apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We got the Air Happy five years ago for our oldest and love it. Definitely get air tires if it will be used mainly on sidewalks...smooths out the bumps. The front wheel can be locked so that the parent can steer with the push bar, or you can have it unlocked so that the child is doing the steering. The trike is super adjustable so it lasts quite a few years. Our younger child is now using it.

BTW, the kids LOVE the hand break. There'e alot of stop and go.

It's as great as it looks--so well constructed and totally worth buying well before you'd otherwise contemplate buying a traditional tricycle.

We have our eye on a Like-a-Bike or skuut at age 2 or 3 so at age 1 we "cheaped out" on the Kettler and purchased the Kettrike Limited Edition Navigator from One Step Ahead for $140, reasoning that it would not be his sole ride-on until age 5. (I also rationalized that I loved my 1970s Big Wheel with the hard plastic tires, I guess!) We love the Kettrike and it gets a lot of use. The pushbar, swiveling back tires (that can be locked in position when the pushbar is not in use), and the fact that the pedals remain stationary when the pushbar is used and the front wheel is locked, make the Kettler worth it for very young children.

My one caution would be that young children can really shift in the seat despite the seatbelt so you need to be prepared for pulling over to reposition your child if you're using it on busy pedestrian sidewalks or on streets.

Worth every cent. We bought ours years ago when the less-expensive lines didn't have the back-sparing handle. We lived in Chicago at the time, and the tot loved being able to ride down to the lake 'by myself!' With 8 years between my lovelies, there's little we've kept from Elliott's "youth" but the Kettler trike has been with us (and moved across the US four times) while we waited for tot number 2 to join the family.

Check Craigslist. We bought a second hand Air Happy for half the price. It's about 5 years old now and still looks brand new.

I second the craigslist searching! We found a Kettler Kettcar for our 4 year olds birthday... http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/601-3620164-2288939?ASIN=B000PKF6DG&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000PKF6DG|Kettler_Classic_Flyer_Kettcar_Racer&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000PKF6DG&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001 ... (the much less fancy version) on craigslist for 20$! He's about to turn 5 and adores his "race car" more than ever. Its in great shape too... They seem to last forever!

We received one as a gift. Maybe we're doing something wrong, but I actually find it pretty hard to steer. I suppose if the child is steering it might be easier (as long as they're steering in the right direction), but with the steering wheel locked and the parent responsible for all the steering -- you have to do quite a bit of manoevering with the pushbar to keep the cycle going where you want it to go. Not nearly as easy as a stroller, and I don't really like using it.

I bought this 3-in-1 stroller/trike from FAO for under $120. It converts from stroller to trike, and has lots of cool features: the handle is adjustable, there're locks for the front wheel and pedals, etc. And as a child grows there's an option to take the push handle off and adjust the seat. Basically it's great for the kiddo from 8mo till 5 years or so. The stroller is SUPER great-looking, we always get tons of compliments wherever we go. It's also sold from Hammacher. http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is-viewers/dynapi/src/lib/tsapi/images/cover.gif?400x400>

Sorry, link did not work. Here's the new one. http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72731.asp

We also bought the Kettler trike from One Step Ahead for our son's first birthday. I think we paid somewhere between $140-$160 for it. He's now two and a half and it's the best present we ever bought him, albeit the most expensive one too! He loves it and is just starting to learn to pedal. We've taken him for no end of walks on busy streets and felt perfectly safe having the pushbar. In the early days we had to stop and shift him into teh center of the seat and tell hyim to keep a hold of teh hadlebars a fair bit but he got the hang of holding on quite quickly. I'd highly recommend it.

I've been thinking about buying one as well. Reef1 you bought it age one? That is earlier than I thought would work (our son is only nine months) but I am excited by the prospect. Our son is large for his age and I am having a hard time finding toys. Was your son ready at 1? Did the seatbelt keep him secure? Was it a buy it age one use at 18 months kind of purchase?

JudiAU,

We bought it at aged one and he started using it straight away. He's a skinny little kid but fairly tall. He could reach the handlebars and the seatbelt held him in fairly securely. The seat is quite slippy so his little bum would shift after awhile so we'd stop and shift him into the center. After a couple of months he felt comfortable enough to let go of the handlebars and sit back and relax, but I didn't feel that was very safe so everytime he did that I would stop pushing, and he soon cottoned on that he'd have to hold on to get pushed.