I was shocked to see my one-and-a-half-year-old "riding" his new bicycle around our living room with ease! Could this really be happening? Well, just like the video clips on the Strider sport website, it was happening before my eyes. I was impressed with how quickly our young son took to this bicycle. My husband was impressed with the bicycle's engineering and how easy it was to assemble. It even comes with instructions written in English! Imagine that!

The Strider starts with a special handle bar that gives the child full control over steering. The tires are made of EVA polymer, so they are extremely lightweight and never need air. The only thing this bike doesn't offer is pedals. You heard me right--the child's feet sit on the ground while his bottom is on the seat. This allows the child to learn how to balance, steer, and control the bike without the distraction and coordination needed to pedal. Later, when the child moves on to a larger bike with pedals, the transition is easy.

In fact, we did something like this with our older son. We removed the pedals from a small bicycle and let him push himself around for a few months. One day, when he was three, he said he wanted to ride with pedals. We put the pedals back on, and before we could offer him any instructions, he simply rode away!

Although modifying our own bicycle worked fine back then, the Strider Running Bike offers some wonderful advantages. First of all, it's very small; so very young children can start learning long before they would comfortably fit on even the smallest standard bikes. Also, the bike is so lightweight that young toddlers really don't need much strength to push themselves along. Learning to balance is really the key activity. I also like the "stiffer" steering that comes standard with the bike. This makes is easier to handle. But as the bike is ridden more, the steering loosens up. Very ingenious!

Although the Strider Running Bike seems a bit expensive at around $100, I would definitely recommend this well-made tool designed to teach kids to love bicycling at an early age. The younger kids are when they learn to have fun exercising, the better off they'll be all their lives!

Product review by Karen Yuen, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May 2010