Striderbikes is a company based in Rapid City that makes bicycles for kids as young as a eighteen months. The bikes look like typical pedal bikes – except they’re tiny - and they have no pedals. Bike experts say kids can learn to ride a bike as soon as they are able to walk, and that having no pedals is actually an advantage.
Kyra Wright is the Marketing Manager for Striderbikes. She says when kids first learn to ride a bicycle or tricycle they are essentially learning how to pedal first – and that makes learning to ride difficult.
“The concept with Strider is you’re teaching balance first. So as the kids, basically when they first climb on and they’re real little, they’re really just walking with a Striderbike. Then they get comfortable enough and they sit on the seat and they’re still walking with it but they’re moving along with their feet. At some point they become so comfortable with it and they get that sense of balance that they will simply lift up their feet and coast along – that’s when they learn balance,” says Wright.
Wright says Striderbikes are small and lightweight, but are similar to bikes on the Flintstones. She says they are available in many bike shops across the state as well as online. Striderbikes is hosting bike-riding competitions for children this weekend at Main Street Square in Rapid City.