Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Pimp My Trike

Happy Tuesday Readers.  I don't do a lot of product reviews here, mainly because of time but also because of fit.  Daily, I'll get offers to review items which are too large, or too small, or too hot, or too cold, or too hard, or even too comfy, believe it or not.

 I won't take those offers.

However, every once in a while I will receive an offer which is juuuuuuuust right.  And I can't pass it up.  The good folks at the Radio Flyer company made me such an offer recently.  They offered me the opportunity to try out their new Build a Trike service, to put together a custom tricycle for review.  And since I knew a little girl who would LOVE her own new tricycle, I took them up on the offer without hesitation.

And, it certainly helped that it would be a Radio Flyer!  Annabelle already loves her Radio Flyer ride on car which Lukas lovingly gave her for her first birthday.


And, of course, her Radio Flyer wagon which had pretty much supplanted her stroller as her preferred mode of transportation when cruising around the neighborhood.


So, when the boxes arrived, Annabelle was pretty excited to help out.


And couldn't wait until it was finished.

But of course, our little sweetie had to relinquish her seat so that Mrs. LIAYF could finish putting the bike together (yes, she took charge of this project and had the trike together in no time flat.)


Once together it was obvious that the tricycle was constructed with the same solid parts and quality workmanship we had already come to expect from Radio Flyer products.  When selecting the components on the Build-a-Trike website, we were able to choose the colors, the types of tires(we opted for rubber) and a slew of accessories, including a canopy, a handy basket on back roomy enough for our diaper bag, a personalized license plate, and a speaker we can hook our iPhone up too.  Yeah, I know.

In fact, it seemed like the only thing we weren't able to add was a hydraulics system for the back two wheels. Oh, and a sub woofer. We weren't able to get that either.

After getting her new tricycle fully assembled, and waiting the customary several days for the Seattle rain to let up, we were ready to take for Annabelle's inaugural neighborhood ride.


As you can probably tell, she still has a teeeensy bit of growing to do before her feet will reach the pedals. So thankfully there is a handy push handle in back.

As you can also tell, she was thrilled with her new ride.  And, as expected, we received many comments from passersby who were impressed with her tricycle.  Heck, It may even replace her wagon as her preferred mode of neighborhood transportation.

Maybe by then I'll have added those hydraulics.

Full disclosure: Red Tricycle provided us with the tricycle free of charge for my review.  My opinions are not for sale though.  They did not provide us with the red car, or the wagon.  We bought those ourselves and are very happy with all three.

5 comments:

Post Post Modern Dad said...

The see me rollin...

Cute.

How much are these and how easy to assemble?

Mrs. LIAYF said...

@Post Post Modern Dad - The directions were easy and I put it together in less than an hour with a toddler who wanted to climb all over it (and a 6 year old who wanted to help). I think the cost depends on what types of components you order on the Radio Flyer Build A Trike website (the link is at the top of the post).

Diplo_Daddy said...

You certainly picked a great product to review, that's for sure. Way back when, I had a red wagon. Loved it. With several younger brothers and a sister, poor thing didn't stand a chance of lasting too long.

Slamdunk said...

Now you are talking with the hydraulics boost… We have loved our radio flyer stuff over the years.

Valerie A. said...

Looking at Build-A-Trike just like yours with the air tires. Now that Annabelle has had more time with her trike, I have a few questions. Is she able to pedal it over grass? Also how tall was she when you first got it? Also does the push bar allow it to steer, or just push? Lastly I have read a few reviews from parents stating their children's feet got caught between the pedals and foot rest. Did she have this problem? THank you. I'm about to burn my eyes out reading reviews!