Trail Bike (2002-2004)

[melancholywings]

The Trail Bike is blue with a slight purple shine. There are two AG stickers on both sides. The frame is metal. The seat, handles and a few other pieces are rubbery plastic. The peddles are on a joint allowing them to swing flat for storage, the wheels do not spin independently like Sam's bike. And there is a back kick stand for support. Included with it is a matching helmet and a plastic bike lock.

Grade: B+

Pros: It's nice and heavy. The details are fantastic and it looks like a real bike. It looks nice for pictures. The little lock is cute.

Cons: The doll doesn't sit on the seat but has to stand to ride it. The front wheel easily swings making it difficult to stay up, several times I've walked into the play room to find it on it's side. The wheel not moving independently makes it difficult for a child to push it a crossed the floor.

[Candace]

This was one of my holy grail items and I got it new in box, so I have a far different opinion of it than melancholywings. I found mine on eBay for a reasonable price--about $10 or so above retail, and it was mint in box.

What you get:

-trail bike
-helmet
-lock
-mini grin pins
-instruction sheet
-mini trail bike tips booklet

I love this bike. It is so darned realistic. I had one just like it as a girl, except mine was peach colored and my helmet was lavender.

The bike is mainly metal. It has a metal chain and gears; the wheels are metal save for the tires, which are a durable thick rubbery plastic. The handlebars and kickstand are metal. In fact the only parts that are not metal are the seat, handles, pretend brake parts, tires, and pedals.

The pedals really move the chain which moves the rear tire. The kickstand can come up like the one on Molly's bike. In fact, this bike is roughly the same size as Molly's bike and is similar in design and make. The doll's hands fit perfectly on the handlebars. Ellie can't really sit on her bike, but she comes close. Best of all, like Julie's bike, you don't have to worry about your doll falling off of it. The bike is just plain AWESOME, there is no getting around it. The pedals can move up so the bike can lie more flat for storage. Unfortunately, on carpet, the bike is known to tip over. On smoother surfaces like concrete, hardwood, tile, the bike stands perfectly.

The helmet is hard plastic with elastic cord, black in color, and a clasp to keep the helmet on the doll's head. It matches the bike in color perfectly.

The lock is kind of chintzy; it is small and entirely plastic, and it clicks open and closed. Not at all realistic.

Grade: A+++++++

pictures and scans of the pamphlets that come with it (click on the thumbnails to view the pamphlets):

























Trail Bike paper (click to view larger):




Trail Bike Booklet (click to view larger):

[mimiville]

Pros: It makes a very cute prop
It's in scale and very realistic
Cons: The handlebars broke off of mine within the first couple of weeks that I owned my trail bike. (We've tried fixing it with several things, so far nothing has worked except taping it to the main part of the bike)
As melancholywings said, the dolls can't sit, and it is hard to get them to stand.
The helmet is kind of hard to get on their head.

All in all it's a fairly good bike.

[Dragonslovedolls]

I bought this from AG when it was on sale (probably shortly before it retired?) but was so thrilled with it when it came that I would have felt it worth full price.

It's metal. It's realistic: I nearly fell over myself when I realized that it's a scaled down working bicycle and that if you were 18in tall, you could ride it! Preferably slowly, lol, because the brakes are just for show, but hey, you could use your feet if it came down to it. Isn't that what they're for?!

Georgia escaped before I could make her put her helmet on, but it looks and fastens just like the real thing, too.

The bike makes a great display piece and there's a stand at the back so it doesn't fall over. If the doll sits on the saddle, because the knees aren't bendable it's kind of tricky, but if you pose them riding standing up (to gain speed, eg) as in the photo above, it's perfect imho.

I think this is my very favourite AG accessory, ever. Seeing this bike was the moment I really fell in love with AG. It just blows my mind and I still feel a huge inner grin spread through me to think that they made a real, working bike, for dolls.

A to the power of some unimaginably huge number