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. Giant’s Pre is on a par in most respects with the Co-op REV 12, including the price, but it’s available only in bike shops, making it harder to find. A nicely narrow Q factor—the distance between the cranks—keeps a child’s legs from splaying out while on the pedal and allows them to generate power more easily. Still, the REV 12’s fit and finish are top-notch, it’s fun to ride, and the support and availability you’ll get from REI, both in their brick-and-mortar stores and online, makes this bike a solid backup choice.
Huffy understands a comfortable bike ride begins with a comfortably padded seat. As soon as you sit down, you’ll feel like this Perfect Fit frame is designed specifically for you. As you pedal, your legs can fully extend forward, which helps to eliminate wrist, arm, neck and leg fatigue. In addition to that, I ride on the miles huffy trail runner and miles and miles of perfectly manicured bike paths strategically placed throughout my 55+ gated community. I may live in an active-adult community, but this grandma isn’t over-the-hill yet! Huffy mountain bike I’ve added a few photos of my Huffy hangin’ out in Solivita (which means ‘Life in the Sun!’) where I live.
We tested a few bikes with foam tires and found all—including the Strider’s—slid out far more easily than inflatable rubber tires on smooth surfaces like wood or tile floors. But the Strider tires appear to be made of a marginally softer and grippier material than our other foam-tired bikes, which helped mitigate some slides and handled bumpier dirt trails reasonably well. It also was nearly assembled right down to its pre-attached wheels, which were perfectly tightened so they spun freely without any play. Step-by-step instructions, both printed and online, were easy and fun and never frustrating.
It includes ATB resin mountain bike pedals that are lightweight and tough enough to be difficult to break. We also tested the budget Kazam v2e, which features the lowest step-in height of any bike we tested, at 6 inches, and a wide, comfortable footrest. We had issues with the width of its rear tubes, which rubbed our tester’s legs. Agile, simple to assemble, and sporting a useful rear hand brake, this is the balance bike for bike enthusiast parents who want their kid to have a pro-level tyke bike. Ryan McFarland, John Bradley, WeeBikeShop’s Ivan Altinbasak, and most everyone I interviewed consider training wheels to be about the worst thing you can put on kids’ bikes. The ride is simple — no confusion with handbrakes, or with shifting multiple speeds.
Modern V- and disc-style hand brakes are superior because they allow a child to stop with the pedals in any position—potentially important in an emergency stop situation. The 14x’s closest competition, the hybrid LittleBig, which is manufactured in Ireland, sells its 3-in-1 model as a hand brake–equipped balance bike and offers its freewheel pedal/sprocket assembly as a stand-alone option. In the US, North Carolina’s Glide Bikes does the same huffy nighthawk thing with its 12-inch Mini-Glider. The 14x Sports sold in non-US markets (keeping up with international bike standards) will, in fact, feature a freewheel and linear-pull hand brakes. Unlike the smaller Strider, the 14x gives nods to traditional bicycle construction. It features the same, simple nylon headset assembly as the 12 Sport, but because the handlebar itself is curved, its angles are thus adjustable like the bars on a BMX bike.