- So you're two-and-a-half years old. I present you with two balance bikes. Which are you gonna choose? Are you gonna choose this
$1,000 carbon fiber race bike? Or the pink one? Well, if you're two-and-a-half years old, the answer might not make sense, but that's what I've been trying to do for the last six months. I've been taking all these
balance bikes everywhere. I've been letting my daughter ride them. Relatives, my friends' kids. I've been getting feedback,
making observations, and learning some surprising things about relatively high-end balance bikes. Now, I'm well aware that
there are $45 balance bikes on Amazon and they have high ratings. People love 'em. But then on the other hand, overkill. (upbeat music) - [Child] Hoo! - Now, I know for hundreds of years, there have been bikes that
you kick with your feet. But this specific category,
toddler balance bikes, was really started in
the mid-2000s by Strider. They're very, very low to the ground so that kids can reach. Their center of gravity is
lower so it's easier to balance. And everything on this
bike is safe, right? There's a pad across the handle bars. The bar ends are not just normal bar ends. They're these huge pads.
The seat is soft everywhere. Even the axles are bolt-on so that there are no kind of sharp edges like you would have on a nut. And so other companies have followed suit with their own balance bikes,
all with different features, some designed for very specific purposes. Balance bikes have transcended
their original purpose, which was to teach a kid to ride a bike, teach 'em to balance. Once they're done with the balance bike, they're onto a pedal bike
and they say goodbye to it. Not anymore. Balance biking as an activity
can actually stand on its own. They have races like World
Cup balance bike races. Don't look at this as just
the new training wheels. Look at this as something that
your kid is going to remember for the rest of their lives, something that your kid
is gonna be obsessed with. Mine is. And that's a great thing. Being obsessed with balance bikes? How many kids do you know
are obsessed with a tablet? Now that we've hopefully established why the premium balance bike category even deserves to exist, we can talk about those subcategories, starting with the cross-country bikes. (gentle music) These are the balance bikes
that are the easiest to push. These are the easiest to cover ground with because they're really, really light. There are no frills or extra features. These are just designed to push. You're gonna cover the most miles on one of these as a toddler. And that's why I call
them cross-country bikes. They're a lot like
cross-country mountain bikes. Those are optimized for
climbing and covering ground. So you can see at the higher end, we have this Specialized Hotwalk,
which retails for $1,000. I've seen it for 500. It
is made of carbon fiber. It has carbon fiber handlebars,
carbon fiber wheels, proprietary tires. Specialized is not the only company that has made a carbon balance bike. Strider also has. And
theirs is very similar. Carbon everything. Carbon seatpost,
handlebars, wheels, frame, fast-rolling tires. Everything on this thing is geared for efficiency and speed. But even for under $200, this aluminum Strider is almost
as light as the carbon ones. Now, one thing you're gonna notice in the cross-country category is that none of these bikes have brakes. Even the $1,000 one doesn't have brakes. Your kids' feet are always on the ground and so they can put
their feet on the ground when they wanna stop it. Why make it more complicated? Now, it's funny, on the
Specialized in particular, they list all of the geometry. This handles really well. It has really twitchy, nimble handling, just like a cross-country bike. And these are also great
on mountain bike trails, assuming there's not a long,
long sustained downhill. That's probably not gonna be a good idea for any balance bike, except if it's an Enduro balance bike with nobby tires and
hydraulic disc brakes. Now, this seems odd, because once a kid is
able to modulate a brake and ride a downhill mountain bike trail, you would think they'd be
on a pedal bike already. But like I said, these
have transcended that. It's a lot safer to ride
on a mountain bike trail on one of these, honestly, because they're so close to the ground. And the brakes are quite good. The Commencal comes
with a SRAM level brake and the Kids Ride Shotgun
comes with a Magura brake. Bikes in the Enduro category are gonna come with
high-volume nobby tires. In fact, both of these
have the same exact tires. You can air them way down to like six psi and your kid will have a really cushy ride and those knobs are gonna
help stop the bike quicker in the dirt. Enduro balance bikes are
actually shaped a lot like real Enduro bikes. They're longer and slacker. They have slacker head tube angles. They have more fork offset. You're also gonna find wider handlebars. They're actually more stable than other balance bikes
when they're going fast, especially in rough terrain. They're pretty heavy. You can see on both of these
bikes, they have a top tube. They have triangular bike
frames just like your bike. Now I suspect that this
is a styling decision. You can make this strong enough for a toddler without that top tube but it's there and it
does make it look cool. And if you don't think that's important, my daughter is really drawn to this bike because it looks like her Dad's bike, and I take her mountain biking. But a big, heavy, aggressive Enduro bike with a hydraulic disc brake
might not be for everyone. And so we have the hybrid category, or in this case, the
performance hybrid category. And just like a real performance hybrid, you can take it on the road, you can take it on a little dirt. They have brakes and they're
a little bit more affordable because they don't have
hydraulic disc brakes. They have V brakes, which
are easy enough to pull, and certainly strong enough to stop a kid who is not racing an Enduro. And in general, the hybrid balance bikes just
have a good mix of features. For example, all of them have a quick
release on the seat so you can adjust the height. That's really useful when
you have multiple kids using the same bike. You don't have to get
out a tool every time you have to adjust the saddle height. And because the weight of
them isn't quite as important as a cross-country mountain bike, the frame has a shape that
makes it easier to step over. It's not so optimized for performance. But these are indeed quite light. They're much lighter than
the Enduro balance bikes, and they're actually pretty good off-road. But aside from categories, there are also individual features that these companies have been working on to differentiate themselves. And some have found their
way onto mini balance bikes, like footrests. About half of balance bikes
seem to have footrests. It's just a place to put your
feet when the bike is coasting or a way to use the
balance bike as a scooter. Now some of the performance
hybrids don't have these because the V brakes get in the way. Most of the bikes in the
cross-country category do. Even this carbon Strider
has this grippy surface on the back that you can stand on. And the Specialized
does not have footrests because it's all business. It'd be like putting a kickstand on a high-end cross country bike. And then there are hand brakes. Some people say they will
not get a balance bike for their kid without hand brakes. Other people say their
kids never use the brakes. Like putting your feet on the ground is just more intuitive. But I like the fact
that the brake is there because eventually it can
be a learning experience. This is on a big pedal bike and
so it's good to have it here so they get used to where
it is and what it does. On the Enduro bikes, you
have hydraulic disc brakes, which are extremely powerful. You can stop the bike with your pinky. Now a lot of parents do take
issue with the disc brake for multiple reasons. One reason I've heard mentioned is that on a long sustained downhill, it can get hot and burn you. I don't spend much time
worrying about that. A much more likely scenario is that the bike is gonna be laying down. And your kid's just gonna
be spinning the wheel and put their finger in the disc brake. And so I really appreciate
that on the Kids Ride Shotgun, there are these guards
that cover the spaces between the splints. Tires are also an important consideration. There are foam tires and
there are rubber tires. Most of the better
bikes have rubber tires, and for good reason,
they roll so much better. And on rough terrain, it
provides tremendous benefits. But foam tires actually
have their benefits too. This plastic rim and foam tire combination brings this aluminum balance bike down to a very similar weight
to this carbon balance bike. And the difference in price
between the two is like $800. Now another feature that I love to see is a soft steering limiter. You can see on this woom bike, you can only turn the handlebar so far. This prevents your kid
from steering too sharp, which is going to make
the bike go right down. And also, if they fall over, kids have a tendency to
get their leg trapped between the handlebar and the frame. The soft steering limiter does
cushion that a little bit. The woom comes with one and the Prevelo looks like
it has the bolt holes for it but didn't come pre-installed. There are also features on
these more premium bikes that you can kind of take for granted, like bearings, rather than bushings. And you can also assume that the company put some time, thought and
testing into their design. But in spending months with
all these balance bikes, I've also made some observations that you're not gonna
find listed anywhere else. For example, these tires say 35 to 65 psi. For a 25-pound pip squeak, I'm not pumping this up to 35 psi, right? Even though on rough pavement, they're gonna see a benefit
in stability and traction. If you're worried about like
unseating a tubeless tire, or tire rollovers, then
fine, pump it up more. But I'm not spending a lot
of time thinking about that. Now, another observation that
I've made time and time again, if it's the purple one,
sometimes that's important, especially when you're
trying to get a two-year-old to do something new. Also, specifically in the Enduro category, when the bike looks
like Mom and Dad's bike, it really has a big effect on
their motivation to ride it, and their excitement. They're not going by which
one has the sealed bearings or what the frame material is. They're toddlers. Now, another thing I've noticed is that geometry actually matters a lot. When my daughter was first
starting on a balance bike and kind of getting the hang of it, the cross country bike, she actually had a lot more trouble on than the Enduro bikes. Because the Enduro bikes
are longer and slacker and more stable, and they tend to just hold
a straight line easier, whereas the cross country
bikes are made to be nimble and twitchy and easy to maneuver, and sometimes they were too maneuverable and she would get unstable. But with that said, we spent a
lot of time with these bikes. Which ones stood out? Well, if you have a pile
of 'em on the ground and a bunch of toddlers
just grabbing at 'em, they all seem to fight over this one. The blue carbon Strider. First of all, it's very striking. It's got a bright blue color. And then when they get on it, it's so light and it rolls so well. It's just impressive. It is refined. It's got a really cushy
seat and so good choice. Now, my daughter always
chooses the same two bikes. If they're all laying in a pile, she either chooses the
woom one, this pink bike, or the Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt
Hero, which is surprising. This is one of the heaviest
bikes in the entire lineup. The woom is actually
one of the lighter ones, but she also likes to ride in the dirt and blast down grass hills. And this one's gotta feel a lot better. It's shaped like an Enduro bike. It's long, it's low slung, it's slack. It's easier to hold a
straight line on this bike. And so if you know your kid's
gonna be riding in the dirt and doing a lot of downhill, the Enduro category actually delivers. But it's also possible that the
reason she chooses these two is that the woom one is pink and the Dirt Hero has
a purple unicorn on it. Now, if we're going by a
mix of features and value, my favorite one of the bunch
is the Prevelo Alpha Zero. It's got a standard headset you can adjust with stack washers. Nice, easy, step over. It's relatively light, it's
got internal cable routing. It's got a quick release on the seat, relatively high volume tires. And they smartly positioned the V brakes under the chainstay to
keep them out of the way. And it's priced at $220. I
think this is the best value. But if cost is no object, my favorite balance bike is clearly the Specialized Hotwalk Carbon. This thing is so refined. We did an entire video
with me riding this around. Even having seen all
these other balance bikes, this is just the best design. It's got the best tires, it's got the best frame, it's super light. And despite being clearly
a cross country bike, it's really, really stable. On sale for $500, this is a really, really
good balance bike. But for some reason, kids never
seem to reach for this one. They always go for the
electric blue Strider. At the end of the day, toddlers are gonna have
different priorities than we do. So I hope you had fun talking about balance bikes with me today. I feel like I kind of had to
get that out of my system. I hope I'm still riding
bikes at 80 years old. And if I do, it's gonna be the people
who started on these who are running the world. And so whether you're
getting a $50 balance bike, or spending some money on something extra, you're doing your part
in starting 'em young. If you have no intention of
ever buying a balance bike, I hope you at least found
this video entertaining. And if the only reason you clicked it was to leave a comment about how I'm finally reviewing bikes
my size, that's fine too. Thanks for riding with me today,
and I'll see you next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)
