Now, Harry isn't what I would call a daredevil. In fact, he's not into anything that moves too fast or does things that he doesn't expect to happen, pretty much like any 2 and a half year old I expect. So as you can imagine, I wasn't overly thrilled when I found out last year that Harry's great aunt had bought him a motorised motor bike. Please bear in mind last Christmas he was only 21 months old and consequently pretty small and unconfident, but nonetheless, the Halfords Mini Racer Bike was on its way to us courtesy of my parents. It wasn't something we expected to keep for long but funnily enough, its now become Harry's favourite ever toy!
The Halfords Mini Racer Bike is available from the Halfords website, and in-store but I can't really say I have ever seen one when I have been into a Halfords. My brother works for Halfords and says they are safe and fun for children but I was still very nervous about letting my tiny boy ride it last year. When my parents bought it into my sitting room, Harry's face was a picture. He was totally petrified of it, even more so when my dad pushed the pedal down causing the wheels to turn quickly and make a loud motorised sound! He wouldn't go near it, let alone sit on it so I was wondering how I was going to get rid of it without anyone knowing! Still, it sat in my front room for a couple of months, unloved and unused until in a fit of bravery, Harry ventured ever closer. The bravery obviously got the better of him because everyday he got closer and tried more things, and now, only a whole year on, he is a fully fledged Hells Angel. That's right, all he needs is the leathers and he's set.
The bike itself is quite sturdy, with a plastic frame around the motorised section of the bike, and features 3 wheels which makes it easy for younger children to ride. It does have
a very good look to it. The body is a nice deep, rich red in colour and there are several stickers all over to make it look that bit cooler. There is a front panel which has an attached small windscreen on the front, which is just a dusky coloured piece of plastic, but does the job of looking quite good! The two handlebars are well situated right at the front of the bike, but well within the reach of the front seat, which is good for younger and smaller children. The seat is black plastic, and is screwed down because underneath there are other bits and pieces (Spares) for the bike, although I've never actually had to unscrew the seat to find out whats under there!
The picture above shows that at the back of the seat, there is a handle but Harry's bike doesn't have that, perhaps its a feature of this years bike. Other than that, everything else looks the same to me. One feature that Harry loves on this bike is the working lights on the front and back of the motorbike. The light on the front is clear and is on the front panel and just underneath the windscreen. The rear one is at the back of the bike, just above the back wheels and is orange in colour. The lights are not permanently on, instead they light up whenever the bike is moving, obviously powered by some motion motor inside the bike. This is handy because it doesn't drain the battery at all, and doesn't annoy mummy and daddy with bright lights every 2 minutes! The lights aren't overly bright but enough to be seen in daylight, and are just a fun additional feature on the bike.
As well as the lights, Harry does have one other favourite feature which annoys the heck out of me and his daddy. As you can see in the above picture, there is a radio hanging from a hook on the handlebars and its now Harry's noisiest fun thing about the bike. The radio works not only as a radio but it also has 3 different siren noises too. Oh joy. You just have to press in a button on the side to activate the noise, and a small sliding switch on the front of radio determines whether its a siren you hear or your own voice for the radio. Harry seems to delight in sitting there holding the button down with the siren wailing, and its times like these I want to take a hammer to it, but he does love it bless him. He also likes to sit on the bike and "call" Daddy on his radio too, which is so sweet! But luckily for anyone who is deciding whether or not to buy this bike, apparently the walkie-talkie isn't included anymore, what a shame!
The bike is powered by an on board battery, which can be charged using the power supply which is supplied with the bike. It plugs into a slot right at the back of the bike, and should be charged overnight to give enough power to sustain usage. However, I have only had to charge this bike for the first time since we've had it this week which I think is fab, considering Harry's been properly using the bike for 4 or 5 months now. So in terms of power consumption, this is great and you shouldn't find that you have to charge it too much. The bike moves when your child pushes down the small yellow pedal which is on the flat panel on the lower right hand side of the bike. It's very easy to push, not requiring too much effort from your toddler, and this powers both of the back wheels. The front wheel isn't used, and just steers the bike with the handlebars. The bike only has a top speed of 1.5 miles per hour so its not too fast and is just a good speed for your toddler.
According to the Halfords website, the bike is suitable for children aged 3 years and over, which is possibly why Harry was so scared of it last Christmas! However, this summer he's gotten much more confident and is comfortable sitting on the chair and powering himself around our ground floor on it! I refuse to let him use it outside because its just too dangerous but I'm more than happy for him to use it in the house on a carpeted floor! If you intend to use it on the pavement, you should obviously use a helmet and other appropriate protection but since we're indoors and Harry's pretty sturdy, he seems okay on his own in the house. He's never fallen off, probably because of the 3 wheels and subsequent sturdiness of the bike, and also the bike has a fairly large turning circle so it won't turn around too quickly! The sound isn't too loud but in a small sitting room it can be a bit annoying to hear the motorised whirring over and over again!
I guess I should move onto a couple of negatives I have about the bike because I should provide a balanced review of it! Although for the most part it is a great toy for older toddlers, I have had a couple of issues with it. Firstly, Harry can be a bit rough with the bike but even so I was slightly shocked when the front panel just fell off. Secondly he snapped the windscreen off which wasn't too surprising since it is only held on with 5 plastic pegs. I wasn't in the room when the front panel fell off, but he just walked into the kitchen and handed it to me. The whole front bit, including light had just come away, with no obvious evidence of snapping or force from Harry, the wires into the light seemingly just pulled out easily although no dangerous wires were exposed just the plastic cable was visible. I did try to reattach it but to no avail so the front panel is now in the bin, but it hasn't stopped Harry thoroughly enjoying his bike. The other thing is that the back light has sort of sunk into the bike a bit, but I do suspect foul play from Harry here. Even so, it doesn't seem good that a 2 1/2 year old can push a large plastic light into the bike frame so easily but it does still light up fully when the bike is moving. These aren't major faults but still worth considering if you have a heavy handed toddler like mine.
This is certainly not a toy I would ever have considered buying for Harry myself but now I have it in my home, I am pleased that he enjoys using it so much. It is a good active toy for boys who like to play with cars and bikes, and has such a minimal speed that it'd be hard for a child to injure themselves, especially if the bike is only used indoors as ours is. If you have a small sitting room, its possibly not an ideal toy because it is quite a considerable size but we have a big enough sitting room to stick it in the corner of an evening when Harry's in bed. The battery life is very good, only needing very irregular charging, and with the charger being supplied its great value in terms of power consumption. Safety equipment should ALWAYS be used if the bike is going to be ridden outdoors and children should always be accompanied by an adult, but I'm happy for Harry to whizz around our carpeted lounge on his own while I'm next door in the kitchen. He loves his bike and was so upset when the battery died and he thought it was broken, and we realised that was testament to how much he loves it. It's fun, somewhat annoying for us parents but I am glad Harry loves it.
The bike is available from the Halfords website for £44.99, reduced from £99.99, which is not cheap but maybe a good price for a big Christmas present for your little one. It should be available in Halfords store across the UK, but obviously stock varies from store to store. Halfords Catalogue Code number: 960658-0.
Website: www.halfords.com
Thank you for reading!
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Oooh I'll be bearing this in mind if I feel like tormenting the other half's cousin with this by getting it for her son when he's a year or two older... heehee >:-)
COOOEEE 05.12.2008 23:44
I think all toddlers are heavy handed but my grandaughter would love this. She really is motorbike mad. Takes after all the bikers including myself in the family Lol xx
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