My son Firstbike

[AUbicycles]

Balance bikes are great - the little kids pick them up really quickly and it is a much better 'learn to ride' process than a pedal bike with training wheels.

The adjustable seat is a good thing for this brand. The model with a single (rear) brake is an extra $40 and in particular young children will not have the dexterity to use these - for small hands the brake lever can be out of reach let alone operating it. Sure, the kids shoes will get trashed more quickly, though stopping with feet is more natural and a brake on a pedal bike is fine.

[trainedmonkey]

My kids both started with JDBug balance bikes. Balance bikes are great for kids because they really help them get the feel of riding. We did find the transition to bikes with pedals a bit of a challenge. We bought a trail-a-bike which seemed to help them get the idea of pedalling, and the two sets of skills started to come together for them on their own bikes.

[Mulger bill]

I just pulled the crankset and chain and dropped the saddle way down for my two.

[queequeg]

Hi, my son has been struggling to ride a bike all summer long, I was looking for good bikes for children and I found this page http://firstbike.com.au/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , they got a quite positive evaluation, any comment about their bikes?

My son has a FirstBike Street with the rear brake. He has had it since he was 2 (now 4), and he loves it. At the age of two the brake was not a concept he understood, but at 3 he was all clued in. The lever is kid sized with reach adjust. It is a drum brake and not overly powerful, but he figured out he can still do skids on it.
The FirstBike has a steering limiter so it is impossible to make erratic turns. The construction is pretty solid. It should provide many years of service, and will be handed from my son to his younger brother.

[MattyK]

firstbikes look pretty good. There is lots more discussion in the Children's Bikes section.

[AUbicycles]

This post is a little unusual as the original poster has deleted their post. Queequeg has quoted the original post.