This Bike Grows Up With Your Kids, So You Don’t Have To Keep Buying New Ones
FastCoExist published a piece on a redesign of the traditional children’s bicycle called the Miilo bike. The idea behind the bike is simple – the bike’s size is adjustable to accommodate your growing kid! Now if only they could come up with a comparable solution for shoes!
Kid’s bikes don’t usually last very long. Depending on how quickly a child grows, it’s possible to go through as many as five different bike frame sizes by the age of 12, which can be expensive and leads to plenty of material waste. Switzerland-based designer Andreas Bhend is hoping kids can keep their bikes longer with his invention: a new bike that transforms when a toddler grows a couple of inches.
The Miilo bike starts as a simple balance bike without pedals, so a two- or three-year-old can scoot along by foot and learn the basics of steering and balancing. After they grow up a little, the bike can grow as well.
“By flipping the frame and adding the pedals and the chain you get a taller bike,” explains Bhend. In its larger variation, the single-speed bike also has a pedal brake. Bhend envisions adding 3-D printed accessories, like a basket, that could be downloaded and made at home.
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