When I first When I saw a trike stroller, I was immediately intrigued. A stroller that makes my energetic 1-year-old feel like riding a tricycle? It sounded like his new happy place.
My son loves walking in different strollers; after all, it took a front-row seat in my tests for the best strollers. The Doona Liki Trike S3 gave him more freedom, but he also lost some of the comfort and support he preferred when the walk was too long.
Ultra compact
Doona isn’t the only maker of trike-style strollers, but Doona’s Liki Trike stands out for how easy it is to fold. It breaks down into a sort of compact rectangle with a soft handle, making it easy to pick up and carry. However, it is still heavy even though it looks nice and small.
The only disadvantage? The larger parent handle does not fold. You have to leave it on and stick it at an odd angle on the trike, or you have to remove it. To remove it, simply pull out the pin at the bottom of the handle that connects it to the rest of the stroller. The pin is attached to the frame of the stroller with a short cord. That makes it a bit annoying to use, but it’s a guarantee that you won’t lose it.
It’s a little weird to carry the parent handle separately, so Doona sells a Liki Travel Bag ($45) that fits the folded tricycle and has a pocket to hold the handle. It sticks straight out of the bag, but it’s still a little easier than just holding it in your hands. If you buy the Liki Trike S5 ($300) instead of the S3, you get the travel bag included, plus wooden handles. That’s the only difference between the two models.
Bad luck is not the only thing that is compact about this tricycle. Other three-wheelers, like the Joovy, are big and bulky, but the Liki has a smaller body that takes up less space on the sidewalk or in the aisle of a supermarket. It’s a good choice if you’re in a busy place, like a park or a busy sidewalk. It’s also quite responsive to your touch: both my husband and I found it easier to control if we kept the handle height lower than a normal stroller, closer to our hips rather than the elbow height of a normal stroller.
However, that slim profile comes at a price: comfort. As my husband so eloquently described it when he saw the tricycle, “There is no cushion for his pillow!” The cushion is thin and the narrow frame meant that when my son got tired he didn’t have as much room to lean and recline as he would in a standard stroller.
Trike transform
Photo: Doona
The handle of the tricycle cannot be removed just for traveling. The Liki Trike is meant to grow and change with your child, from the moment he or she needs you to push him or her until he or she doesn’t.