After doing some research yesterday and looking at options and prices on yahoo's Taiwanese auction site, we fell in love with FirstBike (aka from Baby Jock) due to all of the below (copied in from here rather than linked to, as the font used hurts the eyes):
- Unbreakable Frame Material absorbs trauma from surfaces instead of transmitting them to your child.
- Safety Stop Brake System- adjustable reach hand brake with concealed wheel drum
- Unitized Handlebars and Fork with Integrated Steering Limiter- prevents sharp turns and jack-knifing
- Ergonomic No-slip Saddle with balance bike specific shape is always centered
- All fasteners are plated, polished and recessed- wheels have smooth aero spokes- no sharp edges
- No wood to splinter, no metal to rust, no paint to chip
- It is impervious to rain, snow, heat and cold
- Polyamide Nylon Composite with glass fiber technology is color-thru, unbreakable and completely recyclable
- Reflective frame stickers for high visibility
- Bells, baskets, lowering kit and ski kit are sold optionally
- Lifetime warranty on frame, fork and wheels
- Pneumatic rubber tires with schraeder valves provide excellent grip on all surfaces
- Five spoke composite 12″ wheels with smooth spinning maintenance free sealed industrial bearings
- Tools are included for easy 5 minute assembly: simply attached frame to fork and install front wheel
It is basically engineered for the uber safety of little toddlers. For example, not mentioned above is that there is no space between the front of the seat and the frame so that the toddler doesn't slip/fall forward off the seat by accident.
Anyhow, there just so happened to be one store here in Hsinchu that sells this bike, and so today that was our Main Event, as we wanted her to try it out before we forked over the rather large sum of cash for this smooth ride. And boy am I glad we did, rather than buy it online (and then have to put it together ourselves...for safety reasons it's best if someone in the know does it).
It was a specialty bike shop, where the owner said that when his wife got pregnant he started looking into balance bikes, and then started retailing this one (and only this one) so that his daughter could have one when she was old enough. This guy knows bikes, and knows quality bikes, so just this in itself reaffirmed our choice.
After trying out the owner's daughter's pink one, we found that with the lowering kit it fits Leona, just, on the lowest seat setting.
We then checked out the other colors he had on hand (red, blue, green and silver), and asked Leona which one she wanted. We did the annoying thing of asking and confirming a few times - what color she wanted. You know: Do you want the pink or blue? Blue. The blue or pink? Blue. [OK, so placement was not making the choice for her.] Do you want the blue or red? Red. Do you want red or green. Green. This green (showing her, then showed her all the colors so she knew what shades we were talking about). Final verdict after the visual (which we should have started with in the first place) was blue. We didn't do any more confirmings after that.
[Interesting side-note. The shop owner said girls tend to select pink or blue, while boys tend to select pink or green...when given the choice themselves.]
So after her nap in the afternoon we went to the school close by for her to try it out. After getting on it for a couple seconds she wanted to get off and 'run'.
After running about 15 minutes she was ready to get on again (she was quite excited about getting and having a bike, it's just that running is very tempting too, especially after you've been couped up as much as we have these past few days).
Slow and steady she is starting to learn to walk the bike, and loving it:
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