Bixie is a balance bike designed for children from 18 months to 4 years old and it is made from 99% recyclable beechwood. Designed by Andrej Kregar in his home country of Slovenia, he set out to make an eco-friendly balance bike to help young children learn how to cycle. The genesis of Bixie came from Andrej wanting to gift his daughter a balance bike for her first birthday but wanting to make it environmentally friendly and avoid unnecessary plastic.
Bixie is made from beechwood, locally harvested and processed. Beechwood is light and has excellent properties as construction wood for bicycles. It is flexible yet hard and very easy to process. It is very durable and is able to take a lot of pressure over time. Bixie’s Kickstart campaign stated:
“Bixie is made of European beechwood, and most of it comes from Slovenia. 60% of Slovenia is covered with forest, with beech as the most common tree. Wood is a renewable natural material, and that makes our balance bike eco-friendly, light and sustainable.”
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The production process is also eco-friendly as it mainly consists of cutting wood. Even the small amounts of glue that are used are not harmful to workers or the environment. Local factories and raw materials are used to cut down on transportation.
Bixie has been stripped back from any unnecessary parts, leaving a sleek design. There is a large demand for balance bikes to resemble adult bicycles as children want to emulate their parents. Bixie also has an adjustable saddle and a unique clamp set. Natural leather (leather as a by-product of the meat industry) is used to cover the grips and saddle, which they believe is more sustainable than using artificial leather or plastic.
Bixie recently launched on Kickstarter and unfortunately, their funding was unsuccessful. This is a real shame as we think this is a beautiful looking product and their dedication to making a bicycle for young children that is recyclable, reusable, and not covered in unnecessary plastic is a noble, worthwhile effort. It gives children that crucial first step into the cycling world whilst also demonstrating this can be done without causing damage to our planet. Both Litelok Gold and Litelok Silver launched on Kickstarter, so we always aim to be supportive of other innovating cycling products that take the crowdfunding route. Hopefully, this set back won’t be the last we hear of Bixie as that would be a real shame.
All images and information were taken from Bixie's Kickstarter Campaign.
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