch Wheels)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Before reading this, please understand that we sold our car last summer, so our family uses bikes for every-day commuting, be it to/from work, to/from preschool, or just grocery shopping. Bikes are less "toys" for us, than hard-working transportation that must function well!

We got this for my son for the holidays, just before his 4th Birthday. There were some issues with the manufacturer that delayed shipping, but the seller made herculean (and successful!) efforts to make sure the bikes all arrived by Christmas.

My husband assembled this bike late Christmas Eve in the livingroom. While the manual was less than helpful for this (Schwinn, apparently, makes one general manual that covers all types of bikes, and therefore doesn't feel it necessary to make model-specific manuals -- or assembly instructions!), he was able to get it ready in a reasonable amount of time. Like all bikes, it comes with the tires deflated, so I had to take it to get air in them. (Perhaps this is why one reviewer complained the tires were fat and soft?)

I was immediately impressed with how sturdy the bike is. Strong. It looked cool -- it was also going to withstand anything my son was likely to put it through in the years to come!

The first time my son tried it, we discovered the training wheels were set too low: The rear tire wasn't making enough contact with the ground to give "drive". A two-second adjust, and that was fixed.

The low "rise" in front of the seat makes it easy for little boys to get on. The combination of coaster and hand-brakes gives many options for learning to stop. One unexpected "bonus"? The front pegs actually keep the weight of the bike OFF the body during falls!

We've had the bike for one month now. He's gone from shakily riding to the corner while I strolled slowly next to him, to riding it to school (a 3-mile trip).

PROS:
* Sturdy contstruction
* "real bike" quality
* coaster AND full-caliper brakes
* Reflectors
* Quick-adjust seat
* Front pegs make falls safer (who knew?)
* Bike is tall enough for an adult to "walk" without breaking their back
* Can easily keep up with an adult on a full-sized bike.

CONS:
* My son's hands are not yet LONG enough to use the caliper brakes, because the levers are so far from the handlebars.
* Handlebar structure makes it difficult to mount a basket
* Training wheels are loud. (But, then, all training wheels are loud.)

It works, I'll give it that.

The coaster brake causes so much drag on the hub that my five-year old has difficulty pedaling.

The bike is sturdy - too sturdy. It's too bulky and heavy to control well or get started without a push. The tires are so fat and soft they actually interfere with steering.

Like I wrote in the title: you get what you pay for. Spend the extra money - get a real bike at a real bike shop. It will make a real difference in your child's riding experience.

Our 6 years old, who is tall and well built, fell in love with those bike when we were browsing Amazon for bikes. He loved the color. The price seemed a bit high, but given the brand, we were all waiting excitedly for the bikes to arrive. Great disappointment for me: I am appalled by how heavy those bikes are, compared to bikes our son's friends have, which are not less sturdy. I should have paid closer attention to the shipping weight: 45.8 pounds !!!! I did not weigh the bike, but its probably around 30 pounds, or about half of our son's weight! He is still mastering the art of bike riding, and falling with these bikes is painful due to their heft - lots of iron for little kid's bike. Fortunately, he is not really aware of those issues, and loves the color.

Very high quality product. My rough and tumble son has taken a few spills on it already and it is holding up outstanding. I Highly recommend it!!

This thing is heavy - that's a good thing. The material is thick, the welds are great - it will last forever. Compared to other brands that I looked at, Schwinn's build is much, much better.
The hand brakes are a little weak.

This Schwinn bike has held up so well over the years. I bet we have at least 200 miles on this bike, in that we rode one summer 10 miles per day on the Erie Canal. The gearing of this bike is just enough so that the kids are not having to pedal like crazy to keep up, nor is it so low that they cant make it up small hills. The training wheels have wore out and we replaced them but that was after many months of riding all the time. We gave this to my daughter after my son moved up in bike size. Its cool colors for a girl too. She looks great on it and is having a blast this spring riding it on our driveway/street.

Quality (+)
Great quality, only minor oiling of the chain and pumping of the tires and its still going strong. I discouraged my son from skidding to a stop, (which I still like to do) and that has saved the back tire. Even so, I think we have another year left in these tires.

Comfort (+)
Once you have the seat height set the kids never complained about their tush's hurting at all on long rides. Hand brakes can be a bit hard for the kids to use at the bottom end of the age group, however, there are always the pedal brakes so they have many options to stop.

Highly recommended!

Thanks for reading my review.

I read about this bike on several websites while shopping for a birthday gift for our 6 yr old grandson. Most sites mentioned the problem with the packaging. I tried to get the bike locally with no success and decided to order through Amazon, a trusted name, assuming they would be dealing with a reputable supplier and handle any issues promptly. WELL.. the bike arrived in a broken box, scratched up and with parts missing. It was delivered on a Saturday, his birthday, but BabyAge, the supplier is closed Sat and Sunday. Amazon said I had to deal with them and only after they would not help us would Amazon help us. I emailed BabyAge and Amazon and I and my son talked to them first thing on Monday morning. Baby Age promised to follow up. My son waited a day or more and got no follow up. The woman at BabyAge would not speak to him. I had already emailed Schwinn directly to tell them of their packaging problem (I am sure I am not the first person to do this). Baby Age finally told my son they could do nothing until they heard from Schwinn and that might take 2 days or so. My son called Schwinn directly and they were GREAT. The bad bike was picked up the following day and a new one arrived the day after. BabyAge still had not returned my son's call. By the way the second bike was also in a broken box but all the parts were there and there were no scratches.

Got it today and it arrived quickly. Took about 30 minutes to assemble. Training wheels are loud. I think we need to oil it because it's hard to petal for my 4 1/2 year old. Overall, I think it will be a great bike. No complaints.

The bike is cute, that's the only positive. The bike is HEAVY. I understood it wasn't an aluminum frame, but this is so heavy it may have been constructed with solid steel. The heft I could get around but the bike is so hard to pedal that I'm considering buying my son a different bike and giving this one away. If only I still had the packaging this bike would be returned.

I purchased this for my 3-yr old son, as he really wanted a bike for Christmas. We had tested kids bikes at REI (very nice, but very expensive), and at Dick's sporting goods (they had a good Diamondback on display, but it was damaged).

I had a neighbor to hide the box in his garage when it arrived, and I put it together a few days later. It is shipped in the original Schwinn box, and it may not be durable enough for UPS shipping as we had several holes/tears in the box. (I found out during the assembly that I was missing some of the handlebar padding, which may have fallen through one of the box holes).

As for the assembly, well it could be better. I am an engineer, with a whole garage full of tools, and boy did I need all of my brains and my tools! Schwinn only sends a generic black-&-white booklet for assembly instructions, and they might as well not send any for this bike. As an engineer, I have written hundreds of work instructions to be used in multi-language environments, and my wife has a masters in Technical Communication. We both concluded that Schwinn definitely needs to do some work on the booklet. Luckily I was able to figure stuff out on my own.

I had one problem putting the front tire on, as the wheel posts on the forks were welded too close together. With a little bending and prying, the wheel finally dropped into place. I also had problems with the front brake adjustment (one side kept rubbing the wheel, and the cable connections needed adjustments. One hour later, everything was good.

Today was Christmas, and my son tried out the bike. He loved it, and rode it for about 45 minutes.

My summary: If you get it put together, it looks like it is durable enough to last for a couple of years. Until your son gets old enough to hit you up for a more expensive bike...