Balance bikes to "proper bikes"
Discussion
I thought I'd post this up for others who have pondered a balance bike and it's uses.
I came across them via this forum and bought my 2 and a half year old one two years ago for Christmas. He loved it, used it pretty much every day for school, going to the shops, parks, whatever. Longest he did was last year when he did 6 miles on it across sutton park! Time came that he needed a proper bike, which was duly delivered by Santa yesterday.
It has no stabilisers, but within 5 minutes he was charging around on it with no fear whatsoever. Starting is still a bit tricky, but everything else he has nailed and loves it. Mainly as it's faster than his balance bike
So that balance bike was probably the best thing we bought him. He had 2 years of hard use out of it, and the transition to a real bike was simple. Granted, he has good bike skills (he's used it on the local skate park, off road etc) but even so, I'm hugely impressed by it all. I'm a very proud dad tonight!
Looking forward to summer runs with him now
I came across them via this forum and bought my 2 and a half year old one two years ago for Christmas. He loved it, used it pretty much every day for school, going to the shops, parks, whatever. Longest he did was last year when he did 6 miles on it across sutton park! Time came that he needed a proper bike, which was duly delivered by Santa yesterday.
It has no stabilisers, but within 5 minutes he was charging around on it with no fear whatsoever. Starting is still a bit tricky, but everything else he has nailed and loves it. Mainly as it's faster than his balance bike
So that balance bike was probably the best thing we bought him. He had 2 years of hard use out of it, and the transition to a real bike was simple. Granted, he has good bike skills (he's used it on the local skate park, off road etc) but even so, I'm hugely impressed by it all. I'm a very proud dad tonight!
Looking forward to summer runs with him now
What you can do is just buy a regular bike, and remove the pedals! It saves the cost of the balance bike, they get familiar with the bike, and of course the dimensions are the same when the pedals are put back on. Our daughter (much to the astonishment of the wife and In-Laws) learnt to ride a bike in about 20 minutes using this method. The single worse 'aid' to any child riding a bike is stabilisers - utter waste of space.
Oh right - not seen those...but then again, I don't have kids!
Is it necessary though?
Amazingly, I can still remember the day when my Dad removed the stabilisers from my little bike - and I know it was when I was 6 years old, because I remember my first foray down the pavement from the house - and we moved from that house when I was 7.
He took them off, I got on the bike, started pedalling down the pavement (on the side of a busy London street - H&S not really the same consideration back in 1978!) and I can still visualise that very first time even now at 41 years old! Funny what you remember! Anyway, I felt a combination of scared, but also a sense of 'grown up' too...I really did concentrate so hard and try my very best to stay on the thing...and I managed to get right to the bottom of my road without falling off, or crashing into any parked cars or trees either!
Dad, bless him, was running along behind me the whole time. Good memories 
I also remember that, within a few days, I was riding around on two wheels like I had been for years. And then for my 7th birthday a few months later - a brand new Raliegh Tomahawk! (Basically a small version of the Chopper). I was literally the coolest kid around!
Is it necessary though?
Amazingly, I can still remember the day when my Dad removed the stabilisers from my little bike - and I know it was when I was 6 years old, because I remember my first foray down the pavement from the house - and we moved from that house when I was 7.
He took them off, I got on the bike, started pedalling down the pavement (on the side of a busy London street - H&S not really the same consideration back in 1978!) and I can still visualise that very first time even now at 41 years old! Funny what you remember! Anyway, I felt a combination of scared, but also a sense of 'grown up' too...I really did concentrate so hard and try my very best to stay on the thing...and I managed to get right to the bottom of my road without falling off, or crashing into any parked cars or trees either!
Dad, bless him, was running along behind me the whole time. Good memories I also remember that, within a few days, I was riding around on two wheels like I had been for years. And then for my 7th birthday a few months later - a brand new Raliegh Tomahawk! (Basically a small version of the Chopper). I was literally the coolest kid around!
aberdeeneuan said:
I thought I'd post this up for others who have pondered a balance bike and it's uses.
I came across them via this forum and bought my 2 and a half year old one two years ago for Christmas. He loved it, used it pretty much every day for school, going to the shops, parks, whatever. Longest he did was last year when he did 6 miles on it across sutton park! Time came that he needed a proper bike, which was duly delivered by Santa yesterday.
It has no stabilisers, but within 5 minutes he was charging around on it with no fear whatsoever. Starting is still a bit tricky, but everything else he has nailed and loves it. Mainly as it's faster than his balance bike
So that balance bike was probably the best thing we bought him. He had 2 years of hard use out of it, and the transition to a real bike was simple. Granted, he has good bike skills (he's used it on the local skate park, off road etc) but even so, I'm hugely impressed by it all. I'm a very proud dad tonight!
Looking forward to summer runs with him now
+1 here.I came across them via this forum and bought my 2 and a half year old one two years ago for Christmas. He loved it, used it pretty much every day for school, going to the shops, parks, whatever. Longest he did was last year when he did 6 miles on it across sutton park! Time came that he needed a proper bike, which was duly delivered by Santa yesterday.
It has no stabilisers, but within 5 minutes he was charging around on it with no fear whatsoever. Starting is still a bit tricky, but everything else he has nailed and loves it. Mainly as it's faster than his balance bike
So that balance bike was probably the best thing we bought him. He had 2 years of hard use out of it, and the transition to a real bike was simple. Granted, he has good bike skills (he's used it on the local skate park, off road etc) but even so, I'm hugely impressed by it all. I'm a very proud dad tonight!
Looking forward to summer runs with him now
put them on the balance bike when they are not strong enough to pedal properly, or to balance well enough.
its a much better alternative to stabilisers, essentially teaching the balance bit before the pedalling bit. which is the right way round.
Had one of my daughters riding at just turned 4 anyhow.
Fastpedeller said:
What you can do is just buy a regular bike, and remove the pedals! It saves the cost of the balance bike, they get familiar with the bike, and of course the dimensions are the same when the pedals are put back on. Our daughter (much to the astonishment of the wife and In-Laws) learnt to ride a bike in about 20 minutes using this method. The single worse 'aid' to any child riding a bike is stabilisers - utter waste of space.
We looked at this, but my son is small for his age, so none of the proper bikes fitted him. Plus, his little brother now uses the balance bike, so it'll get 4 years of nigh on daily use. He took to it well, though he's still only just 2 and doesn't quite have the strength to handle it yet. My son has just gone through the same. Turned 4 just before xmas and he's had a balance bike since 2 which he zipped all over the place on. Literally picked up his new pedal bike (Islabikes CNOC14) on xmas day and was off. Need to practise the starting off technique a bit but actually riding the thing he had no problems with. People keep telling us it seems odd that a 4 year old is riding a bike without stabilizers and doing skids and stuff! Lots of envious glances at the park as other parents with kids much older are pootling around on Halfords specials with stabilizers on them!
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