Kids Ride Shotgun started out with a great idea, take the traditional toddler bike seat and fit it up front and onto the top tube. And just like that you could take your nipper mountain biking with you for the first time, safe in the knowledge the bike was now properly balanced and without 10kg of undamped toddler hanging off the back wheel.

The Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt Hero isn’t quite as revolutionary as that, plenty of other brands got there first with a balance bike and did a pretty good job of it too: the best kids bikes out there really are great in 2024. What the Dirt Hero does differently is to bring everything together, all the small gains brands have made over the years, into one great little bike.

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The Dirt Hero has a proper headset with cartridge bearings for proper mud-soaked adventures

Balance bikes… is it worth it?

Fitting stabilisers to a kids bike isn’t a great idea in most cases. Yes they can get pedalling sooner but bikes are slower and heavier thanks to the training wheels. Even really young kids are able to learn to balance on a bike, lean it into corners, dodge round obstacles and feel speed and acceleration, and this is best done on a balance bike. In fact fitting stabilisers can lead to bad habits because the only way to steer is by turning the bars – not something you do on two wheels. Save the pedals for later and just learn the basics first.

Test pilot Toby on the Dirt Hero

What age can your kid ride a balance bike?

As soon as they can walk… almost. My four kids hopped on their first balance bikes around two years old, although I’ve got friends who introduced theirs even earlier. We kept it inside to start with for kitchen shredding. The short answer is anything from the age of two, although Kids Ride Shotgun recommends the age range of 3-5 for its Dirt Hero.

Which wheel size is right?

It’s all about getting the right size on the best mountain bike or balance bike, small enough they can actually reach the ground with the saddle slammed, big enough so they’re not becoming unstable or top heavy. It varies from child to child according to height and inside leg then, but for most kids this is about right…

• 2 – 3 yrs old = 12in wheel balance bike
• 3 – 4 yrs old = 14in wheel (pedal bike or balance bike if still needed)
• 4 – 5 yrs old = 16in wheel
• 5 – 7 yrs old = 20in wheel
• 8 – 10 yrs old = 24in wheel
• 12+ yrs old = Adult bike

The Dirt Hero has great standover height, you could drop the seat further but it’d come close to buzzing the rear tyre

Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt Hero

Frame

The Dirt Hero is made from T6 6061 aluminium, which is pretty standard across most balance bikes my kids have used, from the Early Rider Charger 12 to the Frog Tadpole. It’s a good compromise of light weight and affordability. Kids Ride Shotgun (KRS) gives you a five year warranty on the frame and fork, although honestly there’s not much a toddler can do to wreck it, so it’s almost superfluous.

The frame is scooped out incredibly low to allow for little legs to mount the saddle, although the bottom of the seat tube is actually capped off so it’s impossible to slam it lower than 35cm from the ground. Presumably KRS does this to prevent water ingress as I’ve seen balance bikes where the seatpost ends up rusted into the frame.

With 12in or 14in wheels the bike should cover you up to age five

Honestly I don’t want it dropped further anyway, with the 14in wheels fitted the rear wheel is mighty close to its rider, we had to turn up test pilot Toby’s coat so it didn’t buzz on the tyre. The Dirt Hero comes in either 12in or 14in wheel options, which is really cool because you can switch up the size as your young rider grows up, all without the faff of changing the frame around, as on some bikes. The 14in wheelset is expensive at £120 though, so if you can get away with it and your kids are large for their age just buy the bike at that bigger size.

On a regular pedal bike it’s pretty obvious where your feet go, but on a freewheeling balance bike they’re stuck up in the air or dragging along the ground. The Dirt Hero has a neat solution, a plastic platform built around the BB area works as a rest area for those diddy feet.

There’s also a semi integrated headset with cartridge bearings, which is worthy of note if you want a kids bike that’s pretty much maintenance free.

Twin piston brakes on a bike weighing 4kg in defintely overkill… doesn’t mean it’s not a brilliant idea though

Components

If you’d asked me before getting the Dirt Hero whether a disc brake has any place on a balance bike I’d have said, absolutely not. But the Magura MT4 hydraulic disc brake and a 140mm rotor option on the Dirt Hero is a stroke of genius. It adds around 400g to the weight of the bike, which isn’t ideal, but the lever is so easy to pull I can forgive it. There’s also a reach adjustment to bring it as close to the bar as you like.

The Dirt Hero comes with some of the best tyres for kids bikes out there, Vee Tire Crown Gem. They’re huge in proportion to the bike and effectively adding an inch to the diameter of the wheel compared to the small 1.75in tyres you find on plenty of balance bikes. They roll on own brand KRS rims, steel spokes and KRS hubs.

In the cockpit is a wide 450mm KRS bar with a short 30mm stem. The only thing at fault is the 19mm slide on grips which had to be glued in place to stop them spinning round on the bar.

The grips started to spin on the bar after a dozen or so rides, I glued them on with hairspray (not mine)

Performance

The most important performance upgrade you get with the Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt Hero over a regular balance bike is the tyres. His previous and first bike was a superlight Strider Pro, perfect for mastering the concept of scooting along but it rolls on tyres made from rock hard plastic. The Crown Gems use side lugs that are just about soft enough to deform on soft ground, while the central blocks remain firm and sturdy for speed. Combine that with their huge size and ability to run at really low pressures – we went down to 6psi – and there’s grip enough to corner on.

There’s even somewhere to put your feet when freewheeling down hill

I’ve watched with my heart in my mouth as Toby slithers his way down grassy fields, muddy banks and proper trails, something that our other kids bikes – an Islabike and Vitus 16 – just couldn’t cope with. Yes he’s super confident, but that comes from being able to control the bike.

With a 642mm wheelbase and 66° head angle I’ve not seen a longer or more stable balance bike out there. Stability is really important and often overlooked on a balance bike if you’re going to take it off-road – we’ve all got used to big sizing for safer and faster riding, surely the kids should have it too? And with no pedals to stand on, a balance bike effectively has a higher centre of gravity than your ride, making a low seat, long wheelbase and slack head angle even more important.

The Dirt Hero’s diddy mudguard is a nice addition

Without the disc brake the Dirt Hero 14 is £230, add on the stopper and you’ll pay £300 for the bike. That’s really expensive for a balance bike given that the Frog Tadpole, Early Rider Charger 12, Cube Cubie 120 and Strider Pro, all of which we’ve ridden, come in under £200.

The bike does drag on steep hills and it’s probably 400g overweight, but it’s a compromise I’m prepared to accept for the superior downhill performance