Attaching the pedals required only an Allen wrench to switch the footrest out; making this change took Jenni five minutes. Strider Classic: A true classic that doesn’t disappoint, the Strider is a solid bike if you need additional room for your child to grow into it. While we love air tires, the thorn in their side (quite literally) is their tendency for going flat.

The seat adjustability—between 10 and 14 inches—offers the shortest starting point of any bike we tried, the benefit of which was obvious during testing, as the shortest kids took to the Woom 1 immediately. The 14x Sport has 14-inch wheels instead of the 12-inch ones on all of our other picks; it’s built for kids who are taller than 3-foot-1, likely those closer to 3-foot-5, which is usually around 4 years old, depending on your kid. This comes in handy if the bike is being shared between siblings, or for those seemingly overnight growth spurts.THE BEST WAY TO LEARN – The LT Banana Bike provides your little kids with the best way to learn to ride a bike. When your kid no longer needs the limiter—that is, when they get old enough or skilled enough to maintain handlebar control—you can simply pop off the O-ring and let it dangle. Though foam tires never need to be refilled, they make for a ride with slightly more drag, and in our testing we found that the Strider 12 Sport was less well suited to any surface that wasn’t pavement. Next on the list are foam tires because they don’t require pumping and have good traction outdoors (but can be slippery indoors).

Banana Bike LT: Featuring the basic same frame and design of the GT, but with foam tires, the LT is best for neighborhood riders who plan to ride mainly on paved surfaces. The Guardian Balance Bike was a surprise hit during our 2023 testing round, as the preschoolers in the group fought over riding it. encourages kids to lift their little legs when they want to move forward – just as they would on a normal bike. In fact, we’ve never had a test rider ask what to do with their feet while riding a balance bike, but we’ve had plenty of parents :). are flared from the seat tube, which firstly allows the tyres to be wider but also keeps feet away from the wheels.In our tests, the Banana Bike GT’s air-filled tires worked fine on paved, dirt, and carpeted surfaces but were a tad slippery on kitchen linoleum and hardwood floors, unlike our top pick and runner-up. Jenni was previously an editor on Wirecutter’s outdoors team, and she recently wrote our guides to the best jogging strollers and the best kids hiking backpacks.