A milestone - Our first tricycle
By
on
April 20th, 2006
Print This Post
Email This Post
If you just want some pure tricycle advice, and not be bored to death by reading the whole post, I have a few hints for you. Select a tricycle that your child likes. What makes a bike attractive to a 2 year old is hard to say but make sure they are "compatible". Sizes vary a lot so make sure your child can reach the pedals. The seat should be comfortable and adjustable to avoid bruised legs. Get a bicycle with a little storage area in the back. It will might be filled with crap from your neighborhood but your kid will love you for it. Choose a tricycle with a free-wheel and a guide pole in the back. It will lead to MUCH less trouble and you will be able to go for long walks without averaging 50 yards per hour.
We had the privilege of getting Daniel his first bicycle this week. He's long been fascinated by bicycles and loves to ride. We live in a fantastic neighborhood which is full of young kids and cool parents. Our small apartment building and the one next to us share a large playground with a sandbox, toys, and a grass field. Both parents and kids in the area are totally awesome. What I enjoy the most is their ability to share and be generous. All toys that are in the playground basically belong to the community and are used by everyone. There are always kids playing and they've got their bikes, trucks, etc. with them. The kids share all their toys and the parents sit around and have a beer talk. It's really nice that most share the same idea of our children playing together without any arguing. (Click for larger picture sizes).
Our son is still a little young to be able to pedal his tricycle properly. But he's been on other peoples tricycles and bikes since last summer. Moving forward and backward with his feet, Flintstones style. It's really cute. The tricycle we got Daniel is considered to be the "Mercedes" of tricycles. The brand is called Puky and the model is the Carry-Touring-Tipper. If you're looking for a well made tricycle I can highly recommend this one. What's so special about this tricycle you might ask? It has a very low center of gravity to avoid flipping over, a hand brake, an adjustable guide pole in back so we can push him without breaking our back, and nice powder coat paint to resist scratches and keep the tricycle looking spiffy 
for years to come. We did elect not to get the air filled tires since that will make Daniel ride way too fast. But the best feature is without doubt the free-wheel. What's that? A normal tricycle has "direct drive", the pedals move with the wheel both forward and backward. But the Puky has a free wheel (which can be locked as well) which allows Daniel to pedal forward as usual but also to put his feet on the pedals and let us push him. Without the pedals moving. This may sound like a irrelevant detail but you will discover it's not when you try to move more than 25 yards with your child. If he gets tired or can't pedal, like now, we can simply push him for a while with the guide pole and he can still steer the bike. It's really awesome and enables us to take long walks with Daniel and the tricycle in a reasonable amount of time. We are looking forward to a nice summer with lots of adventures with Daniel and his tricycle.
If you're looking for additional cool toys, Puky got tons of other children's products. Scooters, bicycles, learner bikes, go-carts (without motor), carts, and some ultra cool first time vehicles for your 12 month old. All are built with safety in mind and are of excellent quality. They are usually a little bit more expensive than similar products with crap quality but I think it's worth it. We will hopefully save this tricycle and hand it over to our coming girl in a couple of years. I'm soooooo looking forward to that.
Hey, wait…. I commented on this on Friday. Did it get eaten? Love the picture.
Cool trike. I made the mistake of buying my two year old a proper bike with stabilisers and got frustrated when he couldn’t use it!
May 9th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
[…] Summer has finally arrived here in Stockholm and it's time for summer adventures with my son. One activity that we both really like is biking, or rather mountain biking. Daniel is too young to be able to bike properly, except on his tricycle, so when we bike together he rides in a bicycle child seat behind me. He loves riding in the bike seat and as soon as I get the bike ready he comes running with his helmet. Foxy Wife also enjoys biking but because of Tanditas, the nickname of our upcoming baby girl in August, biking is no longer possible. She's very cute but looks like she swallowed three soccer balls:-) But me and Daniel are looking forward to many nice trips during the beautiful Swedish summer. If you haven't tried biking with your child, try it. You will both love it. It's great way to bond and you can make it as easy or difficult as you like. You can go for short trips to daycare or the store, nice leisurely afternoon rides with a lunch (and wine) break, or focus more on hard workouts. (Click on images for larger sizes) […]
Jul 28th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
[…] Last summer Daniel was all over the tricycles but at 15 months old he was simply to small to reach the pedals. Or even reach the ground. At the end of the summer, when he started day care, he fell in love with their tricycles and used them daily. Not being able to reach the pedals he moved back and forth "Flintstone style". Incredibly cute! We put off getting a bike until this year and in April we excitedly bought our first tricycle. We rode around the neighborhood but Daniel never fell in love with the tricycle we got him and he started to become more interested in larger, real bikes instead. During our two week trip to Germany a month ago we made a quick stop at an amazing sports store called Decathlon. It's a huge place which has a test track for bicycles in the store. I was looking at some clothes and told Daniel to go and check out a lonely kids bike which was parked next to us. It was too big for him but I figured he could at least play with the bell or just look at it for a few minutes. Before I know it I hear Daniel calling "Pappa, Pappa!" and as I turn around I see Daniel riding through the store with a huge smile. I was surprised to say the least, since the bike was way to big for him (14") but somehow he managed to reach the pedals. We stayed in the store for an extra hour and Daniel rode back and forth, excited by his new skills. We decided then that we had to get a new bike, a real bike, for him as soon as we got back. […]