Learning To Ride Her Big Girl Joovy Bicycoo Balance Bike

Embarrassing confession time: I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until I was nine years old. I could roller skate and roller blade like a champ by the time I was five, but bikes…they were a no-go.

I spent my early childhood years – until I turned six – in L.A. We always lived in apartments and rental homes that never had any particularly great places to practice riding a bike so I just never did – at least not one without training wheels. Then we moved to Oregon, to a house that was “way out in the country” (by city kid standards) and I was instantly placed in a neighborhood where kids ran around and rode their bikes all over the neighborhood all day long.

Before our move, I was kind of a “indoor kid”, but after our move I quickly learned the ropes of being an outdoor kid. The one thing I didn’t learn though? How to ride a bike. All the other kids my age in the neighborhood already knew how to ride them so instead of admitting that I didn’t know how, I decided to just use my rollerblades as my main mode of childhood transportation.

This worked for awhile, but eventually my dad thought I should learn…at age nine. I remember being super embarrassed to learn because not only was I nine, but I was a pretty big nine-year-old at that, so I felt totally ridiculous. It took a bit of doing, but eventually I figured it out. I never did come to love bike riding though. I think a big part of it was that I didn’t get started early enough and by the time I could actually ride a bike, I was into the preteen vanity stage of not wanting to wear a helmet on forced family bike outings. I guess it stuck with me and I’m still not a big fan of bike riding to this day.

All of this was to say that I knew when I had a daughter that I didn’t want her to have the same bike riding experience. Bike riding can be a really fun family activity and I wanted Fern to get her start early. A lot of our friends’ kids have had balance bikes and I knew that was the route I wanted to take (you can check out this post about balance bikes V.S. training wheels if you want to know more). I don’t want her to become dependent on training wheels like I did and I am determined that there will be no awkward photos of a nine-year-old Fern riding a bike with training wheels.

Enter Joovy’s Bicycoo Balance Bike…

Joovy sent us this balance bike for review and I’ve been super impressed with it. I had seen a lot of balance bikes out there, but many of them were a lot heavier – made of wood or steel – and seemed a bit cumbersome for a tiny person. Joovy’s Bicycoo is just the opposite though. It has a super light aluminum frame that makes the bike light enough for Fern to carry with ease, and pneumatic (AKA: refillable with air) tires which will hold up to lots of toddler rides and abuse much better than the plastic tires on many other balance bikes – they also give a lot better traction on less than smooth surfaces like our bumpy street. There is also a hand brake for the back tire once Fern gets up to speed on it.

When the bike arrived we took it out for a spin and Fern was thrilled. She’s seen all the bigger kids in the neighborhood with their bikes and you could just see the pride beaming on her face. We quickly realized that she’s still a little on the young side for the Bicycoo (she’s 2 years + 3 months). The seat was adjustable and we were able to make it the perfect height for her, so that wasn’t the problem, it was just the fact that gross motor skills aren’t exactly my daughter’s forte so I wasn’t terribly surprised by this realization. Even so, she had a lot of fun just walk/riding the bike around for now…with a little help from her Daddy on occasion. I think the Bicycoo would be completely appropriate for other kids Fern’s age though and I think it’s still appropriate for Fern since getting an early start will help her as she takes a little bit longer to get the hang of it.

We’ve only been able to use it a few times thus far since the weather in Oregon hasn’t been particularly cooperative, but I’ve seen Fern’s confidence grow each time she gets on it and it’s been fun seeing her slowly acquire a new skill.

We chose the black and white Bicycoo, even though there are quite a few color options (red, blue, green and pink) since we thought it would be the most versatile for passing down to Baby Brother when he’s old enough for a bike. I also wanted to go neutral with the helmet, but Craig convinced me to live a little and pick something that would make Fern happy. So we went with Joovy’s Noodle helmet in pink and she was obviously stoked.

 We’re loving our Joovy Bicycoo and looking forward to the summer weather when we can use it on a daily basis and we can continue to help Fern build up her gross motor skills!

If you’re on the hunt for a balance bike for your little one, I definitely recommend you check out Joovy’s balance bike options. They also have a BMX version for your future X-Gamers, so there’s that. P.S. I can’t even believe I have a child old enough to have a bike! Where does the time even go?

Love and bikes,

Lauren (& Fern!)

{Disclosure: Joovy sent us a balance bike to facilitate this review, but as always I only share products I really love and all thoughts and opinions are my own.}