Alan Holtham makes a wooden toy that generations of children can enjoy

This wooden bike is great fun to make – the construction is very simple and uses the minimum of materials. The end result is a sturdy toy that will last forever and will probably become a family heirloom. These push-along toys are aimed at children from 18 months onwards, the four wheels and chunky construction making it both robust and stable. The trick though is to achieve a compromise between being sturdy and not being too heavy, hence a lot of the cutting and shaping work in the final stages.
You won’t need a lot in the way of tools to make it either. A decent jigsaw and a router are essential, but that’s about all. The curved surfaces are easier to finish if you have access to a bobbin sander, but you do not necessarily need a sophisticated version, just a simple bobbin held in the drill press will work perfectly if your workshop equipment is more limited.
Technical issues
Before I started I was concerned with some of the technical issues like the steering mechanism, how to make suitable bearings in the wheels and what to use for tyres. In fact these were all easily overcome, the only real problem being that I had no plan to work to, so I had to make it up as I went along.
This suck-it-and-see approach is rarely successful, but there was no option here – although I did start with a simple sketch drawn to scale to determine the main dimensions. There was inevitably a certain amount of trial and error and I had to remake a couple of the components which were obviously the wrong size when I made them. The most critical part is the seat height which will depend on the age of the child you have in mind. I suspect I have probably made it a fraction too high for very young children, but you can easily alter this and I did consider putting it on riser blocks to allow for some adjustment as the child grows.
Timber selection

Making the bike frame











Making the seat


Making the handles




Assembling the bike




Adding the finish


The wheels
I deliberated for a long time about making the wheels. You can buy ready-made plastic wheels with rubber tyres, but I felt that this would spoil the appearance of the finished toy. To me the wooden wheels add to the chunkiness and solidity. The problem with homemade wheels though, is getting them truly round, and then making some sort of bearing and finding a suitable tyre. The bearings are actually just a short length of metal tubing that I found in our local DIY store and which is a perfect clearance fit over the 10mm studding I was using as the axle. Using studding also allowed me to fix the wheels using cap nuts I bought from the same place. You will also need some steel washers to go behind the nuts and some nylon washers to fit between the wheel supports and the actual wheels.


smaller in diameter than the base of the router









One Response
Great design and final project! Is it ok if I print your design and make some very slit modifications? Do you know the angle cut of the bevel on top of the back piece or the angle of the end of the central strut?
I have a new great granddaughter that I need to make this for. I think I will make two sizes of wheels so that it can grow with her.
Thank so much.