Doona Liki Trike S5

By Isabelle Laurent · July 22, 2026 · 7 min read

Doona Liki Trike S5 by Doona

For the family that refuses to leave adventure behind when the toddler outgrows the pram: a trike that packs into the overhead bin and earns its keep from the boarding gate to the cobbled old town.

Overview

Picture this: the family ahead of you at the gate has a fortress of folded stroller, gate-check tags flapping, being surrendered to the ramp agents with the weary resignation of people who know they will not see it again until baggage claim, and then only in some degraded form. You click the Doona Liki Trike S5 flat in four seconds, slide it into the overhead bin beside your carry-on, and sit down. This is not a hypothetical. We ran this trike through three airports, two cobbled old towns, a beach resort, and more hotel lifts than a presidential motorcade, and the overhead-bin trick works exactly as advertised, every time.

The S5 is Doona’s top-tier foldable tricycle for toddlers aged 10 months to three years, weighing 6.7 kg and folding to 32 x 59.5 x 23.3 cm: a footprint the company compares, fairly, to a large cabin bag. It ships with a dedicated travel bag, arrives fully assembled, and offers five developmental configurations that take a child from passenger to pedaller across the whole toddler window. The frame is fiber-reinforced polymer and rust-free aluminium; the canopy is UPF 50+; the seat harness is a 5-point system. For families who log serious mileage between school terms, it is the kind of gear decision you make once and then stop thinking about.

Why It’s Great for Family Travel

The genius of the Liki S5 is that it solves the specific problem of the toddler-years travel window: the roughly two years when a child is too young to walk a full city afternoon but old enough to resent being strapped into a pram like cargo. The trike gives them agency (and the feeling of agency, which matters even more). On city trips, our son steered it through a Venetian campo like he owned the place, feet on the footrest, head under the sun canopy, deeply satisfied with himself. On resort days, we folded it into the hotel wardrobe and pulled it out for the evening promenade; it adapted seamlessly to each shift in the itinerary without a single reconfiguration.

Five configurations are the headline, and they genuinely earn the billing. In parent-controlled mode (the handlebar locks the front wheel and the parent drives), it behaves like a premium compact stroller: you push, you navigate, the child observes the world from a reclinable seat under a proper UPF canopy rather than from inside a sunshade made of optimism. As coordination develops, push mode lets the child steer while you push; tricycle mode introduces the pedals; and by the time most children hit 30 months or so, bike mode delivers the full free-range experience. The S5 variant’s wooden-grip detail on the handlebars is a small but considered touch: the kind of thing that separates a design object from a plastic toy.

The included travel bag (an S5 exclusive; it costs extra on the S3) is a genuine convenience. Some parents skip the bag and just tuck the folded trike bare into the overhead; it is smooth-sided enough to manage. But the bag adds a layer of protection for the mechanism in hold transit on airlines that do not accept it cabin, and doubles as storage when you are not travelling.

Real-World Use (Airport / Car / Hotel)

Airport: This is the S5’s natural habitat. The fold is one continuous movement once you have done it three or four times: expect a slightly clumsy first attempt at home before trusting yourself at the gate. Once it clicks, the trike goes from assembled to bin-ready in under five seconds. No gate-check tag, no damage claim in arrivals, no explaining to your partner what happened to the handlebar. The folded dimensions (32 x 59.5 x 23.3 cm) clear the overhead bins on most commercial aircraft; on smaller regional jets with shallow bins, it fits in the first passenger’s overhead without blocking the aisle. One note: the cup holder must be detached before folding, which adds a small step and a small thing to lose.

Car: 6.7 kg and a compact footprint make boot management straightforward. In a mid-size hire car, the folded trike goes in vertically alongside the main luggage without requiring any geometry problem-solving. Compared with gate-checking and reclaiming a full travel stroller, the arithmetic in favour of the Liki is compelling.

Hotel: At a resort, it lives behind the door or on a luggage rack without colonising the room. When children are in parent-push mode, it moves fast enough through hotel corridors and lobby floors that it functions as a stroller substitute for short trips. On rougher surfaces (gravel paths between bungalows, uneven pool decks) the soft-ride wheels manage smooth stone comfortably but struggle noticeably on loose gravel or sand, which is a genuine limitation in beach resort contexts. Set expectations accordingly: this is a city and airport trike first, a beach day accessory second.

Specs That Actually Matter

• Weight: 6.7 kg (14.77 lbs): shoulder-carriable for an adult, heavy for a toddler to tow.
• Folded: 32 x 59.5 x 23.3 cm: overhead-bin compatible on most commercial aircraft.
• Open (with parent bar): 93.7 x 50.1 x 102.6 cm.
• Age range: 10–36 months; maximum child weight 20 kg.
• Modes: 5: Parent mode, Push mode, Tricycle mode, Bike mode, Folded mode.
• Canopy: UPF 50+ sun protection; adjustable angle.
• Harness: 5-point safety harness with safety bar.
• Frame: Fiber-reinforced polymers + rust-free aluminium; fire-retardant-free materials.
• Warranty: 1 year against manufacturing and material defects.
• Included: Travel bag (S5-exclusive), cup holder, pedal straps, shoulder pads, padded armrest.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Folds to overhead-bin size in seconds; arrives fully assembled, zero tools required.
• Five developmental configurations cover the entire 10–36 month window in one piece of kit.
• Premium materials: rust-free aluminium frame, fiber-reinforced polymer, fire-retardant-free design.
• UPF 50+ canopy and reclining seat; works as a stroller substitute on smooth terrain.
• Travel bag included (S5; not standard on S3).
• Child engagement is high: kids who resist buggy straps actively want to ride it.

Cons

• Harness straps slip from children’s shoulders in active use: a consistent complaint across multiple independent testers, not just a one-off. Worth monitoring and tightening regularly.
• Soft-ride wheels struggle on gravel, sand, and uneven surfaces; not a beach-day replacement for a beach buggy.
• Parent handlebar height suits average adults; very tall parents will notice the stoop.
• Around 24–26 months there is a sizing gap: some children are too big for parent-push footrest mode but not yet coordinated enough to pedal independently.
• One-year warranty is below par for a product at this price point.
• Cup holder must be removed before folding: small annoyance, easy to misplace.

FFH Gear Score

A note we are required to flag: there was a 2021 Australian recall (ACCC, August 2021) covering specific Doona Liki Trike units sold by Mighty Ape Australia between April and July 2021 (Racing Green S5 and two other models lacking mandatory Australian pram safety features). This recall was confined to Australia and that specific retailer window. No EU or global recall is on record; EU and international retail stock is unaffected. If you are buying second-hand, it is worth checking the ACCC recall notice at productsafety.gov.au for the affected serial range. New stock from authorised EU retailers carries no recall qualification.

• Functionality: 8.5 / 10.
• Build Quality & Durability: 7.8 / 10.
• Ease of Use: 8.2 / 10.
• Family Practicality: 9.0 / 10.
• Pricing: $$$ of $$$$$.
• FFH Gear Score: 8.4 / 10.

Final Verdict

The Doona Liki Trike S5 is a serious piece of travel kit for the family that moves. At €329.95 it costs more than most toddler trikes and less than a gate-checked stroller repair, which is roughly the right frame for evaluating it. If your trips involve airports, city exploring, and the specific ordeal of keeping a one-to-three-year-old moving and happy across long days, it earns its price across two-plus years of use: a stronger case than most single-function products in the category.

The harness needs monitoring. The wheels do not like loose gravel or sand. The warranty is shorter than you would want from something this expensive. These are real limitations, and they matter more on a beach holiday than on a European city break. But for airport corridors, hotel lobbies, cobblestoned old towns, and the specific relief of watching your trike go into the overhead bin while the family behind you hands theirs to the ramp, the S5 is close to the best tool for the job. Buy it before a long-haul trip, pack the travel bag, and hand the handlebar to your toddler once you clear customs: this is the kind of gear purchase that earns its keep from the first boarding gate to the last cobblestone.

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