Since used-bikes typically sell below their asking price, our analysis tracks actual sale prices to determine Private Party Value. You will have to assemble parts of this bike, and it only comes in two colors (black and dark blue). But we love all of the added accessories, which make this cruiser the ideal oceanside ride. If a rust-resistant frame is your top priority, we recommend Chatham’s Plus Beach Cruiser Bike.
The Perfect Fit frame’s design has a raised handlebar that enables you to ride in an upright position. In addition, while you’re seated at a stop, both feet can rest flat on the ground. All these specific design elements, increase your confidence as you ride this Huffy cruiser bike. Cost depends on build quality, size, functionality, and additional features like electric assistance and cargo space.
The higher the torque, the faster the acceleration and the more powerful the bike will feel. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). When sitting, the child should be able to put their feet flat on the floor, and nearly all the child’s weight should be on the saddle.
These Fred Flintstone-powered criteriums were, not surprisingly, the brainchild of Strider founder and avid motocrosser Ryan McFarland. The zeitgeist of these races is nicely captured in this story and video by The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay, “The End of Training Wheels,” who describes a cross between Sesame Street and Mad Max. For this great Outside story, “Inside the Cut-Throat World of Toddler Bike Racing,” writer Ian Dille’s son actually competed in the race Gay was covering.
Considerations will differ per rider depending on a person’s specific situation and expected uses of the bike. Price, weight, and folded size tend to be the deciding factors for most buyers, but if you’re not picky about those, consider performance and ride quality. Choose a folding bike with a comfortable riding position, stable handling, and appropriate gearing for your typical routes. In terms of construction, the Banana Bike was nowhere near as easy to build as our other picks. It comes with axles and accompanying hardware pre-threaded and attached, but the trick was attaching them to the front and rear forks so that they weren’t too loose or too tight. This required some attentive wrenching with two wrenches (the bike came with only one) and paying close attention to the diagram on the instruction sheet.
Folding bikes, not surprisingly, have become increasingly popular among urban commuters, frequent travelers, and apartment-dwellers—all the kinds of riders who might have limited storage space. Cannondale’s $225 Trail Balance bike (it comes in boys’ and girls’ versions, which are identical apart from the colors) is unique, with its single-sided lefty-style fork, made famous on Cannondale’s big mountain bikes. The Woom’s beautifully cast aluminum forks are attached to a unique steering limiter, which is little more than a strap and a thick O-ring bushing. The limiter offers progressively greater resistance once the handlebar approaches a 90-degree angle, preventing the rider from making jarring and potentially over-the-handlebar stops. When your kid no longer needs it, simply pop off the O-ring and let it dangle.
If your beginner kid is old enough or large enough to graduate from a 12-inch balance bike to something bigger that will balance now and pedal later, the Strider 14x Sport should merit your serious consideration. Along with the also impressive but more expensive LittleBig 3-in-1, the Strider 14x Sport comprises half of a tiny market in 14-inch bikes that easily convert from a balance bike to a no-compromises first pedal bike. We were highly impressed with huffy scout bike the 14x Sport’s under-$200 price, comfortable geometry, wide adjustability, the sheer genius of its add-on pedal/sprocket setup, and its excellent printed and online instructions and technical support. More than a good balance bike, it’s an ideal bike for learning the pedal basics. Geometry-wise, the Banana is very similar to our runner-up pick, the Co-op Cycles REV 12. The curved frame is well-engineered with a very low step-in height of 8.5 inches.
Its surface is not too slick and not too sticky and comprises a durable yet just-soft-enough foam rubber. The bike comes with two easily interchangeable seat tubes—one short (8.6 inches) and one long (11.5 inches)—allowing adjustment heights from 11 to 20 inches, the widest range of any bike we tested and among the widest of any balance bike. Combined with handlebars that can rise nearly 5 inches on their own, you have a tiny bike that could be comfortably ridden by our 2-year-old tester and even my 8-year-old son.