Customer Reviews

Strider PREbike Balance Running Bike

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, let me say that I am an avid biker, having spent thousands of dollars on my own bikes which have accumulated thousands of miles.

This bike is a great idea. The basic design is good. The quality seems to be questionable.

The Strider I bought brand new came with flaking paint and stickers peeling. The plastic and foam wheels wobbled a bit. The headset is plastic, and it's stiff and doesn't turn well. The flimsy plastic seat is covered with a very thin and soft vinyl and attached with a single small bolt. The handgrips are also very thin and soft, prone to tearing and exposing the sharp bar ends. Both seat and handlebar clamps are flimsy, cheap, and don't work well.

I do like the foot rests and the basic design. As far as I know no other bike fits smaller riders. The foam tires are great for indoor use but I would prefer real tires for outdoors. The optional foot brake is a much better idea than a handbrake for kids to use. The concept is excellent. My 19 month old took right to it. But...

Basically, every part of this bike is made as cheap as possible, typical of what I would expect of a $40 Wal-Mart bike. This is priced around $100. Now, I don't expect top quality at this price. Nor do I think a toddler needs top quality. But I do expect it to at least be comparable or better than full-size bikes in this price range (which still isn't saying much). The Strider is not.

After spending a few days with this bike I was simply unconvinced it would hold up to one kid, much less two. That's not to say it can't. I ended up taking it back and getting a KinderBike. The KinderBike was actually cheaper but of much better quality with alloy wheels, real tires, quick release seat clamp, 4-point adjustable angle seat, proper steel ball-bearing headset, aluminum stem, durable handgrips that are not easily torn, a handbrake, 50% greater weight rating (75lbs), and a three-year warranty. Downsides are it's 3.75 inches taller, doesn't have any kind of foot rests, and doesn't offer a foot brake. But I have found the last two items really aren't as important as you might think.


Update: The minimum seat height of the KinderBike is claimed to be 13.5", however I measured it at 14.75". This is a considerable difference, making the Kinderbike too big for most two year olds and even many three year olds. So we returned it and went back to the Strider. But if your kids are tall enough, I highly recommend the KinderBike, there is no doubt it is built to last longer. At a lower cost, it's really a no-brainer. But again, only for taller/older kids with an inseam of around 15" or more.

I would add a star back if I could, for the sole reason that the Strider gets your kid on a bike sooner than any other metal balance bike I'm aware of. I guess I'm willing to sacrifice quality for that, but I'm still not happy about it considering the price.

***UPDATE 4/09***

Well, not surprisingly, my son's Strider handgrips tore almost immediately, exposing the sharp bar ends. I also started hearing a clicking sound in the rear wheel like a bearing was going out. I contacted Strider about this and they sent me out a new wheel and handgrips immediately, no questions asked. I believe it was even the owner himself that responded. The new handgrips they sent are similar to the ones on the Kinderbike, reinforced on the ends to prevent tearing out. Much better. The foam tires have also held up fine so far and the convenience of not having to air them up is nice.

My son really loves this thing and is still too small for the Kinderbike, so it was worthwhile to buy this despite the problems. Hopefully Strider Sports is learning some lessons and will improve future models because it truly is a great idea.

***Update 6/10****

I do think my initial concerns were overblown. After hundreds of miles this Strider has held up just fine and is ready for the next kid. I still think it's overpriced for what it is, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anybody due to the light weight, low seat height, easy (basically no) maintenance, and how much fun our son has had on it. Striders do come with good handgrips now. I see you can update your rating now so I have changed it to 4 stars because my son has gotten much more enjoyment out of this than anything else we have bought him.

I have contemplated removing much of my negative review, but I still feel they are still valid comparison points. At a lower price point they would not be.

My son loves this bike. We got it for him a few months after he turned 2 and he took to it almost immediately. The only thing I had to teach him was to sit on the seat.

I recommend this over the wood bikes as it is more durable, and the foam tires are maintenance free, no flats. We leave it outside except for when it rains (and occasionally when it rains if I forget) and it has held up well.

This is ideal for young or shorter kids as it has the lowest seat height (11 inches is the min height) of all the ones I researched. My son tried out the scutt bike at a toy store, and he was too short for it at 2 1/2, and he's between the 75th and 90th percentile for height. If your kid is a little older/taller, you might also look into kinderbike (13.5 inch min seat height). They look similar and are ~30% cheeper. I'm only going by the website though, don't know anyone who's owned one before. Balance/running bikes are just awesome overall as most kids don't figure out pedals until they are at least 3 years old and they can go alot faster (= more fun) on balance bikes than tricycles.

You can get replacement hand grips from stridersports.com. If your son/daughter is rough on his bike like mine is, you will need replacements at some time. They are cheap though.

As a dad I bought this little bike hoping it would help my four year old and maybe even my 7 year old learn to bike without their training wheels and without the trauma of crashing. My seven year old already had the balance, but lacked the confidence. This Strider fit the bill perfectly! My seven year old barely fit on the Strider, but still had a blast running then sitting and gliding on the bike. She did it indoors a few times, then for about thirty minutes with it outside. It was fun to watch her quickly learn to balance and glide further and further each try. Literally within thirty minutes and even trading off with her brother, she had figured out how to balance and glide down our short driveway and out into the street. While she was playing I took her training wheels off of her other bike. She hopped on it, and with a bit of a push she was riding! She giggled as she rode and said "this is just like the Strider!" Too easy! My four year old is progressing quickly too. On our second day out with the strider we went to a large parking lot with little traffic. While my seven year old had a blast tooling around the lot without her training wheels, my four old made longer and longer glides on the Strider. After an hour he could glide over twenty feet on a gently downward sloped part of the lot. It won't be long until he is ready to try his bike. Good thing too because he's almost too big for the Strider already. What a great teaching tool! The Strider seems well constructed for what it is. It is light and easy to assemble. It has tread spots on the back fork where the kids can put up their feet. It is low to the ground. My four year old is 42 inches tall and is really too tall for it already, but he manages just fine by bending his knees and stepping out to the side a bit. I paid $78 shipped and feel like it was worth it. My kids confidence level went way up when I outfitted them with knee and elbow pads and gloves to go along with their helmets. The gloves have saved their little hands from painful road rash more than once. Bell sells a package that has all the protective gear together for a reasonable price.

UPDATE
4-15-09

I'm happy to report that with time and practice the free-range steering is not that much of an issue now as it was on day one and week one.

So far the Strider is holding up well to punishment both functionally and cosmetically. It is very light for both my son and me, so it's very easy to carry home when he's not in the mood for riding. And it's easy to pop into the car.

I've already raised the seat once. My only complaint thus far is that the cap fell off the screw end, so now I have a bolt end exposed at the bottom. I am going to cover the end with some epoxy to prevent scrapes.

* * *



We've had this bike for only one day, and I can tell you that there is probably a better intro bike for toddlers with a feature that this model lacks: limited steering. The lack of limited steering makes this bike's learning curve a lot steeper simply because the novice rider (mind you, a toddler) has many actions to think about: keep butt on seat, keep feet near ground, balance and push with feet, hold onto handlebar, watch where I'm going, don't turn too sharp...

The front wheel tends to slip sharply left and right when a toddler loses control over his steering, then the bike starts to fall. I got on this bike myself to test it, and if you cannot fine-tune your steering, the wheel *can* jerk sharply. I would have preferred a bike with a limiter parents could loosen or remove later. And for $100 you'd think Strider Sports could have included the option or made it an option for this design.

I am going to keep working on this with my son and will update my review again.

Our three year old daughter has a Kettler balance bike, and her 18 month old brother always wants to ride it, but it is hopelessly too big for him. I bought the Strider on impulse and it seems like a good solution. The size is right. The seat tube and neck design are a little cheap -- it's hard to keep the handlebars aligned without tightening them to the point where the tube gets crimped. It's good enough for his emulation of his big sister, anyway.

We got this bike for my son for Christmas (he's 28 months) and he absolutely loves it! It is, by far, his favorite toy and even though it's cold right now he rides it around the house with no problem. It took him a little while to get the hang of it but once he did it's all he does all day long! The bike is super light weight (he can pick it up with one hand, it's easy to maneuver, it was easy to put together, and it looks like a real bike which he loves. I would recommend this for anyone looking to get a bike for their little one. I know they will have a blast and you'll be happy with your decision.

I was skeptical about the quality of the Strider bike after reading some negative reviews and delayed ordering it for this reason. After some more research it turned out to be the only one small enough for our 2 year old daughter, so I did order it from a website where I could return it for free (they would have covered even the return s/h) for whatever reason, halfway expecting that I would not be satisfied with the quality. I was pleasantly surprised. It seems to be well made, slightly overpriced, but you pay for the design and the lack of availibility of balance/ walking bikes in the U.S. vs. in Europe (I have seen ones for as low as 10 Euro in Germany). We have had it for a few weeks and our daughter loves it and gets better and more daring on it every day. She is also getting quite fast on it, so I will soon be able to get a workout by "power-walking" while she rides it. I think this is the way we are going to go on "walks" in the future. She prefers it over her trike any day.

We've had the Strider Bike for about 1 month now. At first I was very concerned that he wouldn't want to ride it because he loved his tricycle so much, but now he never touches the tricycle. It only took a week of walking around with the bike before he was doing short glides, now he's an expert he can glide down hills. Every once and a while he'll get on his tricycle but then quickly abandon it because it just can't do the things that the strider can, with the strider he can stop on a dime and whip the bike around (this is good for riding back and forth through puddles) on the tricycle you have to do wide sweeping turns, which just frustrates him now. He can also go in the woods, and up hills, where he just didn't have the leg strength to pedal the tricycle in the woods or up hills.
On a personal note I love the Strider it's very very light, unlike the tricycle, if I have to pick up my son and carry him anywhere the strider is so light that he can carry it while I carry him. I highly recommend this bike.

I have over 10 years of experience in the bicycle industry as a bike shop employee and then a professional mountain biker. Although not "bike shop" quality, I believe this product will hold up to a two-four year old's abuse for a couple of years if you keep it out of the elements. I would definitely recommend this over the other brands which are made of wood. It has reasonable adjustability to adapt to just about any size toddler. My son is >95%tile 22 month old and I had to drop the seat and bars to the lowest position.

I suggest you skip the tricycle and get this product. Then your kid can go from this straight to a pedal bicycle without training wheels. Whatever you do keep your kids active. We have enough obese adults already!

I bought a pink one and a blue one for my boy-girl twins about a month ago. They were 18 months old when they got the bikes. My daughter is right on the 50% mark for height and when we first got the bikes she was on her tip-toes, but luckily with-in two weeks she fit just fine. Both my kids were really cautious in the beginning, but now they are cruising. At 19 months they are picking their feet up and gliding with the bikes. Every day they ask to ride their "big bikes." I would buy these bikes again in a heartbeat.
I do have one complaint about the grips. The first time they kids dropped them down the handlebars ripped through the end of the grips. Everything else has held up to the abuse of toddlers, I just think that the design of the handle bar grips need a little hep.