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).
Like many of today’s trikes, the Joovy TriCyCoo has a storage bin in the back for treasures, and comes with a cupholder attached to the handlebars. It weighs 14 pounds, typical of plastic tricycles of this type but much lighter than more traditional metal models. I then spent 18 hours evaluating the tricycles in everyday conditions with my two sons, using each trike for several strolls around the neighborhood and the top contenders for a dozen or more walks. We schwinn tricycle tested each trike on grass, pavement, and bumpy broken concrete surfaces, paying attention to how the wheels performed on each surface and how long it took to get the bike going. For the combo grow-with-you models, I assessed how difficult and time-consuming it was to convert the trike from baby mode to toddler mode. I checked how the tricycles fit my 1-year-old and almost-4-year-old to assess which models would work best for the same kid over several years.
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.
For bigger kids, the Schwinn Roadster 12-inch Trike is a shiny, gorgeous tricycle that’s fast and fun to ride. It’s low to the ground, with more of a Big Wheel style than you typically see in a metal trike. The bike is rated to 50 pounds, 6 pounds more than the Joovy (many kids don’t hit 50 pounds until they’re 7 or 8 years old). We approached this guide with families in mind, focusing on tricycles that we think will get the most use over the longest time frame. Grow-with-me trikes that evolve with a child through several developmental stages obviously fit this bill well.
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, schwinn mountain bike 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.
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 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).
This took about two hours with my son (we had to take snack and water breaks because, man, trike riding is exhausting). Personally, I’m a science writer with more than a decade of experience interviewing experts in countless fields, including health, parenting, and child development. I’m also the mom of two small guys who were 1½ and 3½ when I was initially reporting and testing for this guide. I’ve pushed, pulled, rolled, and cajoled kids on tricycles for countless after-dinner strolls and park dashes over the past three years. The Joovy TriCyCoo works for a baby, converts quickly to a big-kid bike, and is easier and more fun for bigger kids to ride than most traditional tricycles.
In our tests, the Classic Red was harder to ride than the Joovy or any of our other picks. The SmarTrike Lollipop 3 in 1 Baby Trike is designed for babies starting at 10 months up to kids 3 years, a narrower age range than other convertible trikes. My 1-year-old was able to sit comfortably in the seat—unlike the Joovy and Radio Flyer this trike has no straps—but he kept sliding forward onto his crotch and standing on the foot rests. On the other hand, the SmarTrike has a completely independent push-steering system, so even if a kid is jerking the steering column to the left, you can still turn right. In the older-kid configuration the trike seemed a little small and underpowered compared with the other convertibles we tested. These trikes arrive fully assembled, which is the first sign they are a different breed of quality.