KaZAM Classic Balance Bike

Loved this bike to bits. We bought this for my three year old 5.5 years ago. After a really positive first two months, it turned into his "daily commuter" -- he and my husband rode to the kiddo's preschool a mile away for six months (and then I picked my son, the bike, and the helmet up at the end of the day to drive home, or using a stroller to carry the bike on nice days (I also had an infant at that point). My son rode the balance bike in multiple 4th of July parades. He rode endlessly in our neighborhood for two years, then graduated to a pedal bike...The balance bike had a rest for about 10 months, then his younger sister hopped on and has been happily riding it for 2+ years. She just started riding a two wheeler herself, and this bike is still in great shape, we're planning to sell it.We had one issue about 7 months in where the wheels started to squeak and we realized a part had rusted. We contacted KaZAM for instructions to fix the part (we honestly thought it was our fault, we live in Seattle, it was a particularly rainy winter, and the kid had been outdoors in all weather, every day, for months. I was feeling rusty, too.). They were embarrassed, apologetic, rushed us free replacement wheels (that we hadn't asked for!!! and not just the rusty part!!) and were just plain spectacular about customer service. My take is that this is a company that cares immensely about really getting it right.One tip for parents: both kids were wizards on the balance bike, but really struggled at first switching to a two-wheeler. I think part of it is that little kids' bikes are SO heavy and the kiddos were used to their light, zippy balance bikes. Some things that helped:1. use the training wheels without pressure, and keep the balance bike in the picture for them to swap back and forth. They'll want to zoom without the pedal bike, too, before too long but first they need to master pedaling and kick brakes.2. If you're up for family bike rides, and confident enough on your own bike (I'm not, but my husband is, luckily) the weeride trailer is a great option to get them pedaling and balancing but minus the steering and breaking.3. Bike riding with other kids (especially ones with great bike manners, not whipping past your poor kid trying to balance) really helps get kids past that training wheels stage. A good time for parents to be pure proud (about the training wheels) and let peer pressure slowly take care of trying without them. :-)

This product is definitely manufactured as cheaply as possible. Having said that it relatively works for what it is. The handle bars and seat are very loose fitting. In fact for the seat I had to over tighten the little clasp so much that it bent the frame. And the seat still had enough room to move from side to side.The angle of the seat made it really difficult for our nephew to stay seated and push himself around. Every time he'd sit, he would slide forward and off the seat. Because of this he decided that the space for his feet was a more suitable seat.Given what I've seen in assembly and actual use of this "Bike" indoors, I wouldn't expect several years of use out of this product. And honestly I'm assuming when winter breaks and this hits the streets. A couple healthy crashes and this bike will likely be unsafe for use. Or will at the very least need some healthy "after market" tweaking to keep it together and functioning safely.

So these bikes are great. My 3 year olds LOVE them and zoom around on them completely balanced. We will probably get them "real bikes" with pedals next year, and I expect them to transition without issue. I gave it 4 stars because the black footrest was busted/stripped on one of the 2 bikes upon receipt. Customer service was great and they shipped a replacement. Less than a month later, one of the footrests busted off again, so there appears to be a quality issue with that part. It doesn't affect the usability of the bike, but it's a little annoying, given how much they cost. Would recommend that the manufacturer takes a look at that. Would buy again, and would recommend to friends/family.UPDATE: My boys are now almost 5. One of them still zooms around on this balance bike and it still fits him OK. The other (larger) boy hopped on a "real" pedal bike one day several months ago and just took off like he'd been doing it all his life. After struggling with my oldest son for years to get the training wheels off, I truly believe balance bikes are the way to go in teaching kids to ride. Still only giving this particular bike 4 stars because of the footrest issue noted above, but I give the concept of balance bikes (vs training wheels) FIVE STARS.

I bought this bike 5 years ago and I'm posting this review out of gratitude because it has been a fantastic bike. My now 7 year old rode this from age 3-5 until we finally got around to getting a pedal bike, and after about 2 minutes she was zipping around with pedals. My 4 year old rode this from 2-3.5 until he tried out sister's old pedal bike and he was zipping around after about 2 minutes as well. I LOVE that my kids taught themselves to ride on the balance bike and their screams of joy and pride after they got the hang of the pedal bike (on their own!) are in my favorite parenting moments hall of fame. I thought this bike would last through the last kid (it's survived everything 2 kids could put it though and even got lightly ran over by the car once) BUT unfortunately it really got crushed by a car so the frame bent. I can't blame the manufacturer for that one though. And yes I am buying another one for the last kid. One note, it was hard to convince my kids to give the pedal bike a try because they can zip around so fast on one of these.

Nothing against the bike itself- perhaps try one out if you can before buying it. I bought this for my 3yr old birthday and she just hasn't taken to it. She may have been a little too old to start- she just keeps going back to her trike. The handle bars and seat are adjustable and fit her fine.

Well made product, although the assembly instructions could of been more clear. Had a heck of a time with one of the screws chewing on one of the threads on the back wheel. Other than that, my kids love it.

LOVE THE IDEA, DAUGHTER DID NOT SO MUCH, BIKE IS GREAT QUALITY THOUGH

I got this for my son who has PDD-NOS and within an hour of playing with it he was balancing without a problem. I high rue omen this bike for anyone!

Bought this for my son and he loves it. Very easy to put together and does the job.Sturdy and built well.

Super simple assembly - took less than 15 minutes to assemble. It's quite sturdy bike too, perfect for the rigors of learning to ride!

Great product.

Great little bike - happy with the purchase.

The bike was a hit!

Great

Too small for taller kids. What are they to use? No one has put out any solution to that.

The bike was good, but the box it came in was a mess. The bike was a gift and it was a bit embarrassing to give it in that condition.

She sat on it once, didn't like it and has been nowhere near it since. What a waste of money!