Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike REVIEW

#AD – Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike gifted for review 

We recently read about Little Tikes initiative with Olympian Greg Rutherford, encouraging families to enjoy the great outdoors! We were interested to read their tips on how to get active, and how the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike can make this easier for the whole family!

Some of their tips included:

• Going out as a family – You can walk and talk at the same time and enjoy exercising and spending time together.  This is a great idea for meeting up with other family members as well as friends.
• Watch your steps – It’s recommended you walk 10,000 steps every day. Use an app or a pedometer to measure how any steps you do. Going out with your child in a Trike, you will probably find you are surprised by just how many steps you’ve taken!
• Look up – It may sound obvious but it’s important to take stock of your surroundings, feel inspired the nature all around you.
• Walk tall – Walking is a great gentle exercise and if you walk tall and pull your tummy you can help improve your posture too.
• Change it up – Don’t do the same route all the time, you will lose motivation and give up. Go to the park, walk around the block or in town. Check out walks from other parents on the Little Tikes’ interactive map and on Twitter and Instagram with #toptriketrails.

We got ourselves out and about road testing the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike, and our full verdict is below.

About the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike

The sporty and cool styling of Little Tikes 4-in-1 Sports Edition Trike is suitable from age 9+ months and is perfectly suited to any budding sports stars. Great for babies and beginner riders, these funky pink, blue and red trikes are designed to grow as a child’s skills develop. We road tested the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike in pink – which is actually more of a purple shade. Retailing at £99.99, the Little Tikes Sports Edition Trike is a fun trike that grows with your child, through four learning stages.

The Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike is suitable from 9 – 36 months and features:

• A secure 5-point seat belt harness
• A break peddle to lock the trike wheels in place
• A protective sun canopy with fully flexible handle allowing canopy to be fully manoeuvred to shield your child from the sun.
• A large multi-purpose storage bag at parent accessible height.
• A back open topped storage tray at floor height
• A convenient drinks / bottle holder

The four learning stages are as follows:

• Guided (9+ months) – where parents can push and control. Infant foot rest is down and safety harness in place, so child is unable to turn the wheel and enjoy the feeling of being on the move;
• Learning (12+ months) where the infant foot rest is up and the safety harness is in place. The child is unable to turn the wheel, but can learn to pedal, strengthening legs and learning about speed control;
• Developing (18+months) where it is both child and parent powered. The waist bar is removed so the child can pedal and turn the wheel, whilst parent also has steering control – to help avoid any veering of course as little one learns.; and finally
• Independent (30+ months) where the child full control as the guided handle is removed – allowing them the chance to travel and discover at their will.

How easy is the Little Tikes 4 in 1 to assemble?

The Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike comes packaged compactly in a large box with all the pieces ready for self-assembly.

On opening the box the sight of all the pieces can be a little bit daunting, particularly if you aren’t a fab of flat packed furniture, and the instructions on multiple pieces of paper made it a little complicated at first glance. For that reason, I wouldn’t have even attempted it myself, and asked my other half to take on the job! He did comment that he might need a degree in astro physics, but that said, the instructions were relatively straightforward to follow although could have benefited from some larger diagrams for those that find it easier to follow visual guidelines.

There are quite a few fiddly bits, such as the wheel assembly, but overall the process took around 30 minutes. Definitely one to assemble earlier than Christmas Eve if buying for a Christmas if you want to keep your stress levels down!!

First impressions

Once set up, the first impressions of the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike are great. The design of the Trike is really fun and appealing for a young child, with the purple/pink colour being bright and inviting. Having used other trikes before, this one does appear to be a little more sturdy, as the poles and wheels appear thicker and wider. That said, this does make the overall weight of the trike seem heavier, but the product feels safe and secure for the littles ones which is the most important thing!

The trike comes with two different storage areas, a good sized zipped pouch on the handle with plenty of room for wipes, a drink, change of clothes for child etc, and a large open style tray on the lower section of the trike, offering plenty of room for bits and pieces to take out with you. There is a cup holder on the handle bar giving the child or parent easy access to some juice or water for the journey.

The seat is padded and provides comfort for the back and base, and the harness fastens securely in a similar way to a car seat, with the ability to tighten to your required amount. (Erin is quite petite for her age so this was particularly important for me – I would have personally preferred to be able to have made this a bit tighter, and on first use this wasn’t immediately obvious. This may not be such of an issue with children who aren’t so petite.)

Our Experience

We took Erin out on the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike to various locations including visiting our local park. Being familiar with other trikes, Erin was very comfortable in the trike and adjusted to a new product really well. She very much enjoys being low to the ground and being able to see everything in front of her – the vantage point is clearly quite different to bring in the pushchair. She likes to be able to point at dogs and children and flowers as they go past! (or we pass them!). I also think she secretly likes the “lady muck” mentality of mummy pushing her around!

As Erin is 2 years old, I had set the trike up in Stage 3 set up of the trike. I as the parent was able to retain full control of the direction in which the Trike was travelling, using the easy steering handle to gently manoeuvre the trike around corners, she also however had access to the handles which turned the wheels, so I was able to let her control the approach until I felt she was going slightly off kilter, and then I could bring her back on track. Because Erin is so diddy, her legs aren’t quite long enough for her to start peddling properly yet, so she tended to alternate her feet between the foot rest and the pedals. I am hoping as she grows a little bigger that she will be able to fully reach the peddles, and start moving the trike independently. At that point, I can then fold the footrest safely out of the way.

The trike really is very easy to steer, and can be done one handed, so no worries about her drifting off the pavement or towards any parked cars! It does have quite a wide turning circle, so doing a full 360 degree turn isn’t totally slick, but it’s not something we have to do very often, unless mummy has forgotten something! The storage provided with the Trike is really good, in that there are various places to store bits and pieces. When I took her to the park in it, I was able to pop her favourite teddy, a spare nappy, some wipes, and her cardigan in the top handle zip pouch, and had room to spare. This was a lot bigger than the storage I have experienced on other trikes. The storage box tray also provided plenty of room – Erin popped her Frozen bag (of key importance for the park!) and her drink in there, as well as her sunglasses as it was a bright and sunny day.

The sun canopy was really useful, and could be pivoted in virtually every direction as required depending on how bright the sun was. Now that the winter is coming, this canopy option could be taken off completely, however it is also quite useful at shielding a bit of the wind, so we will be leaving ours on. I was really impressed with the bubble type tubing for the sun canopy, as it literally allowed you to bend it to where ever the sun was, even if this was right at the side of your child’s face. As a Mum who quite often forgets to take out a sun hat I found this a really great feature. My only real criticism of this product would be the break handle as it was a little flimsy, and at times, attempting to press down the break felt as if I was going to break the plastic. Once pressed down, the break locked the trike firmly in place, it just could have benefited from being a little more rigid to press in my opinion. Overall, we really loved the product and felt it was a really fun way to get out and about with Erin giving her a different perspective on the world. Erin certainly enjoyed being in the trike and I look forward to her testing out the next stages in its journey!

Pros:

• 4 in 1 trike that grows with your child
• Bright and colourful with attached sun canopy.
• Child is lower to the ground than in their pushchair giving them a different perspective on the world
• In earlier stages, the parent has full control over the steering, so even when the child is holding on to the handle bars, they can’t control the direction in which we moved.
• In stage 3, when too young to peddle, Erin was able to rest her feet on the stands instead. These can be moved out of the way as her legs grow!
• Plenty of room to take things out with you, including a large zipped pouch bag on the back and an open tray at rear, as well as a drinks holder on the handle.
• Fully flexible sun canopy, which can be moved to shield the sun from your childs face where ever it may be.
• Long lasting product- the Trike is sturdy and strong, with a steel frame and it is clear that it is of high quality and made to last. The fact that this trike would grow with Erin to 3 years of age, makes it great value for money, and a much cheaper option than buying a new one for every stage of her development.

Cons / Things to be aware of:

• There isn’t a rain cover – which is the same with pretty much all of the trikes on the market, so your journeys would need to be timed carefully!
• The size of trike doesn’t reduce. Because of this, it does take up a fair bit of room, and can’t easily be popped into the car to take out and about (in our Golf at least!). If like us, you have no shed or garden storage, it will probably end up living in your hall or porch! We have wooden floors so not a major problem but something to think about if you’ve got a cream carpet!
• The break handle appears a little flimsy although does successfully lock the Trike in place. Just an element of caution required that you don’t press down too hard.

You can learn more about the Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition trike on the Little Tikes website here – http://www.littletikes.co.uk/ride-ons-and-trikes/trikes/4-in-1-sports-trike-purple.html