A new ride in town

By — Margaret Webb Pressler,

Do you like to bike? Do you prefer a scooter? Or maybe you’re a skateboard person?

Soon you may not have to choose. Some companies are starting to produce hybrid equipment that combines elements of bikes, scooters, skateboards and stair steppers.

These newfangled machines tend to cost more than most kids’ bikes and scooters. But since there’s so much emphasis these days on the importance of getting exercise, we thought you might like to see some fun, new ideas for getting around.

— Margaret Webb Pressler

Rockboard

With this scooter you don’t have to push off the ground to move; you just rock the foot plate back and forth like a seesaw to push the scooter forward.

Rockboard’s Jon Lally said this new kind of scooter is fun and faster than regular models. So you’ll definitely want to wear your helmet!

Lally also said that operating a Rockboard gives you more exercise than riding a traditional scooter, so you’ll burn more calories. This is something a lot of hybrid-equipment inventors are trying to achieve to help with the epidemic of obesity in children.

Cost: $159-$199. Available at some independent toy stores and online.

Zike

These funky bikes and scooters borrow from stair-stepping machines you might have seen adults use. To move forward on a Zike, you have to keep stepping — a little like pedaling a bike standing up.

“It’s just a radical rethinking of bikes, which have been the same for 100 years,” said inventor Nate Scolari.

Scolari wanted to create something that was fun but also gave kids more exercise. Riders on a Zike are standing, so they use more muscles than on a regular bike, he said.

The Zike is easy to balance on because it’s low to the ground, he said, but a helmet is still a must!

Cost: $179-$399. Available at www.zike.net .

Sbyke (sounds like “spike” )

This skateboard-bike combo looks impossible — until you find out that the back wheels do the steering. To turn, you lean from side to side. The big bicycle wheel gives the rider stability and lets you roll easily over bumps, said director of sales Steve Kraus.

“I have two young kids, and they can’t go bicycling with me because I go so fast, and I can’t go skateboarding with them because I’ll fall and hurt myself,” he said. “But we can all ride the Sbyke, and we all go at the same pace.”

Sbyke is adjustable for kids and adults. It’s also nimble: You can do a 360-degree turn in the width of a sidewalk, Kraus said.

Cost: $249. Available next month at www.sbyke.com.