Questions & Answers

There are two, and they're built for different moments.

• Whimsy Classic — the dependable one, ages 2–8. Sturdy steel, training wheels for as long as they're wanted. This is the bike first rides are made of.
• Whimsy Pro — the quick one, ages 5–10. Featherlight aluminium, for a child who has found their balance and wants to chase the horizon.

If your child is still working out balance, that's the Classic. If they're already confident and asking to go further and faster, that's the Pro.

The Classic starts at 12″ for two-year-olds and runs up through 14″, 16″ and 20″. The Pro picks up at 16″ and 20″, once balance has arrived.

Children's bikes are sized by wheel diameter, not by frame size the way adult bikes are.

They overlap on purpose, because six-year-olds don't. The honest answer is that it depends on the child rather than the birthday: a cautious six-year-old still using training wheels wants the Classic; a confident one who's been riding for a year wants the Pro.

If you can, sit them on both.

Age is the roughest possible guide. Fit follows height and inside-leg length.

The practical test is simple: sit your child on the saddle. They should be able to put the balls of both feet on the ground — flat feet if they're a nervous beginner — and reach the brake levers and squeeze them without stretching. If they can't squeeze the brake, the bike is too big, whatever the label says.

We'd gently say no. A bike that's too big is harder to balance, harder to stop, and less fun, which is how bikes end up in the garage. A bike that fits now gets ridden now.

About two minutes on both models. They arrive nearly ready.

One thing worth saying: if you aren't completely confident it's put together right — brakes and stem bolts especially — have a bike shop check it before the first ride. It takes them a few minutes and it's the cheapest peace of mind available.

Yes. The Classic comes with training wheels fitted, and they come off when your child no longer wants them — which usually happens suddenly and without warning.

That's rather the point. Most kids' bikes are drawn for European springs. Ours start from July in the Gulf, and that changes the decisions: grips, saddles and finishes are chosen for real Gulf summers, and dust and desert weekends are treated as the normal case rather than the exception.

The Classic is steel — sturdy, forgiving, and happy to be dropped. The Pro is aluminium, which is what makes it light enough for a child to throw around.

Not much is needed. Keep the tyres pumped up, keep the chain lightly oiled, rinse the sand off after a beach or desert ride, and check the brakes every so often. As your child grows, check the saddle height too — that's the adjustment people forget.

On the shelves parents already trust, in store and online across the UAE. The current list with direct links is in Where to Buy.

Can't spot one nearby? Say hello and we'll point you to the closest shelf.

No — this site isn't a shop. Every Whimsy is bought from a retailer, who handles payment, delivery and returns under their own terms.

Lifetime on the frame for the original purchaser, and nine months on the fork and all other original components and accessories, in both cases against manufacturing and material defects.

The full terms — what's covered, what isn't, and how to claim — are on the Warranty page. Keep your receipt; it's needed for every claim.

The retailer you bought from. They have your order and your proof of purchase, and delivery, returns and refunds are theirs to sort out.

If the problem is with the bike rather than the transaction, come to us and we'll help.

Get in touch at topgear@abhgt.com or +971 4 223 7397, and tell us which model you have and what's wrong. A photo helps enormously.

Whimsy is sold through retailers across the UAE. Whether a particular shop can get a bike to you depends on their delivery terms, so ask them — or ask us and we'll tell you who's closest.

Whimsy is an in-house brand of the Abbas Bin Haider Group — a Dubai family business since 1979. It's owned by Abbas Bin Haider General Trading LLC. When something isn't right with a bike, it lands on a desk with the family name on the door.

Because two is what we could obsess over. Kids' bikes had turned into spec sheets, so we built the opposite: a small range with unreasonable attention paid to it. With only two bikes to our name, “close enough” never leaves the workshop.

Whimsy: playfully quaint or fanciful behaviour; lighthearted unpredictability. Or, as we use it around here — feet off the pedals, downhill, laughing at nothing.

We put the silliest word we could find on the badge, on purpose. When “impressive to adults” and “joyful to kids” disagree, the kids win.

That the bikes are drawn from a Gulf summer rather than a European spring. Heat is treated as a design input, sand is treated as normal, and the setups are shaped by where children here actually ride — compounds, corniches and park loops.

Say hello through the form, or email topgear@abhgt.com. Questions, stories, first-ride victories — we read everything.