Learning to scoot with the SmarTrike T1 Scooter

At three and a half Toby has had his fair share of wheeled transport. We got him a SmarTrike 4 in 1 trike for his first birthday, a sit on scooter for his second birthday, a balance bike for his third birthday… If I’m honest the second two haven’t seen much use – although Toby was full of enthusiasm he never really lasted more than ten minutes before he got fed up. I’ve seen lots of other kids his age who seem to be pros on a scooter so when we were given the chance to try the T1 scooter from SmarTrike I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to give it a try.

Just a boy and his SmarTrike Scooter

The added bonus of the T1 scooter is that is actually suitable from 15 months. With the addition of seat and adjustable handlebars it can be used as a ride on for younger children before removing the seat for scooting when your child is bigger. The scooter has two front wheels making it very stable for beginners too.

Toby's first go on the SmarTrike T1 scooter

Gabe is almost 17 months now but when we gave him a try on the T1 with the seat he wasn’t too keen. He’s not really been walking that long and I think he found coordinating his legs and balancing was a bit tricky. We’ll try again when he’s a bit bigger – although I think we might struggle as Toby has very much claimed the scooter as his own! For now though Gabe is very happy being pushed in Toby’s old SmarTrike trike, and Toby was happy to hand it down now he has a new scooter to play with.

Toby and Gabe love SmarTrike

Toby was very excited when we got the scooter out of the box but given his track record I wasn’t sure how he was going to get on. To my knowledge he hasn’t used a scooter before although he might have done at nursery so I was genuinely really impressed when he just got on and scooted up the street!

Toby is gaining in confidence scooting off down the street

It was a bit wet and miserable on our first outing – we live on a very quiet cul-de-sac so it’s perfect for practising and Toby really enjoyed scooting up and down (and trying to crash into his uncle who was visiting!)

Scooting to Uncle Mark

The SmarTrike T1 scooter also has the T-lock feature which means that the tilt to steer mechanism can be locked. Toby has it in this mode at the moment while he gains confidence with his scooting.

SmarTrike T1 scooter with adjustable steering

It does mean he has to stop and pick it up to change direction, then sometimes just ends up walking and we have to remind him to scoot again!

A bit more walking than scooting

There is also a brake on the back wheel and Toby has already mastered using this. In fact he loves it so much he keeps stopping every few metres! Since Toby first tried the T1 scooter he’s been out on it quite a few times and we even braved scooting into town last week.

Toby scooting to town on his SmarTrike T1 Scooter

He did take a tumble when he was going a bit too fast down hill and gave himself a bit of a fat lip but he was OK. I was really glad he was wearing his helmet though because I think it stopped him from scraping his whole face along the pavement. It just goes to show how important helmets are, even when they’re only little and you don’t think they’ll be going very fast.

I was actually impressed with how brave Toby was on the scooter though. He can be a bit timid sometimes and won’t try new things because he’s scared. He’s doing great on the scooter though and even had fun speeding down our (quite steep) drive – with daddy standing at the bottom to catch him!

Toby flying down the drive on his SmarTrike scooter

The SmarTrike T1 scooter is a brilliant first scooter, and it’s adaptability means it will last a long time. Toby is a tall three year old and it’s the perfect size for him with room to make the handlebars taller still. It also seems robust enough that when Toby does outgrow it we’ll be able to pass it down to Gabe too.

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured product in return for this review. All opinions are my own.

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3 thoughts on “Learning to scoot with the SmarTrike T1 Scooter

  1. What gorgeous photos! All three of mine are big scooter fans, this one looks especially fab as a starting point!
    Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x

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