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It Gets Them Around
So, I suspect the scooter is on the decline for very little kids because suddenly- and by this I mean for the last 2 weeks- I find myself dodging around a new wheelie phenomenon: the bike without pedals.
Am I late to the game? This is something that just seems ridiculous but I have to admit that the children I see wheeling themselves around on these things get up quite a head of steam and are just as good at banging into trees and terrifying their parents with short stops in front of busy avenues as kids with "traditional" bikes that you can actually ride.
I can't accurately describe how these things work, except to say that children sort of run with the un-bike between their legs and then kind-of perch on the seat while steering the front wheel with the handlebars in ways that are probably familiar to you.
A search revealed that these things are actually well known among bike enthusiasts, in Europe at least. There are versions called "Scooter Bikes," and then there are things that look more like bike than scooter. The idea behind them is that they supposedly train children to be more competent in the ways of balance and general bicycle comportment than training wheels.
The ones I have seen are smooth elegant wooden contraptions, and the Like a Bike, which seems to be the popular brand is attractive enough to be featured at the rather daunting "design store for children" that I look into from time to time and admire and then leave feeling that the toys are too lovely to even consider bringing into my house.
So, what's the word on these things? Do they help avoid training wheels? Is there something awful about training wheels in the first place? Isn't there something immutable about the rite of passage where a kid screams in terror as some beleaguered parent gives a wobbly two-wheeler a shove in some relatively empty park area? I vividly recall my own yelps as my father sent me rolling on my way. This is why in later years I signed up for driving school, declining his offers to teach me the rules of the road.
What's the deal? Are they fun for kids? They don't come cheap and I'm not actually shopping, but I'm intrigued, amused, hate skateboards, and I know that the Era of Wheelie Entertainment is closing in on me and I just want to be prepared.
posted by Elise at 8:00 AM
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said...
Never heard of 'em. Maybe I'll get one and be the first on my block to go jetting around in a faux bike. Seems pretentious, but I have a knee-jerk reaction to trends.
10/24/2006 10:42 AM
said...
The $300 price tag says "fly by night trend" to me. Seriously--$300 for a kid's bike? A real bike with actual pedals and gears shouldn't be more than 1/4 of that.
10/24/2006 8:00 PM
Elise said...
I don't know about trendy, necessarily. Maybe. The brief research I did suggested that these things have been around in Europe for a while (and it is also likely there are cheaper versions that my casual poking around didn't reveal, just as there are zillions of price points for roller skates).
But they are silly. Without question.
10/25/2006 5:20 AM
said...
They are actually great; kids learn to balance which they can't do with training wheels, as the trainiig wheels make you lean to the right or left so one stays in contact with the ground. Neighbor's not quite 4 year old went from the trike, to the fake bike to a real bike in 24 hours. We are borrowing it today. That's the key: borrow it and then pass it on.
10/25/2006 8:35 AM
said...
I know this is an old entry, but I live in Europe, and people have been riding these for a long time, even my husband had one as a child. All the children here have them. I don't think I have actually ever seen a child's bike with training wheeels - they seem to go strait into regular bikes after these no pedal bikes. The children love them!! They make cheaper knock-offs of the Like-a-Bike - at least here they do, which look more like dirt bikes but without pedals. I can't wait to get one for my kid when the time comes.
7/18/2008 2:23 PM
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