Riding my bike was one of the best experiences of being a kid.  I loved the sense of freedom I had when I was on my bike and I had so many good times and adventures, that naturally, I'm excited for Riley to experience the same thing.  I always thought that her father and I would start her out on a bicycle with training wheels and then eventually take the training wheels off, just as it's been done for decades.

Then, I found out about a brand new way to teach your child to ride their bike and it doesn't involve using training wheels at all.  TykeRider allowed us to review their Early Rider Lite Balance Bike, made especially for toddlers and preschoolers, as well as their Little Nutty Safety Helmet.  Keep reading to find out more about how these two items could safely teach your child to ride at a much earlier age!

I was very excited to have the chance to review the Early Rider Lite Balance Bike in Natural from TykeRider, since it is geared at teaching young children how to ride without ever needing to use a tricycle.  The Early Rider is aimed at teaching children ages 2 to 5 how to balance themselves on a bike without pedaling at the same time.

There are no pedals on the Early Rider Lite balance bike, so all your child is asked to do is walk or run while on the bike as well as steer it.  By having young children learn from the beginning how to balance, it is much easier for them to ride a regular bike when they are ready, since pedaling is not hard at all to do.  The trick to riding any bicycle is always the balancing part!

Now that I understood the way the Early Rider Lite would work, it was time to assemble it and get Riley going!  This was one of the nicer surprises I've had lately, for the assembly took only a matter of minutes.  I also have to admit that when removing the contents of the Early Rider Lite from its box, I was very impressed at the quality of the materials used.

First of all, it is very lightweight (only 7 lbs.) so that I knew Riley would be able to manipulate and handle this bike easily.  Next, it is crafted from environmentally-friendly, FSC-certified birch, which made a well-constructed and very beautiful balance bike.

I also loved how customizable the Easy Rider Lite bike was, for you could adjust both the seat height as well as the steering level.  Since Riley is a beginner now, I set the bike to the restricted steering level, which allows for very little movement.  But once she becomes more experienced, I can adjust the steering to become unrestricted, which allows her full movement, just like a real bicycle.

Of course, my favorite features of the Easy Rider Lite balance bike was the high quality details, which made it so sleek-looking and fun!  This bike comes complete with pneumatic tires with aluminum rims, an embroidered faux leather seat pad and even branded flames on both sides of the bike itself.  Now that's style!

As soon as Riley saw the Easy Rider Lite, she couldn't wait to take it for a spin.  She was also pleasantly surprised that she could "ride" it so quickly.  When her father and I explained to her that you just walk or run with it, she got a big smile on her face and kept saying, "Look, I'm riding!" over and over.

Riley's main weakness at this point is her steering, but with the Easy Rider, since pedaling isn't involved, I know that she will teach herself to steer much quicker.  Whenever the steering skill is mastered, I'm sure it won't be long until she'll begin picking up her feet and balancing herself on this bike.

I was equally impressed with the style, design and durability of the Little Nutty Safety Helmet.  This high-quality children's helmet has all the bells and whistles, which made fitting it to my daughter's head extremely easy.  It's equipped with an EPS shock absorbing liner and ABS injection shell for the ultimate in safety and even has a padded chin strap and a classic 11 vents design for the ultimate in comfort.

I also LOVED the "Dial-to-Fit" feature on the back of the helmet which allowed it to be adjusted quickly and easily to the size of your little one's noggin!  Normally, Riley and I must wrestle around with the fit of her safety helmet for 10-15 minutes before I can get it to fit her correctly, but with the Little Nutty helmet, I had this on her right from the box and fitting great in only 2 minutes...with absolutely no crying or getting frustrated from either one of us!

I think the TykeRider Early Rider Lite Balance Bike is a wonderful way to teach a young child the hardest part of riding a bike, which is definitely the balancing of it, on their own terms and at their own pace.  Riley was a slow beginner, but she still has a lot of fun riding her big girl's bike, and has never fallen off or gotten injured either.

I still can't believe that she will probably be riding a regular bike by the age of 3 or 4 and think that TykeRider has discovered a great, stress-free, and fun way to teach your child to ride a bicycle!  I also love their Little Nutty line of well-designed safety helmets and plan on providing one of these for Riley long after she's toodling around on her regular bicycle!