Kids are expensive. Well, not the little tykes themselves per se, but all the equipment required to keep them safe, entertained, asleep, and nurture their burgeoning motor skills.
While many newborns sleep up to 17 hours a day, by the time they get into their toddler stride, they’re cutting down on their shut-eye and keenly exploring the world around them. Keeping them in a buggy isn’t always the easiest job, especially after they’ve taken their first steps and want to keep the momentum going.
Yet with each new accessory, the issue of cost and storage space arises. It’s why things that can grow with your baby and continue to be used as they hit major milestones often make the wisest investments.
Enter Doona. The baby brand specialises in car seats, strollers and travel systems for infants, often pairing multiple uses into one clever design, like its compact folding trike.
Now in its fifth series, the baby trike comes fully assembled and can be ridden right away, with the company claiming it can be unfolded in seconds straight from the box. Babies as young as 10 months can sit in it, enjoying it up until they hit 36 months, which means one purchase can be used for just over two years - not bad for a £229 initial outlay.
But do kids like it? How easy is it to push around London’s streets? And how portable is it really? I borrowed my best friend’s youngest child, a curious 16-month-old, to find out.
DOONA Liki Trike S5 Key specs
- Dimensions: 60 x 23.3 x 23cm
- Weight: 6.7kg
- Maximum infant weight recommendation: 20kg
- Accessories: UV sun protection canopy, five-point harness, cup holder, shoulder pads and armrest cover, storage bag, travel bag and faux-leather handlebar grips.
- Colours: Midnight (Limited Edition), Nitro Black, Ocean Blue, Racing Green
- Suitable for ages: 10 months - 3 years
Packaging
The trike comes folded in a compact box, offering a clue as to how small the actual trike will be. Free from its cardboard and plastic holders, it can be picked up one-handed which is extremely useful when you’re laden with other baby essentials.
My friend has the Babyzen YOYO buggy, one of the most compact prams you can buy (it fits comfortably into overhead luggage compartments) and she told me that the Doona “comes very close to providing almost the same level of comfort”.
Continuing on the travel vein, the trike comes with a travel bag which can be zipped up and carried on the shoulder, meaning it’s not too much of a burden to carry it home if our tester tired of it mid-play.
Although the brand says it can be used from delivery, we had to engage in some minimal assembly to get it up and running. That said, it was reasonably easy to put together and there are plenty of helpful how-to videos to help navigate the process.
Functionality
At first try, our little tester didn’t take to the Doona as quickly as we’d hoped. We couldn’t work out if she was tired, hungry, uncomfortable or simply not into this new mode of transport - such is the enigma of toddlerhood. There also seemed to be a positioning issue: she couldn’t quite grasp sitting comfortably and hold onto the handlebars, even after we adjusted the shoulder straps.
Persisting around a month later, our baby reviewer is looking much happier in it; her feet are stable on the pedals and she can clutch the handlebars without overstretching herself.
What’s helpful is that the trike’s pedals are interchangeable with a footrest, which means she can comfortably rest her feet while on the move when she doesn’t feel like pedalling. As she gets older and more mobile, the pedals will help her to adjust to using the trike independently. For now, Parent and Push modes mean she can have some independence while an adult keeps a guiding hand on the steering.
Performance
The Doona is a smooth trike to manoeuvre with the parent control bar giving full power over the direction of travel. It’s very responsive to quick and tight turns, helping you squeeze through narrow London cafes with ease.
The wheels are suitably wide for all sorts of terrain, although for this review we only managed to take it for a spin on London streets. The trike weaves through the crowds well and thanks to how compact it is, we found we weren’t in the path of people as much as we would have been with a buggy.
The multi-position reclining backrest allowed our tiny rider to relax and take a power nap, although her mum told me that she wasn’t able to sleep as well as she does in a pram. Still, all the better for snoozing when her official nap time rolls around.
The cupholder that attaches to the front of the trike is handy for the child to access their drink unaided. As well as being compact and easy to carry in its travel bag, the trike comes with a black bag that attaches to the parent bar and makes handy storage for keeping light snacks and essentials like a nappy bag.
The UV sun canopy is great on sunny days and is easy to remove once the child is bigger. The best bit? Our little tester can continue enjoying her trike until she hits age three, when she can graduate onto a proper kid's bike. My friend said she wishes they had gotten her eldest child a Doona trike at the same age to give her more confidence – although she loves pushing her little sister around in it!
Verdict
DOONA Liki Trike S5
Designed for children aged between 10 months to three years old, this compact folding trike is a sound investment that will grow with your little one.
The design allows pedals to be swapped for a footrest and comes with adjustable straps to secure your growing baby into the most comfortable position. A dual steering system allows parents to be in control while allowing kids to feel some independence at the same time, growing their confidence and putting them on the path to moving onto a proper pedal bike.
Durable, well made and highly portable, the trike can be stowed into airline overlead luggage bins, folding and unfolding in seconds. It comes with a handy travel bag that’s easy to zip up quickly and carry on your back – meaning you could keep your child in it right up until you board the plane.
Buy now £229.00, Amazon
