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The Glide Bike is a cross between a two-wheel bike and a scooter.
There are no pedals to pedal, so the child simply sits on the seat,
pushes off on the ground, and then brings his feet to rest on the
footrest. There is a handle brake on one handle as well. The Glide
Bike comes in several sizes, but we were privileged to review the
Mini Bike. The idea is to teach a child to balance on the two wheels
without needing to concentrate on pedaling too. The larger bikes
are also appropriate for special needs children who may not have
the dexterity to pedal but want to ride a bike too.
The packaging for the Glide Bike is ingenious, as you use the
packaging in the process of putting together the bike. It comes
with an irregular-shaped tool that is the wrench for all the nuts
and bolts in the bike. It also came with an instruction booklet.
The only additional tool you need to put this bike together is
problem-solving thinking abilities. While the instructions were
11 pages long with lots of pictures, there were many errors and
a few steps missed. Some of these errors included recommending
the wrong size wrench part or not mentioning or showing a pad that
needs to be moved to access a nut. Some of the pictures were a
little dark and difficult to follow. Despite these problems with
the assembly instructions, the bike was quite sturdy once it was
put together
The bike also has several special features. For example, most
bikes have a brake cord that wraps down the frame and around to
the wheels. This cord could get caught on something, especially
if a small child is riding the bike. The Glide Bike runs the brake
cord through the frame of the bike so that there is no wire to
get caught. Another nice feature is the wide tires, which make
balancing easier. The entire bike weighs only 8 pounds--perfect
for a small child to maneuver. Other special features, according
to the manufacturer, include lead-free paint, foot pegs, low center
of gravity to assist balancing, kickstand, and EVA foam tires so
air is never needed. Poor instructions aside, I really like this
bike, as does my four-year-old. She feels so grown up getting to
ride a two-wheel bike like her older brother. Now if only I could
keep her older brother off it! He wishes he had one too.
Product review by Marisa Corless, MH, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine,
LLC, March 2011
In the three and a half months since I submitted
my review of the Glide Bike, I have become even more impressed
with its effectiveness as a tool for teaching a child to ride a
bike with ease. Before submitting my review, I had had the Glide
Bike for a couple of months, now, six months after starting to
use the Glide Bike, and a few days after her fifth birthday, my
daughter learned to ride a bike without any difficulty. This is
a full two years before my other children learned to ride a bike
with some trepidation and fear of becoming unbalanced. While my
daughter used the Glide Bike throughout the winter, she really
began to use it several times a week in the last three months.
I noticed that she had figured out how to zip around sharp curves
and up and down the driveway, even weaving around obstacles on
the glide bike, so I asked if she wanted to give her sister’s
bike a try. She happily decided to try it out. As soon as I had
her pedaling, she literally rode away from me. She looked back
and noticed I was not holding on to her any more. For a split second
she was scared and began to wobble. I reminded her that she was
doing it all by herself and she giggled and rode off as she nearly
effortlessly got the bike back under control and balanced. Even
as she was wobbling, she didn’t have the out-of-control –new-rider
wobble, it was more a lapse of remembering to keep going in the
direction she wants to go wobble. When her father came home, he
commented how slowly and calmly she was riding. She looked like
she had been riding a bike for years. I am completely amazed at
how well the glide bike prepared my daughter to ride a two-wheel
bike. Training wheels only lets the child play with the bike but
they don’t really do any “training.” After watching
how well the Glide Bike prepared my daughter for riding a bike,
I will happily be saving this glide bike for my next child. I liked
this bike before, but now that I have seen the full success, I
love it and highly recommend it.
Product review by Marisa Corless, MH,
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine,
LLC, July, 2011
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