BUYING my eldest’s first bicycle has been a matter of considerable importance for a cycle-nut like me. It has brought back floods of memories of my first bicycles.

My first two-wheeler was my fifth birthday present, second-hand and lovingly repainted and refurbished by my father. I can still see its gleaming red frame and matt white mudguards, and recall the squeeze of the bobbly moulded red handlebar grips.

My first attempts at riding on two wheels went down in the annals of my family’s history, recorded for posterity on Super-8.

Durn Dart, a rough diamond and next-door neighbour in the Sydney suburb of Castle Hill, was teaching all the local children how to balance and ride bikes. Eventually it was my turn. I was petrified.

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Durn Dart, holding the back of my saddle, running alongside me on the grassy verge, was shouting encouraging words – when he let go. I wobbled and fell straight into Mrs White’s rose bushes. I screamed and screamed. Yet, despite this, it heralded a lifetime of love for bicycling.

Fast forward a generation, and my daughter’s favourite way of getting to nursery is on “daddy’s bike” which is in fact mummy’s sturdy Dutch Gazelle with a Pilot seat on the rear pannier. Daddy’s actual bikes are leaner beasts.

She looks in awe at the children’s bikes parked outside nursery and announces: “When I’m a big girl, I can ride a bicykickle.” And so that day has arrived.

Of course it’s a matter of considerable importance to get the bike right. I began to look for a “balance bike”, one of those cute stand-over bikes with no pedals that kids scoot along on while they learn to get their balance.

There are some lovely ones out there. I looked at Walton Street Cycles’ PUKY range. Made in Germany, PUKY only make bikes for children, the sole drawback being the name.

I was tempted by the Islabikes Rothan. Available only online from the manufacturer in Scotland, they fared best in a recent review of balance bikes in CTC’s Cycle magazine. Islabikes is another children’s-only brand but dearer than PUKY. They both have lovely details such as rounded heads on the nuts to prevent damage to children’s ankles.

I took my daughter to try her on the largest PUKY just for size – but she was too tall, or tall enough at least that she’d grow out of it before winter is out. In the end, she’s going to be unwrapping the smallest proper bicycle they make.

It has a rear drum brake operated by back-pedalling like a lot of continental bikes and a chain guard to keep her legs clean. In the end, I’m not sure who is going to be the most excited on Christmas Day.

It’s the first year she’s really “got” Christmas. She recently suggested we buy a chimney for Father Christmas to come down and the reindeer food is ready for deployment. But I can’t wait to see her face as she unwraps her first ever “bicykickle”.


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