I am thinking of getting my youngest a scooter as a first "bike". He is fascinated by them and I have read a number of posts suggesting starting with a scooter as it teach balance. He is not yet 3 (will be in August) but is super athletic. The only thing is that he is tiny--28 lbs or so.

My question is what type of scooter? I was at the toy store today and the option are pretty limitless. One that looked good was the Mini Traxx Scooter with pretty wide wheels.
http://www.preciouslittleone.com/acatalog/MTXSCTR.html

Somewhere else I have read about useing the Razor type scooters with the tiny wheels. The only thing is that these aren't built for little ones so they may be too tall.

What have other people used? How has it worked?

Any advice would be very helpful.

A-C

Worked wonders for me. My 7 year old could never balance on a bike until I bought him a scooter. After a few weeks with that, he figured out how to balance a bike.

I think a lot of the Razors have a telescoping "stem". This allows them to fold up into a small package, but would probably also let you put the handlebars down low for a tiny tot.

I'm planning on getting one soon for my not-quite-3 guy.

I saw an older kid riding a Razor tonight so had a look at it. It does look like the handle would get pretty small. Also it is so much lighter than any of the little kids models and has less friction with those little tires--my son might actually be able to get somewhere on it. Also when he gets tired, it can be easily carried.

I also remembered a neighbour of ours got Razors for his sons and the youngest must have been only 3 and tiny. We all thought he was crazy (ok--that was because he let them ride ON the street with them) but now it makes sense.

You know, I've hear this great nickname for small wheeled Razor type scooters: "Baby's First Head Injury".

I guess it has to happen some time!:eek:
More seriously, I have thought of that. He would of course be wearing a bike helment. I notice many people don't use them on scooters since they are thought of more as "toys".

A-C

The real problem with Razor type scooters is that they have really small wheels, so almost any tiny obstacle will cause them to flip. Scooters with alrger wheels are just fine.

We started with the Razor three wheel models - "Razor Kiddie Kick Scooter." We bought the two wheel model at the same time. The Kiddie scooter comes in pink or blue, we have one of each. They have proven very durable and they have confidence in approaching the two wheeler.

The only problem with the Razor three wheel scooters is that the wheels come with bushings instead of bearings (like the two wheelers). But the bearings are the same as skateboard bearings and can be bought on eBay or elsewhere for a few dollars. The wheels are then interchangable with the two wheel scooters as well. Most WalMarts stock them both.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/razorama_1896_1570577

Garandman,

Are you saying that you can use bearing skate wheels in place of the bushing wheels on the kiddie scooter?

Correct. They push right in. They are:

608 Skateboard Bearings
Bearing Size: 8 mm x 22mm x 7mm

There are various ABEC grades available. I bought mine from Irvineman on eBay. They're $1 each or less, while the "Genuine Razor" branded bearings will cost you $2-3 each.

My kids are all 90+% in size so they ruined the bushings in about 50 feet. The bearings are still rolling a year later. I think WallyWorld charges $30 or so for this scooter. I didn't find them at toy stores or specialty shops, which had mostly things like Batman branded scooters and the like.