About pushbike.net

pushbike.net exists because the kids' bike aisle is full of heavy bikes with optimistic age labels, and the reviews for them are mostly rewritten press releases.

Who writes this

pushbike.net is written by parents who bought or borrowed the bikes on this site for their own kids, not by a staff of cycling journalists. We have no manufacturer relationships, no standing arrangement to receive review units, and no professional bike-fitting credentials to lean on. What we have is a scale, a tape measure, and a neighbourhood test group of a dozen or so kids between about 18 months and 7 years old, recruited from the same few streets — a small, informal sample, and we describe it as one rather than dressing it up as a scientific panel. The results feed directly into our reviews and guides.

What we cover

Balance bikes, first pedal bikes, and the gear around them — helmets, pads, trailers and toddler seats — for roughly ages 1 through 7. We don't cover adult bikes, BMX, or bikes for kids old enough to ride a standard geared bike; that's a different buying decision with different numbers that matter, and outside what our test group can actually put through its paces.

How we test

Every bike gets weighed on the same scale, because manufacturer weights are routinely a half-pound generous.
Every seat height gets measured floor-to-saddle at minimum insertion — the number that decides whether your child can actually ride it.
Every pick gets ridden by children in our neighbourhood test group across at least a season before it appears in a guide.

What our testing can't tell you

We are not a crash-test lab. We do not perform destructive safety testing — no drop tests, no fatigue rigs, no weld-failure analysis — and we never claim a certification result we haven't personally verified. When a page mentions CPSC certification on a helmet, that's the manufacturer's stated compliance, not an independent lab finding of ours. A season of hard neighbourhood use tells us a lot about loose bolts, worn bearings and paint that chips, but it cannot substitute for engineering testing, and we don't imply otherwise. Where a figure is the manufacturer's claim rather than something we measured ourselves, the page says "manufacturer-claimed" instead of presenting a guess as fact.

Editorial independence

Manufacturers do not see a review before it publishes, do not get approval rights over wording, and do not pay for placement in a best-of list. We buy or borrow every bike we test, and we choose what to test based on what parents are actually searching for and asking us about, not on what a brand pitches us. If a brand sends a bike unsolicited, it's tested under the same rules as one we paid for, and we say so if it changes anything about how the bike was sourced.

How we make money

Amazon affiliate commissions, disclosed on every page that contains a link and detailed in our affiliate disclosure. We run no display ads, no pop-ups, and accept no sponsored placements — one disclosed method, applied the same way on every page. Commissions are identical whichever bike you buy, so we have no reason to steer you toward expensive picks — and our budget guides prove it.

Updates and dates

Prices and stock move constantly on Amazon, so we revisit guides on a rolling basis rather than a fixed schedule. A "2026" in a title means the page was last substantively checked in 2026 — specs, prices and the current lineup — not that the writing was redone from scratch. If you spot a stale price bracket or a discontinued model still listed, that's exactly what the corrections process below is for.

Corrections

Spot an outdated spec or price bracket? Tell us — we'd rather fix it than be right on the internet.

Get in touch

For anything else — a bike you think we should test, a sizing question, or a factual error — see our contact page for what we can and can't help with, and how long a reply typically takes.