You know there was a temptation from early on to build more bikes and bigger
bikes. You know this this started out building bike for Bode and then as he
grew, in a sense and really outgrew the Strider certainly there was a temptation
to build that next bike for him. I guess it kind of took some willpower to not do
that because the little 12-inch bike was the unique and innovative need in the
marketplace. As I saw it, down here were the innovators and we're kind of the big
fish in the pond. You move up there then you're kind of a little fish in the
big pond and I think it really would have been probably the demise of the
company. I knew we didn't want to move into that until we had this huge
base of really young riders. So we continued to improve the 12 inch. The 12
inch originally was all off-the-shelf parts.
Tires, wheels, grips, seats. So from the original ST-1 Strider to today we've
probably had six or seven different clamps, three or four grips, many many
wheels, wheel designs, we've gone from a plastic wheel to the spoked wheel, we've
got a carbon wheel, our own custom tire pattern and four or five iterations of
seats and saddles. And really all of it comes down to quality. We really want the
product to be the best it can and us controlling our custom parts is the best
way to do that. So it's like well how do we how do we get the
balance bike into the family sooner? Really that's that baby bundle rocking
base. It's one of those classics, you know what we should do? And I said you know
what, I had that same idea. It's like should try to figure that
out. And then got to looking at it much more in depth. What size of child
will be on this and so we want this to be super easy so a child could get on by
themselves. So we ended up making the platform a little higher and then
sinking the wheels into it so a child could actually crawl up themselves even
if they're just crawling and it would be safe. This you're actually introducing
the bike at an even younger age. They get to play with it in the house, develop
some core strength and balance and coordination and how to hold the
handlebars how to sit on the bike these are all things that little little kids
have to learn. So that when you take it off the base unlike the rocking horse
this has a future. They already know it to be theirs, associated with being fun
and so they're that much further ahead so now at 15 and 18 months old
they've been playing with this bike for half their lifetime and now they finally
get to ride it across the living room or down the hall. When you're dealing with
really little kids it's all about fun. Everything is about fun and if you take
the fun out of it they're going to lose interest. So we wanted to make sure
that we didn't take too big of a step from the Strider to where we killed
their interest in riding. We felt like the 12 inch had, you know gained its
momentum and that okay now we really are at that point where people are
asking what's the next bike and we can say we got one for you. How do we put a
kid on that bike and get them pedaling turning the cranks over the quickest and
easiest? That was the goal on the 14x. When they're given the right bike and
they're given the right process, balance first two wheels.
Their ability is amazing and so we take that next step with the 14x and
introduce the pedals as a really progressive step to what starts as a
balanced bike that lets the process not only be easier than ever before but lets
it happen a couple years sooner. So we started into that development and I'd
literally have charts and diagrams of anthropometric which is the measurement
of arm lengths, short torso lengths, leg lengths averages from three to seven
years old charts of that and how that works. We really took what are key
adult biking alignment concepts like knee over pedal spindle things like that and
applied it to a toddler. The other really unique feature about the 14x is the
narrowness of the drivetrain and how low the drivetrain is set in the bike which
really is a subtle yet major innovation in children's bikes that lets them
stride it or pedal it whichever they're most comfortable with. That's
perfect for transition you can progress through it at your at your own comfort
level and pace and before you know it you're gonna be pedaling around like a
pro. What a lot of people don't know is once we roll a product out the
innovation is just starting. We are continually making that product better
so that it can reach the maximum number of children and have the most success
for them as possible. We believe that if we can instill success and confidence in
a child at a young age that will carry on through the rest of their life.