Just about every kid will eventually learn to ride a tricycle, and have fun riding. But many modern tricycles also serve as a tool to transport toddlers too young to ride independently around the neighborhood—to the park, a friend’s house, or a local restaurant. These schwinn bicycles trikes come with a push bar and often a sunshade and security straps and/or belt as well. As a kid grows, these little-kid extras are stripped away, leaving a more typical trike. You can buy a brand-new tricycle that looks exactly like one you rode as a kid.
We had an even mix of boys and girls ranging in age from 1 (pushed, in trikes with a baby mode) to 7, a wide range that gave us a feel for how the trikes would handle for lots of different kids. The trike gang tested the options on cement paths, grass, and small hills, and offered some feedback. Larger and heavier than other trikes we tested, the shiny, metal schwinn tricycle Schwinn Roadster has low-rider style, with chrome handlebars, festive tassels, a loud bell, and a wood platform in the back for an admiring friend to hitch a ride on. Beyond the glitz, we found that the Roadster provides a smooth, stable ride, especially compared with similar low-riders made of plastic (like the modern version of the beloved Big Wheel).
If you’re shopping for tricycles for a daycare, this is clearly the best brand for you. The Midi, one of Angeles’s simpler and less expensive models, cost $160 when we first named it our upgrade pick, but has now more than doubled in price. The trike has a bell that was a hit with my then 3-year-old son (the Joovy comes bell-less) and like our pick it has a storage compartment in back. The Radio Flyer’s storage space is covered, which keeps precious items from flying out (the Joovy’s compartment is open).
At 28 pounds, the Midi was by far the heaviest of all the trikes we tested, and user reviews and years of seeing these tricycles in action at schools and other public places tell us they’re also by far the most durable. “Quality and safety come before everything else,” David Curry, the VP of merchandising and product development at Angeles Corporation told us. It schwinn mountain bike wouldn’t be an issue for storing in most garages, but I found it was a challenge to navigate my narrow walkways with this trike (and without a push bar, in narrow spaces, you’re relying on your kid to steer precisely). The platform on the rear wheels is wider than the one on the Angeles, making this trike the easiest of any we tested for a second kid to stand on.
I used the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s database to see which trikes had been recalled recently and why. And I called two bike shops to see what models they recommend to parents looking for a first tricycle for their child. I also interviewed product designers, marketers, and owners at four companies that make tricycles, among them a trike designer at Fisher-Price and the VP of product development at Radio Flyer.
The High Bounce comes in a cool lime green or blue and is recommended for ages 3 to 6. The Radio Flyer 4-in-1 Stroll ‘N Trike has many of the features we were looking for in a convertible trike—but a few flaws too. The adjustable sunshade has two panels, compared with the Joovy’s three, which we found makes a big difference in how much toddler you can keep in the shade.
The Joovy TriCyCoo 4.1 is far more versatile than the shiny-red metal trike or the ground-hugging plastic Big Wheel you had as a kid (modern replicas of which we also tested). The trike can be used as young as 9 months in the first of its four grow-with-me configurations, with a padded ring that circles the bike seat and your baby as well as a parent push bar that allows you to use it like a stroller. It also has a storage compartment, a cupholder, and a sunshade that is significantly bigger and more functional than those we found on other grow-with-me models.
As your toddler grows, you remove the shade, the safety ring, and the push-bar, and the trike transitions to a big-kid mode where, rated for use with 4-year-olds up to 44 pounds, it continues to excel against competitors. With an average weight and one of the most stable designs we tried, the Joovy was easier to start, pedal, and maneuver than any of the other 10 top trikes we tested. It’s one of the more expensive tricycles out there, and it doesn’t include a bell, but with such a wide age range it’s still a good value for the price. The Radio Flyer Deluxe Steer & Stroll isn’t as versatile as our pick for littler kids, because it doesn’t have a protective ring and straps to hold a baby in place and lacks a sunshade. We also found that it’s not quite as nimble to steer and easy to pedal as the TriCyCoo once kids are riding on their own.
The tricycle a kid learns to ride at school—and usually pedals well for the first time—is often an Angeles trike, a generally higher-quality tricycle than what most kids have at home. Even though the company sells more to institutions than directly to parents, you can buy an Angeles tricycle at retail. It comes at a higher price than our picks, but you can likely pass it on to other kids as well. Despite its heavier weight, we found that the smooth-riding Angeles was as easy to start and pedal as our pick.