Glide Bikes Review & Giveaway

Snag an entry for the Family Friendly Frugality Re-Design $100 OR Kindle Bash by entering this giveaway! You must be a Family Friendly Frugality facebook follower to enter FFF giveaways.

My son has always been an incredibly cautious little boy. Ever since he was a baby, he was never one to jump first and ask questions later. Instead, he was always careful to hold back on things until he was sure he wouldn’t get hurt or fail. Our daughter is quite different, so we knew it wasn’t a matter of parenting, he’s just a cautious little guy!

Around the time he turned 3 years old, he started showing a desire to learn to ride a bike. However, he’s always had a bit of a delay with his motor skills, so pedaling was an obstacle he just couldn’t overcome. He would get frustrated and give up far too easily each time.

When I first heard about balance bikes, I thought they seemed silly. The more I learned though, the more intrigued I was. I knew that serious bike riders used these balance bikes to teach their own kids how to ride. Opting for balance bikes OVER traditional bikes with training wheels. That said something to me, and I started to wonder if we really just have this whole bike teaching thing backwards!

Why not teach them how to balance before they learn to pedal?

So I contacted Glide Bikes about possibly doing a review for them and they were more then happy to send us a Mini Glider for our son to learn on.

In probably the most perfect timing EVER, the bike arrived the day before his 4th birthday.

My husband put together the bike that night, but we had a bit of trouble with the wheel sticking. The next morning I ran it to our local bike shop for them to take a look at it, and all the hobby cyclers crowded around to get a look at this teeny tiny bike. They all loved it! We got the wheel fixed and I brought the bike home to present it to our son.

It took him a few seconds to warm up to the bike, he didn’t understand where to put his feet at first, but then he was off!

That very first day, my son rode his bike for over 2 hours. My son, who had always given up in frustration after 2 minutes on an ordinary trike, was GLUED to the seat of his Glide Bike.

He is now bike obsessed, he rides his bike all day every single day. It brings tears to my eyes to think about the confidence his Glide Bike has brought him and I’m not just saying that because we got one for free! We fully intend to buy our daughter her very own Mini Glider now, because we are total Balance Bike converts!

Here is a short video of him on his Glide Bike. He can glide quite well, but you don’t see him do it much in this video (the sidewalk is a bit bumpy!):

Here is the official video from the Glide Bike website, so you can see how various ages can use the Glide Bike:

Glide Bikes aren’t just for little ones. There are Glide Bikes for ages 10+!

You can purchase Glide Bikes here on their website, OR you can win one right here on Family Friendly Frugality!

The Giveaway:

Glide Bikes has graciously offered to give away a FREE Glide Bike to one of my readers!

Here’s how to enter:

This giveaway will be done via a Google Doc form. There is no need to leave a comment (unless you just want to say Hi!).

****I will not count comments towards entries.****

Complete any or all of these steps before filling out the entry form. The mandatory entry IS mandatory. Without that entry, no other entries will count.

Mandatory Entry (DO NOT LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER-use the form only. Comments will NOT be counted as entries):

• Head on over to Glide Bikes on Facebook and “like” them! Tell them Family Friendly Frugality sent you.

Bonus Entries:

1. “Like” Family Friendly Frugality on facebook
2. “Follow” Family Friendly Frugality on Twitter
3. “Follow” Glide Bikes on Twitter
4. Subscribe to Family Friendly Frugality by email (subscription must stay active to win)
5. Blog about the giveaway!
6. Tweet and/or post on facebook about the giveaway.
   Sample Tweet: Enter to #win a Free Glide Bike (Balance Bike) from @familyfrugal  http://wp.me/p1dWVn-1RY #giveaway
   Sample Facebook post: Enter to win a Free Glide Bike (Balance Bike) from @Family Friendly Frugality. Enter the giveaway here http://wp.me/p1dWVn-1RY

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ Only. This giveaway will close on 4/30/11 at 9pm CST. I was not compensated to write this review or to run this giveaway. I received the Glide Bike  at no cost to me, and Glide Bikes will be supplying the prize for the winner.

Good Luck!