12 and 16-inch wheels available, offering three assistance settings for young riders.
Gyrobike Europe has launched its gyroscopic bicycle wheel in the UK, a substitute for stabilisers and able to be fitted to bikes hosting a 12 or 16-inch wheel.
Created by Robert Bodill, a businessman who previously created and ran a retail security firm called vitag, the Gyrowheel offers three settings of assistance to keep kids upright while they hone their cycling skills. Finally, the assitance can be switched off once the child has become confident enough to propel themselves.
Bodill said: "I'm thrilled to bring the 3-in-1 Gyrobike to the UK and European markets. Learning to ride a bike is a fantastic milestone that should be filled with memories of accomplishment, not frustration. This product makes the learning process fun for kids and parents alike. The big appeal to parents who buy the complete bike is that there's no need to buy a new bike every few years."
When charged for two hours, the Gyrowheel will offer two hours assistance (12 inch) and one hour for the 16-inch. No special assembly is required and a one-year warranty is offered.
Article continues belowAdvertisement
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
3 comments
Hmmmm....be far easier just to teach the kid to balance for themelves! Balanace bikes are the way to go as my 2 year old has been zooming around and balancing for himself since 19 months and did it naturally without me showing him so no stabilisers required.
Andy Easterbrook Aug 13th 2012 at 1:14PM
0 0I'm all for innovation and helping more kids to learn how to ride, but, this looks like it's going to carry a heafty price tag and is bound to add significant additional weight. I'm interested to know the answer to both those issues?
steve yates Aug 14th 2012 at 1:53PM
0 0We agree, balance bikes are fantastic. Especially for the 2-4 year old bracket. That's why our 3-in-1 Gyrobike IS a balance bike, albeit one that has the ability to transform into a fully fledged 12 inch bicycle. It's fairly unusual to see kids that are older than 4-5 using balance bikes and as different children learn to ride at different ages, Gyrowheel offers a solution that can be used all the way up to 8-9 year olds. We get requests all the time for a 20 inch version and with about 10% of the adult population being unable to ride at all we receive equal amounts of requests for an adult model. At £229, 3-in-1 Gyrobike is 1) Balance bike 2) Fully fledged 12 inch bicycle 3) Comes with our high stability Gyrowheel and 1x spare regular front wheel - we think that's pretty good value. With regards to weight, it is definitely heavier than a standard bike - it has to be. The scientific force known as gyroscopic precision (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession) would otherwise not work. With about 10,000 kids in the USA having learnt to ride using Gyrowheel it hasn't been an inhibitor to teaching correct riding technique. Like any other developmental milestone, practice makes perfect and Gyrowheel teaches the rider to react correctly by providing stability at low speeds. It definitely does not do all the work for them, allowing the rider to learn in a progressive manner (3 stability settings). We obviously have a massive bias to our own product so perhaps the best place to do some additional research is checkout YouTube with more than 100 consumer generated videos showing real life, learn to ride experiences: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL38EA64502E348F47&feature=plcp If you have any other questions, we'd be happy to help: info@gyrobike-europe.com.
Robert Bodill Aug 15th 2012 at 2:51PM
0 1