My kids love our family bike rides in their trailers and front toddler seats and are dying for the day they can take off down the trail on their own. Unfortunately, they don’t have the balance or coordination necessary to send them off without training wheels, which is why we love Prince Lionheart’s line of balance bikes that are just like kid’s bikes but without the pedals.
If you haven’t seen a balance bike before, the concept might seem a little foreign, but if you’ve ever been to a park and watched a little kid who can barely walk tearing it up on a little wooden bike, it suddenly makes sense. Once you take the pedals out of the equation, it allows kiddos to focus on the balance portion of learning to ride without the fear because their feet are always ready to catch them or slow them down if they should get scared.
My daughter was lucky to get a chance to use the Prince Lionheart whirl balance SCOOTER last year as she’s been very interested in learning to bike on her own. She’s loved cruising around the yard and neighborhood on her adorable little Vespa-inspired wooden scooter like she’s in Paris, on the way to an art museum or corner café.
The neighbors all love seeing her cruise down the street and she gets lots of smiles with her helmet and pink scooter. The only issue was that now we have two bike-loving kiddos and only one Prince Lionheart balance bike, so we’ve been on the hunt for a second bike so the two could ride together.
But, last month we got to see how ridiculously cute two kiddos on balance bikes are and it is heart melting. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The Prince Lionheart chop balance BIKE arrived just a few days before Christmas when it was raining almost every day, so we were thrilled that there has been a break in the weather so we’ve been able to get out with the two of them and enjoy some {cold} fresh air and get back to biking.
Like the whirl balance SCOOTER, the Prince Lionheart chop balance BIKE is adorable and durable, with high quality rubber tires, padded seat, rubberized gripping pads, and smooth steering. But instead of a Vespa-inspired design, it looks more like a chopper, which is perfect for my son. Just look at this happy little guy on his motorcycle, I mean bicycle.
I should note that the seats of the Prince Lionheart balance BIKES are adjustable for height, but because of the way the chop balance BIKE is designed, it cannot adjust as low as the Prince Lionheart balance SCOOTER. Even on the lowest setting it’s a tiny bit tall for my little guy, but he has mastered balancing on his toes and doesn’t mind a bit as long as we go slow. However, if he’s looking for serious speed, he always reaches for my daughter’s balance SCOOTER so he can get some flat-foot launching speed.
When we’re not able to make it to the trails, the Prince Lionheart balance BIKES are fun to use on the porch and driveway, making our own Balance City with roadways, gas station and
more. And, for those days we just have to get out but only have a small break in the weather, it’s a great way to run down and pick up the mail and say hello to all of our neighbors.
As the weather gets nicer in spring, I know we’re going to have a ton of fun cruising the trails and parks near us watching their balance and coordination improve until they can really go zooming off. I know that even after they have mastered the balance portion, the Prince Lionheart balance BIKES will still be fun for trying new tricks and then up until they eventually graduate to their own 2-wheeler without training wheels.
If you have a little one who is getting ready to ride and wants to try heading out on their own, I would highly recommend the Prince Lionheart Balance Bikes as the perfect way to familiarize them with biking without all the worry. Whether you go for the classic balance BIKE, the chop balance BIKE or the whirl balance SCOOTER, you and your little one will be thrilled that they will be one step closer to riding on their own, without the use of training wheels.
Take a minute to watch this short video Prince Lionheart put together to show how they put safety first… starting with the littlest Prince Lionheart fans.
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big thank you to Prince Lionheart for sending their chop balance BIKE to facilitate this review. As always, all opinions are 100% ours.