“It’s like riding a bike, you never forget”.
That statement is great and all, but what about learning to ride a bike in the first place?
Learning to balance on two wheels is not an easy task. I can tell that my son, even at his early age of 19 months, is intrigued by the ability to ride/glide on two wheels.
Pedaling is not, and never has been, the fun part about riding a bike. If it was, I don’t think motorcycles would exist (don’t take me to the stand on that one, I’m just making an observation).
What is fun about a bike is the balancing, the wind in your hair, and the ability to feel the road underneath you– or at least that is what I enjoy.
I wanted my son to be able to learn how to ride a bike and learn the skill of balancing in general. He loves riding around on trikes, four-wheeled power wheels, and more. None of these added the skill of balance.
I asked some friends what they recommended, and after talking to a few, I found FirstBIKE and I was immediately intrigued. The concept seemed so simple yet FirstBIKE does this so well.
A balancing bike with everything thought out. Simple.
However, the implementation of such a bike… not so simple.
But that is exactly what I have found to be the case with FirstBIKE.
I absolutely love the safety features that are obviously the focus of this design. I also love the ability to grow with my son.
For safety, FirstBIKE has made a remarkably lightweight (seriously, I thought my wife had started slipping me spinach or something), flexible frame with weatherproof, injection-molded, composite materials. What this means is I don’t have to worry about splinters, rust, or really even damage in general to my son’s bike. In addition, the hand-controlled brake is easy for me to adjust so that when my son pulls the handle (regardless of if he knows fully what it does yet or not) I don’t have to worry about him coming to a screeching halt, or pinching something in the process.
Another feature I have come to love is the steering limiter. At first, I found the steering mechanism odd, but after further inspection, I understood the design a little better. The steering limiter counteracts my son cutting a hard right completely by accident… this feature means there is only so much damage that he can do with that hard right turn. He can’t turn perpendicular to where the bike is going, throwing himself over the handlebars — not too far off from what his father (that’s me) did a handful of times growing up.
I also noticed the horse-saddle-shaped seat is both comfortable and stable for my little one learning how to ride.
All in all, this bike is incredibly customizable, something that I wish my bikes were “back in my day” — all I had were some playing cards to make it sound “cool” — and remarkably safe. I know that my son is on the road to riding a full-on big-kid bike and can enjoy his FirstBIKE while he learns to balance and enjoy the wind in his hair.
