Fake news alert – the world’s ‘not so’ lightest balance bike

I have a terrible confession to make. Here at Cycle Sprog we have been guilty of pedalling fake news.  A couple of weeks ago we ran a story about the world’s lightest balance bike going on sale at John Lewis. The Kiddimoto Karbon, we told you, came in at an eye wateringly light 350g, with an equally eye watering price of £999.99.

Whilst this did seem a staggeringly light balance bike, I had seen and felt the frame at the Cycle Show last year so knew that part of the bike was very light. When I followed the link in the email Kiddimoto sent me, I naively believed the marketing hype on John Lewis’s website. Phrases such as:

The world’s lightest balance bike – 350g
You won’t find a lighter balance bike – and we really mean that
Children will enjoy an almost weightless riding experience

It did seem incredible, but it appeared that the Karbon was indeed a staggeringly light balance bike.

Dear reader, I do hope you forgive me for not parting with £999.99 to weigh the bike myself. It was an eagle-eyed Cycle Sprog reader, Joel, who contacted us to question whether the bike was really as light as stated. Over on the Kiddimoto website, he had seen that the bike was actually listed as 3kg.

The question, I’m sure you’re now asking yourself, is whether your £999.99 gets you a balance bike that is indeed almost weightless, at 350g or one that is light, but nothing particularly special at 3kg.

A couple of emails to Kiddimoto have uncovered some interesting facts – the most important being that the Karbon does indeed weigh 3kg when fully assembled. Kiddimoto told me that the Karbon frame is the “lightest frame of any balance bike”, and that the “wheels and saddle unfortunately add a lot of weight”. Indeed!!

Now, call me picky, but had I parted with £999.99 thinking I was getting a near weightless cycling experience I might be slightly disappointed to learn that the Karbon is currently in the first edition and that Kiddimoto are “wanting to make the wheels and bespoke saddle lighter whilst keeping a higher spec than other bikes on the market”.

Following the email exchange, Kiddimoto have updated their website to change the wording from “lightest balance bike on the planet” to “lightest balance bike frame on the planet”.

At the time of writing this however, John Lewis were still advertising the Karbon as the world’s lightest balance bike.  Hopefully this will be updated by the time you read this! 

So, a million apologies for the previous error, and thanks to Joel for pointing this out. We hope you continue to trust us for all your news, reviews and opinion on family cycling and children’s bikes by following us on Facebook or signing up for our newsletter.

Other posts you may be interested in:

• What is a balance bike?
  The best balance bikes – as recommended by parents
  12 things you need to know before buying a kids bike
  How I managed to carry on cycling when I became a mum

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