The Sbyke: the best gift your tween or teen will get, period.

The siren song of electronics has a huge pull on my tweens this holiday, so if I'm going to ask Santa to bring them something that doesn't begin with an "i" it'd better be something pretty cool. I found something pretty cool. No...really cool. The Sbyke is the rad offspring of a scooter and a BMX bike with a whole bunch of skateboard attitude thrown in for fun. I love that ever since my kids got their hands on one, they've been running outside--in the cold--to ride on it. For them, it's been a pretty natural transition from a traditional scooter to the Sbyke. Within just a few minutes, they were taking it up and down our driveway, getting used to the rear steering and the hand brake. I, on the other hand, looked a lot like a mom who was afraid she was going to break something. It's not too hard, but the lean-to-steer cruising takes a little practice to get the balance just right. And unlike other scooters, the Sbyke's maple hardwood deck is wide enough for you to put both feet side-by-side which, again, took some practice to maintain my balance. The Sbyke is definitely not a beginner scooter for little kids. Though I think any child over the age of 8 could get the hang of it with some practice, it's pretty big for a first grader to handle, and I know hand brakes can be hard for those little fingers to grasp. But, for us grownups, we're in luck; the Sbyke can hold up to 220 pounds so we can take it for a spin too. What the kids and I both really like is that the Sbyke turns on a dime. If we had a skateboard park in our area, I suppose the kids could take it out for a spin there too where the cool videos on the Sbyke website show off the tricks it can do. I'll stick to my nice flat driveway, thank you very much. -Christina The Sbyke is available at the Sbyke website, and at Brookstone (with free shipping!), although check our affiliate Amazon too since pricing there may fluctuate. Thank you to Sbyke for sending us one for review.