Balance Bikes - Worth it?

Biker Bernie64

Thinking about getting one of these for my daughter. Went to a bike shop the other day and from what I was told not sure if it will be worth it as I was told that the transition to a bike with pedals should be pretty quick, around 3-4 wks.

Obviously the bike can still be used after that but any views on whether its worth just moving straight to a bike with pedals and miss out this step?

Underscore

I bought a balance bike for my older son for his second birthday. Six months on, he's happily scooting along and will lift up his feet for 5-10 seconds at a time on the downhill pieces but he is not ready for a pedal bike yet.

3-4 weeks might be true if your daughter is older - in which case buy a regular bike and take the pedals off for a while - but I'm certainly pleased with the amount of enjoyment that my boy is getting out of his balance bike...

_

carbonfiend

i bought an aldi one about 4 yrs ago for my eldest boy and he loved it he had a bike with stabalisers before this but once he got his balance bike he never went back to his stabaliser bike. My middle boy now has it and he is getting equal enjoyment and due to this has never ridden a bike with stabalisers. My eldest boy used his balance until he was too big for it then we transfered him to a bike without stabalisers and the first time he went on it he rode it immediatley without me having to hold on to him - in fact he just shot off. My advice would be don't rush your kid onto a bike with pedals let her use it until she is too big as I defo reckon this has helped my boy as he now rides a BMX concrete park with astonishing skill and he isn't seven yet and also rides single track with me, I am convinced he got this bike confidence/skill from his wooden balance bike

avoidingmyphd

is that the transition to a bike with pedals AND stabilisers? if so, ignore him, go for the balance bike and skip the stabilisers step.

or is that the transition to a bike with pedals and NO stabilisers? If so, he's right. But that's because you're too late for the balance bike, not because it's a step that can always be skipped! How old is she?

Biker Bernie64

Thanks for all the quick feedback.

My daughter will be 3 next month, the only thing she's been on so far is a trike.

From the feedback so far looks like it might be worth getting.

baudman

My daughter is almost 3, and has had a balance bike for a while now.

I intend upon her using it until I get her a 'real' bike... which may be a few years yet. I would encourage you, and anyone else, to start their kids out on these.

NFMC

Completely agree. I got one for my son for his second birthday (too early really) but by the time the spring and summer came (and he was two and a half) he was ready for it.

He can happilly go on a flat loop near my house away from traffic for a ride of about 3 miles. Pretty impressive at his house.

We've now bought him a pedal bike (but no stabilisers) for Christmas but that's just a bit too big. He's still on his Rothan/balance bike but when the spring comes he'll be a bit bigger and he'll be straight on the pedals.

Easily the best thing I've bought him.

ontherivet

I'd definitely reccommend a balance bike. My eldest boy learned on his like-a-bike and the transition to a bike with pedals and no stabilisers when he was still 3 took half an afternoon. My 3 year old has been riding the like-a-bike since he was about 30 months and will soon be making the transition to a 'proper' bike.

Check out this video of him riding the blue runs at Glentress if you need any more convincing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNDb3OQSPpE

fnegroni

You can always remove the pedals from a pedal bike and save your money. A pedal-equipped kids bike can be had for 10 quid from Halfords.

Octopush1

We gave one to our son for his 2nd birthday (a cheap wooden Hudora...£35 from John Lewis). He used it solid for 2 years, on the footpath and off road, including Glentress and up some mountains (so light we carried it up and he rode back down). Around town it was excellent to get him to and from the shops (we aren't pushcahir people). He loved zooming down ramps etc

Anyway...he just turned 4, and had just out-grown the balance bike, so we bought him an Islabike for his b'day. He was riding by himself in 10 mins (no stabilisers).

The bb was excellent in it's own right and also for learning to ride.
Megan

Biker Bernie64

Thanks to everyone for this. I took the plunge and got my daughter a Puky bike for her 3rd birthday a week past Thursday.

Its early days so she's not quite up to Glentree ontherivet but we'll get there.

Thanks again.

BMX Bear

Without a doubt they are the best way for kids to learn how to ride. My eldest lad had a bike with stabalisers on it, I took them off and removed the cranks & chain, he used this for about 6 weeks they I put the drive train back on and he was away. He rides really well now and has been racing BMX since the age of five. I bought his little brother a woodie walker at the age of two and a bit, he was off on a pedal bike by the age of three and raced his first BMX race at age four.

I only wish they'd had them when I was a kid!

olivia2009

Balance Bikes are great! My 4 year old loved his and was able to ride his "real" bike the very first time he tried. He still plays around on it though, and his little sis who's 2.5 will start to ride it soon.

I would recommend against trying to make a regular bike into a balance bike for really little kids. The front wheel turns way to much. A balance bike has limited movement on the front wheel which allows smaller kids to focus on their balance.

Here's a great article on how to make the transition from a balance bike to a two wheeler:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5131119_move-re ... -bike.html

This hints were helpful when teaching my son to learn to pedal and brake on his big bike.
Have fun!

Special K

Any recommendations for budget options. I can't be doing with £100plus for a bit of plywood... :roll:

Underscore

Special K wrote:

Any recommendations for budget options. I can't be doing with £100plus for a bit of plywood... :roll:

Yeah, we bought a Puky (horrible name for a nice bike) which was £80 from the LBS for this:


They also do this for £65:


And I think they do one like ours without the brake for something in between...

HTH,

_

andrewc3142

Different kids learn differently and balance bikes do seem to work for many.

However, our oldest had a bike with stabilisers for his 2nd birthday. Loved it, but learnt to lean on them round corners and so couldn't get used to just two wheels, even after moving up to a bigger bike the following year. Until, that is, his younger brother got on his first bike at just turned three and rode straight off without ever using stabilisers, providing something of an incentive. Stabilisers off the same day. Now 9, the oldest is going great guns on his road bike (accompanied by me, I hasten to add) and his younger bro at 7 cycles for hours along the canal, round the park, etc.

johnboy183

Hi. Can only agree with previous posts. Had similar experience with my 2 yr old. Bought Early Rider for him and basically he ignored it! 3 months ago he got on and now hardly gets off it. Will travel a distance both on and off. Drawback is that he has almost grown out of it so do I buy bigger version or a 'proper bike' for him?? Must admit I tempted in buying next size up as they are beautiful looking machines. Almost a shame they don't make an adult version..perhaps I should suggest it...

pigman

i made ours a balance bike by taking off the transmission from a standard 12" wheel pedal bike. The downside is kids steel bikes weigh a ton when junior wants to run and youre left carrying it. So a Balance bike is neat if you can afford it.
only thing I dont like about balance bikes are lack of brakes. I taught ours very early on what brakes do and how they are more effective than trying to use his feet or standing on the floor to stop.

Underscore

pigman wrote:

i made ours a balance bike by taking off the transmission from a standard 12" wheel pedal bike. The downside is kids steel bikes weigh a ton when junior wants to run and youre left carrying it. So a Balance bike is neat if you can afford it.
only thing I dont like about balance bikes are lack of brakes. I taught ours very early on what brakes do and how they are more effective than trying to use his feet or standing on the floor to stop.

Ours has a brake but my son has only recently started to use it (about a year after he started using the bike) and he still tends to use his shoes mostly - we buy cheap pumps just for riding the bike... I call them brake shoes.

Actually, he fell off his balance bike the other day (chasing a friend who was ahead of him) and had to go to A&E, where they had to remove two (milk) teeth. Still, he wanted to get back on his bike the next day, so not the end of the world!

_

ride_whenever

The other option that is often overlooked (not sure if it has been mentioned) is to go straight to a regular (but tiny) bike without stabilisers then take the pedals off to use as a balance bike. It does require a bit of luck with sizing but works out cheaper.

baudman

ride_whenever wrote:

The other option that is often overlooked (not sure if it has been mentioned) is to go straight to a regular (but tiny) bike without stabilisers then take the pedals off to use as a balance bike. It does require a bit of luck with sizing but works out cheaper.

It's certainly a good option if, as you say, you can get the sizing right. Thankfully, an increasing number of kid's bike manufacturers are building them so that the kids can sit on the saddle with their feet on the ground - not with geometry designed for use with training wheels.

But our 3.5 yr old will probably be using her runbike until her 5th birthday, I reckon. See how it goes - no rush.

ince

We have just bought our son an Isla Rothan for his second birthday. I am very impressed with the build quality of this little bike next to some of the other kit I have seen in some of the shops. Yes it was £99 which is a lot but when I looked into buying one of these bikes the second hand resale of these bikes on eBay was between £65 and £87. So don't be too off put by the initial out lay.

colt

I've just brought a J D bug trainining bike for my two year old, and for the price, about 42 quid if i remember right, I cant fault it, nice low saddle height, pneumatic tyres, steering limiter and wheels with proper bearings, and to top it off it's quite 'cool' looking as well, I took him out on it the other day and already he's trying to pull wheelies like daddy. (probably with more success!)

baudman

http://www.flickr.com/groups/runbikes

(Told you I was an advocate!)

bikesr4riding

I can thoroughly recommend balance bikes. Having bought a LIKEaBIKE Mountain Classic for my then two year old, he's four now. He legged it around on that for a couple of years before I invested in an upgrade for him, an Islabike Cnoc 16, which on his first day of riding was able to do without the aid of stabilisers. Awesome! also made me very proud, as you can imagine.

If you're interested I wrote a mini review with several images of the LIKEaBIKE, the link also has a link to video of my boy riding his pedal bike on his first day of riding it. Here's that link, Images and review: LIKEaBIKE Mountain Classic

In terms of which to get, buy whichever one you're comfortable paying for, in principle they all achieve the same result. Just get one, it's worth it!

cycledad2

The key thing to consider is your childs height. You can get somone on a balance bike at 27cm inside leg and counting (although most are 35).

From what i recall its:
-like a bike mini 27cm
-Isla bike rothan 30cm
-Puky 2+ 30cm
-others generally 35-37cm

For many kids thats age 2 onwards. A bike with pedals will have a much higher clearance and therefore is really only suitable for older children.

Bottom line is when they get a bike with pedals, they can balance, steer, brake, handle different terrain types, mount and dismount, wheel their bike etc. Basically all the skills you need bar pedalling.

I've been on the road with my boy at age 2! (its a rural dead end road with no paevment and which is mostly used by walkers). This experience actually paid off because when we were camping this summer he was riding on a thru the campsite (in full view of where we were) when a car came along (ever so slowly) and he pulled over (as taught). Its scary how fast they learn at that age.

hertswenip

I ordered an Early Rider Classic yesterday from Chain Reaction Cycles for my daughters birthday on Sunday (she will be 3).

Did a bit of reading and watched some videos but still wasn't convinced until I visited Halfords and looked at the 12" bikes - they are heavy! Also the build quality is terrible, I know I shouldn't be comparing them to my 1k mountain bike, but I did expect a bit more for £120.

Only problem is that despite phoning Chain Reaction yesterday morning to check the item was in stock and would be here today if I paid for next day delivery, they didn't dispatch it until this morning, and now it won't be here until Monday.

I know I should have sorted it sooner but be warned if anyone else is like me and leaving it to the last minute.

Eranu

I've done both things suggested here.

My eldest, now 6, firstly had a bike with stabilisers which when she had got some confidence on I took off along with the pedals. She took about 4 hours to get it down then i put the pedals back on and she hasnt looked back since.

My youngest, 3, has a specialized balance bike which is also a great option in my opinion as they are light and also hold their value well. She took about the same to get the basic balance sorted and now flies along. Nothing phases her on it.

My quandry is do I get her a proper bike now or wait until she is a bit bigger before I get her one. She asks us constantly for a bike with pedals but I'm not sure as I would like to give her the 16" wheeled bike my eldest has and upgrade my eldest to a 20" or 24" bike.

NFMC

My little boy is now three and we've had 18 months of fantastic use of the balance bike. Easily the best thing I've ever bought him.

But...we're now trying to get him on his 'big bike' with pedals and because he's so good on his balance nike he almost can't be bothered. I know I just need to continue with it but it's been a bit of an issue. That and when he is on it he'll never use his brake but will just put his feet down.

ScottieP

My son is the same - he's 4 and a bit and has been riding and loving a balance bike for about 18 months. We bought him a new Islabike CNOC 14 for his birthday and so far he only wants to ride the old balance bike - haven't managed to get him out once on the new bike yet. I'm sure it'll happen - so I'm just trying to not put any pressure on him and turn it into a big deal.

baudman

Eranu wrote:

My quandry is do I get her a proper bike now or wait until she is a bit bigger before I get her one. She asks us constantly for a bike with pedals but I'm not sure as I would like to give her the 16" wheeled bike my eldest has and upgrade my eldest to a 20" or 24" bike.

I think that's the way we'll be approaching it with our two. (Elder is 3.5 on the run bike. Younger is 7m).

I'm thinking, the elder will get a pedaled bike for her 5th birthday.