Strider 14x: Balance Bike To Pedal Bike!

We are so excited to introduce you to something that hasn’t been done before.
Something that will change they way our kids ride bikes.
Our friends at Strider bikes have outdone themselves with the brand new Strider 14x.
We are all familiar with the original Strider Balance Bikes, built for kids to use foot power to go and teaches them to balance the bike on their own. My boys have been using their original Strider bike since about 18 months old and my youngest started using his Strider on their Rocking Base when he was only 14 months old!
My middle son just turned 4 and is a master at balancing his original Strider and is getting way too big for it, so naturally it’s time that he upgrades to a bigger bike with pedals, right?
Well, Hello Strider 14x!
This bike is a 14″ Strider balance bike for children aged 3-7, making it the perfect upgrade as your child grows. And…AND…
You can add pedals!!!!
This is such a game changer.
So many children become comfortable balancing on their Strider balance bike but when they go to upgrade to a bike with pedals, their parents tend to put the training wheels on the bike because they can’t seem to balance their new bike. But why go backwards to training wheels when your child already knows how to balance?! There’s a few reasons that they have a hard time transitioning:
1. It’s a new bike. They’ve never used it before and now they’re just supposed to learn a new skill on it?
2. Standard pedal bikes are MUCH heavier than a Strider. The original 12″ Strider Sport weighs only 6.7 lbs and the average 14″ pedal bike weighs 28 pounds. What a drastic change for a young child!
The Strider 14x solves both of these issues.
The Strider 14x weighs only 12.5lbs, making it half as heavy as the average 14″ pedal bike. Since it starts out as a balance bike, your child will be able to become comfortable with the new size easily. Going from the 12″ to the 14″ was a change but took only about an hour for my son to become a speed demon once again. We let him use it that way for a few weeks and when he was primarily riding around with his feet up on the foot rests, we decided it was time to add the pedals and see what happened.
Here’s where I was so impressed. It only takes about two minutes to remove the foot rests and install the pedal kit. Quick, easy, two bikes in one.
We took my son and my nephew out to test the bike with the pedals. Both had mastered the Strider 14x as a balance bike and now were ready to learn to pedal. My son went first and had some difficulty with trying to ride while wanting to concentrate on the pedaling. My nephew on the other hand took right off. No joke. Both had the same skill from their original strider bikes but it’s taken my son a little longer to get his multi-tasking together. Luckily, the pedals are “stride around” width and my son is still able to stride on it with his feet as he learns!
To work on pedaling, we have been encouraging him to use the pedals as he used his footrest on the balance bike. We tell him to get some speed and then simply rest his feet on the pedals as he goes. It’s been working! Strider includes a guide with the 14x that is full of tips like this, tricks and even games which have all been extremely helpful with our son.
AND! Last night my son mastered the pedals! After only a few sessions with the pedals and using Strider’s included tips and games he not only is riding with pedals, he is SO proud of himself!
I am so incredibly impressed, the Strider 14x gives kids the comfort of transitioning from balance bike to pedaling on the same bike-astounding!
The Strider 14x is now available from Strider and on Amazon in Green or Blue
You can find Strider:
Strider recommends that your child uses the 14x as a balance bike before installing pedals, even if they are a rockstar on the original 12″ bike.
*We received product for review purposes only. All opinions are our own.
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