Review on 🚲 Strider Sport Balance Bike - Ages 3 to 7 Years - Pedal Conversion Kit available separately by Andy Jolley

The wheel concept is brilliant and the Strider is the best in the business in my opinion. My son got his Strider 12 Sport at 3 and has never had to use training wheels. He was mastering his balance at 4 and outgrowing his current Strider so we bought this bike along with a set of pedals to see if we could get him to pedal instead of push. Well less than a day after arrival we had the pedals and he learned how to pedal well, mission accomplished! The problem is that after the conversion to the pedal bike, it was so-so. It has many aspects that make it a good pedal bike: lower center of gravity, light weight and strength. The biggest downside is the length of the pedals. Since this bike has to be low to the ground to function as a balance bike, there isn't much ground clearance for the pedals, so they made the levers on each pedal VERY short. This doesn't allow a lot of torque to be transferred to the pedals, meaning that going uphill is a lot more difficult than with a traditional "taller" bike. The street we live on is on a hill so half the time he rides he's pedaling uphill and two days after buying the bike and pedals my son got the hang of it and we were wondering if we should have bought it. Unfortunately we kept him and he likes the bike but I know he would have it easier with a bigger bike. Balance is a much more useful concept than pedaling and it can be a wonderful bike. If your child is on the verge of mastering balance I would skip this and go for a more traditional pedal bike.