Recreational & Family - tricycle- for my son

I'm a avid cyclist... I love cycling, i've been to the Tour de France, World championships, the tour of Portugal, you name it!!!!

Anyway, my son (1st born):) is coming up on his first birthday. It is very important for me to buy him a tricycle. But I don't any tricycle (ie Walmart:o ), I want something unique. Has anyone seen the Litespeed titanium trike from a few years ago? I probably don't want to spend that much money, but I would like to get him something a little different...

any suggestions???

thank you

Wait until your son is old enough to be excited to get a trike.

See this recent thread for some ideas, though, on unique and quality trikes, if you are so inclined...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=222039

In the linked thread, I agree w/ the bike trailer option. I haven't quantified it, but I *love* the hubs on our burley's 20" wheels (if you need a geeky rationalization to spend more than a trailer from target would cost). The burley is a better stroller than our purpose-built jogger, for that matter.

That, plus something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270033064502&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX&refitem=180003182469&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget

Pedals just get in the way until around age 3 I think.

The Kettler line of trikes are very nice. Pedal reach, the ability of the child to pedal and to steer are the major factors. For pedal reach, I have seen way too many trikes that only 5yr olds+ could reach the pedals. Kettler and probably some others make trikes that have adjustable frames. Kettler also has a freewheel feature for its pedals. They also have a strap for the seat and a push bar you can attach to the trike to use it kind of like a stroller (plus a steering lockout). I have seen a number of Kettler knockoffs but I am not sure if they have all the above mentioned features. You can even get a conversion kit that turns the trike into a tandem trike. Very durable product, we will be starting our 4th kid on ours soon. Looks pretty much brand new. But the kids honestly don't use the trike very much. There is only a small window of time when they will be on it, then they are onto training wheels. We only justified the cost because of multiple kids.

Good Luck.

I found my kids could never ride tricycles until after they road a bike (with training wheels). Something about the fixed pedaling just baffled them. They'd get going forward and suddenly be going backwards by mistake. Anyway, they got great pleasure from vehicles they could sit on and propel with their feet up until 30 months or so. At that point they were tall enought to reach the pedals on a 12" tire bicycle. Once they figured out pedalling they went back to trikes and got a lot of pleasure out of riding those (especially backing up) at 3 years old they can ride without training wheels...then the fun really begins!

Edit: By the way all their bicycles and tricycles etc. have been free up to this point. I don't see much point in paying for what can by found at the dump or along the side of the road. They have worn through a couple sets of tires at this point which has been the biggest investment. But when they love to ride all day long....

Visit your local LBS. Well after my kids were too big for trikes, I was in there looking for their first bicycles and was amazed at the cool trikes (Trek Trikesters and others) that seemed super heavy duty, faster and much more stable than the "playschool" plastic trikes my kids used. The biggest problem I had with my kids' trikes were that the trikes would tip over during sharp turns. I can't imagine that's a problem with these nice ones.

I second the opinion on the Kettler. It is a quality product with a lot of features. We used the push bar before my son was old enough to pedal to take him along on dog walks. He has used it for over 2 years and still prefers it over his bike with training wheels. We have hardwood floors and he uses it inside a lot. I take him in a trailer when we ride outside. We bought it online.