Thread: Blank Spark 12
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Old 04-10-17, 11:03 AM
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Darth Lefty 
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Blank Spark 12

I'm at home today playing Lawrence Nightingale, so I'll tell you a little bit about this bike I picked for my kid.

A few years ago I read some opinions on the Internet and became radicalized, about balance bikes specifically. I was super eager to get my kid going and got him a Strider. It's a good little bike - emphasis on little. With its plastic and foam wheels and its stripped-down aesthetic, it's very light, and it's a very small frame with a low seat capable of taking kids down to about 1.5yo. The question I should have asked was, can a 1.5yo take the bike? The answer turned out to be mostly no. He didn't really pick up the idea until he was 2 and didn't get good on it til he was 2.5. So now here he is approaching 3, and he's outgrowing it. Oh, I could keep raising the seat, but the super short wheelbase and no brakes and hard foam tires are drawbacks now. So I went on a bike hunt.

My first main contender was a Hotrock 12. This bike has a recent revision with a forward BB like an Electra, and a low handlebar. But it still has a coaster brake. A stronger contender was a Little Big Bike, which has hand brakes and converts from a balance bike to a pedal bike. But I worried that it would sort of put us off-schedule for 16" and 20" bikes. I considered a Commecal Ramones 14 but he's just not big enough yet, and the very low handlebar on the Cleary Gecko seemed limiting.

Poking around the Chain Reaction website, I found the Blank Spark in the BMX, not the kids bike section. At first glance it seemed like it wasn't an outright turd (there's plenty of those out there at the same sub-$200 price) so I took a closer look. There are few enough reviews, some of them are from Russia and Germany. The bike has rear and maaaaybe front hand brakes. Not all stock photos show a front - a BMX obviously wouldn't. I thought this was notable because other BMX-style bikes, like the one from Haro, has coaster brakes. The main issues noted in reviews are first, the BMX-styled seat isn't good for sitting, and second, the brake levers are pretty big, and third, it's heavy. I'm actually not concerned about the weight, which is mostly caused by hi-ten frame materials, because it looks as durable as a full size BMX. The seat can be swapped and I likely would have anyhow, since kid bikes seemingly mostly come with crap seats. The cockpit geometry is pretty similar to the Gecko, same BB height, crank length, and top tube, but the big BMX handlebar puts the grips a lot higher, which seems like an advantage. The chain stays however are a LOT shorter than the Gecko, in keeping with the BMX vibe. Hey, maybe he'll learn to wheelie!

I ordered the bike yesterday from Chain Reaction. My intention is to give him the bike on his 3rd birthday in June, with the crank and chain removed. He can balance-bike it for a little while until he's got the hang of the brakes. I'll keep updating this thread as the process goes along.
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