The bike arrived Friday but we weren't home to sign for it and my wife retrieved it from the post office today. Some initial impressions...
It seems decent enough - definitely decent for the price, and above Walmart quality. The parts have a nice finish and the paint seems solid (
TBD, of course). FWIW, it's made in Taiwan - not the mainland.
All the various criticisms I saw in the online reviews are true. The brake levers are probably too big, it's very heavy, the seat is no good for sitting (though it does have a logo molded into it).
It does include a front brake. It's installed but not strung, couldn't tell you why not. It also has a full set of reflectors, a chain guard and a bell, also not installed. I never mentioned the brakes style to my wife until after I'd bought it and didn't give her a value judgement about it - she volunteered on her own, "Oh good, hand brakes. A backpedal brake does him no favors."
It's really very heavy! Most of it is steel, some of the steel is solid, probably none of it is chromoly, and it's made out of BMX parts so it should support an overweight adult bouncing around, much less a 3-4yo. I think only the seat post and rims are aluminum. When I have it apart to adjust it, I'll weigh some parts separately and see if there's a high-payoff way to reduce the weight. Unfortunately the seat is not one of them. The seat post and seat together are quite light. Too bad the seat's no good for sitting!
All the bearings are cruelly overtightened, so is the chain tension. The bearings are not sealed - that was a nice feature of the Strider.
It's one of those nights where I can't find a 6mm Allen wrench to save my life and so assembly photos will have to wait.
Seems like I found this thing just in time, as it's now out of stock on Chain Reaction. The 2017 model is now available at non-clearance price, black with red tires or hi-viz with white tires. They also have 14, 16, and 18" models which seems unusual to me... that's a lot of sizes.