I was recently offered a sale or return trial of a Toddlebike via the offer here on Cyclechat. It promises to bridge the gap between walking and balance bikes, or at least that's what Cyclorama think. You only have to look at the picture of my 20month old to see that is true. Clearly, it helps very small children develop skills that they can later use on balance bikes. It is significantly smaller and lighter than either an Islabike Rothan or the Likeabike Jumper we have. It's also around 1/7th of the price (currently £19.95).
Given that’s the case, I shouldn’t be sniffy about the construction. However, I do find very lightweight plastic wheels hard to forgive. My view is that they’ll limit both the function and the lifespan of the bike, and feel a bit christmas cracker. Even though it’s cheap compared to something similar, it feels even cheaper. Rubber treaded tyres would be more in keeping with the light but rigid construction of the rest of the bike. That said, it’s much, much lighter than the old wooden ride-ons of the ilk. Our 20 month old is able to pull it around one handed, and has even tried to carry it up the stairs. It’s lightness means that when they can’t pilot it around the living room, they can just walk it around easily. The marked absence of frustration our child has when playing with it means it retains his attention for extended periods, and he’s ridden to our local shops and back on it happily (to the frustration of my wife, as it took 40 minutes instead of less than 10!)
All in all, the response it's got from my son, and the skills he's developed playing with it has meant it's nearly overcome my disappointment with some aspects of the build quality. I'd suggest that if you are a cycling parent used to Islabike quality of construction, you should be prepared for something different - this is a plastic ride on, closer in weight and construction to a toy. A quick google suggests that the toddlebike is in fact a Czech Lena Roll Fitzer, and goes for around 13 Euros in Germany (and as low as 10 euros). I suspect I would be more forgiving of the construction at that price point, but the fact that Lena are a plastic toy company does explain the design. However, if you can get past that (we have), I suspect you’ll be amazed what your toddler can do with it. We’ll be buying ours.