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"Nothing Wrong with This"
‘Nothing wrong with this’, can so easily be a term of faint praise but analysed it is actually the highest you can give. That’s how we felt about the Smart Trike when we finally got it together.
First things first: this is meant to be wheeled around the parks and, in our case, along the seafront. As such it needs to be well put together. This does mean a good hour or two of assembly. The instructions are pretty clear but even so, a couple of times we found that by getting ahead of ourselves we just made more work. But when we finally finished we found that we had a Tom magnet of the best kind. More than that we often feel like a walking advert for Smoby as so many parents stop us with their envious children.
This is state of the art biking. It is well balanced as we found on the day Tom finally tried to touch the wheels and stayed upright.
A plastic safety bar encircles smaller toddlers and a harness also holds them in place. Tom first went comfortably into this before he was 1 and as he grows the same safety features can be shed. It has pedals that can be disengaged so that they do not catch the feet of non-walkers, who can rest their own chubby legs on a small platform that pulls down directly under the seat. The basket on the back and the small bag on the parent handle are large enough to be useful yet small enough not to disrupt movement. We both liked the fact that the parent-handle steers the front handles, not only as it meant that we were in control but also because it encourages Tom to think that he is as he scoots along, ringing his bell. We’re nice like that.
At first we used it specifically when we wanted to take Tom out for a bit of fun. Recently
I’ve started using it as an extra buggy when nipping out for a paper or to the butchers. This is because it is surprisingly light to push, certainly no harder that a Mcclaren, uphill or going over kerbs and smoother on the flat. The real clincher though is Tom. He has always been one of those babies who wanted to sit upright and he loves the freedom of vision and of movement this grants. It looks good, it rides superbly, it’s solid yet light, manoeuvrable and terrific fun.
Price:
£39 is quite frankly a steal. Get one now before they realise what they have and raise the price.
Member review by dave - dad
- review date 25th October 2006
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