Kettler Happy Air Navigator

Like everybody has said, the instructions are just terrible but hopefully you know someone who is patient enough to put it together. It takes about an hour to put the whole thing together and once we did, my son was ready to go for a first ride at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only is this tricycle sturdy, it also has a a great safety feature: a seat belt. My son is 16 months old and this would not be a good option for us without a seat belt. The tires are great and we live in NYC and it could handle the sidewalks easily. It is silent which is also great. My one complaint has to do with the peddles - I think toe clips should just come with the bike. Most kids under 2 just won't keep their feet on the peddle so it would be great to have some way of securing his feet in. This is a very expensive purchase but as I see it, if we use it every day for the next 6 months (180 days), we basically spent 2 dollars a day on a couple of hours of great fun. Of course, it will last a lot longer than 6 months because it is so well built, sturdy and solid.

This is going back asap - I ordered 2 for my twins. The provided screws don't fit for the seat for one of them and the other one does not even have the screws for the seat. I have twins - I don't have time to mess around with incomplete toys. This is the most expensive tricycle on the market - this is wrong

This trike is adorable, sturdy and has great tires. However, for the price, I am very disappointed in the assembly instructions and process. The basket and seat are very difficult to install. I The seat has 4 different adjustments so it is disappointing that it may be difficult to adjust it in the future. The screws for the seat must fit in a very narrow space making it difficult and frustrating to install. The german engineering is only worth the extra expense if you can properly put it together to reap those benefits! 1 star for assembly and 5 stars for durability, style and look = 3 stars overall. P.S. In my opinion the instructions are pretty much worthless on how to lock the handlebars and allow for rear steering. Luckily this video cleared that up quite nicely: [...]

The trike was shipped with the original box inside a shipping box. The shipping box appeared fine, but once opened, the original box was very damaged. It looked like it had been a return possibly, though the parts inside were completely wrapped, and appeared untouched. We put it together for our son's second birthday, and when we went to use it, it mostly worked as it should, with one exception. The tricycle wouldn't free-wheel (when the parent is pushing behind, the pedals are supposed to stay still while the wheel turns, so that they act more like foot-rests, and not shin-knockers). Following the company's advice, we were able to fix it to get it to free-wheel, hence avoiding having to send it back as a return and having a really bummed out two year old. Ideally, it would've been good straight out of the box, and with the price we paid I would've expected it to be. With having to fix it, I have to knock off a star. Overall, it's a great bike. I love that I can push from behind while walking upright. Having torn a rotator-cuff, I definitely appreciate not having to bend over in an awkward position to help my son keep going. The steering requires a little effort, but I found it to be comfortable still. The seat belt also gives me peace of mind with regard to his safety (along with his helmet). I was able to push him up a paved hill, turn onto a dirt/rocky road (the air tires keep the ride comfy for him), and up the beginnings of a slightly sandy trail. The trike handled perfectly.

The designers of this trike solved virtually every shortcoming one would find in a trike. Most of the great features are described by other reviewers so I won't repeat them here but definitely spring for the "Air" Navigator that comes with real rubber tires. Plastic tires won't last. What I will address is the negative reviews which stem from either a lack of understanding about how the trike works or an incorrect assembly. First, this trike will absolutely allow your child to pedal, brake, or coast. That's what the 3-in-1 Auto-Freewheel was designed for. The reviewers who claim their child can't pedal haven't bothered to adjust the front wheel so the pedals rotate. Notice that the guy with the review: "so glad i didn't pay full price for this glorified stroller" bought his at a estate sale? He probably bought a different model without the Auto-Freewheel function! I recommend going to the Kettler website and watching the video. It will quickly show you how to adjust the trike because as many reviewers accurately state, the directions leave much to be desired. Everything is pictorial rather than explained in words. Second, the handle bars, if properly installed and tightened, do not "rotate freely." I would imagine everything would need re-tightening after some use which is basically applicable to any product that has a screw! I find the parent steering to work very well. Before I engaged this feature I tried steering without it and it's difficult. Most importantly, my 2 year old son loves it and because of the quality construction and adjustability, he will use it for years, easily justifying the $239 price tag.

It's a little expensive, but it's so nice to purchase something that looks and feels so well crafted. My daughter received a tricycle from a family friend a while back, the nondescript mass produced made-in-china kind, and though we appreciated the gesture, we promptly recycled it. UPDATE: okay, so my daughter never quite took to it. But then she got a baby sister, and after 3 years in storage I was so glad the sister loved it. Alas, the valve just popped off one of the tires while I was trying to pump some air into them. So. Maybe made in Germany, but not to last. This tricycle is so cute you cannot take your eyes off it; it runs incredibly smooth; it takes a wee bit of time to get used to controlling it with the push bar (as you control the back wheels, and that's always a bit awkward and requires more forethought); I've read reviews and a common complaint was that the instructions for assembly are not helpful--I found them sufficiently apt, and was just a little confused about the "actual size" of screws shown in the assembly diagram; it's a great idea, but it probably would have been an even better idea if they would have used an actual exact depiction of the screw for easy identification; to qualify this last bit though, I probably would have been more on the ball if I weren't rushing this, with my little devil of a daughter taking away the tools included for assembly and insisting "I do it, I do it!". And no, a 2 year old cannot do it. YOU FAIL instructions designer. One thing that bugged me though. For a $300 item, not appreciating the seat (plastic) came out of the box already damaged (looks like it took a heavy blow from the end of a metal bar), and the front wheel cover (plastic) having noticeable scuff marks. But that's not enough to sour me on the product. And now I must invest in accessories, and there's a slew of these, up to a tandem second seat attachment, probably hard to get in Canada.