Balance bike query

ry33

Hi,

I am looking to get my boy a balance bike for his 2nd birthday. I was set on the Specialized Hotwalk but have since come across Islabikes Rothan. They seem much about the same with the main sticking out difference of the brake on the Islabikes.

I have read a few forums about the for and against for a brake, and believe the Islabike used to come without a brake and only changed to fitted with a break in the last couple of years or so. I really cant decide between having a brake or not...has anyone one got any experiences of which is best, have you got one without a brake and which you got one with or the other way round you got one with a brake and think it would have been better without a brake.

Thanks

alphacharlie

We had the Rothan with a rear brake, with the speed they can get up to quite quickly I don't think I'd have gone for a non brake model.
Cheers
AC

mattham

^^^^^This. Mine quickly built enough speed to need it, plus it makes the transition easier to a pedal bike that will of course have brakes.

Levi_501

Buy a Islabikes Rothan, with or without a brakes does not really matter.

arran77

Definitely brakes with a boy, they soon pick up more speed than their feet can scrub out

baudman

arran77 wrote:

Definitely brakes with a boy...

Not entirely sure what gender has to do with it. (Some kids ride fast, with little caution. Some kids ride slowly and carefully.)

I think a brake is useful when it comes time to graduating to a bike with pedals... if they have the 'concept', it makes stopping their new bike easier. If not, they'll revert to stopping with their feet - not a tragedy, but it will be something they'll have to progress beyond.

AlexBob

Pulsar 180 rocks
then Hero Honda Hunk (price around 70000) 8)

arran77

baudman wrote:

arran77 wrote:

Definitely brakes with a boy...

Not entirely sure what gender has to do with it. (Some kids ride fast, with little caution. Some kids ride slowly and carefully.)

This is true, all children are different, I guess mine just conform to the more general stereotypes, my daughter is more cautious and didn't really build up enough speed to need brakes on a balance bike while my son was totally fearless and just wanted to go as fast as he could, hence brakes were necessary for him

tangled_metal

There's a good USA site called two wheeling tots that's got good info on kids and bike I think. From what they say about brakes there is no need for brakes at the younger end of their use. At this stage it is purely about developing balance. A bit further on, iirc closer to 4, when they are closer to developing on to a pedal bike without stabilisers brakes will be needed. Earlier on they reported that it can complicate things.

Interesting how balance bikes have become popular. There's evidence behind how they help a kid move on to a proper bike. That site said use from an early age can result in skipping the need for tricycles and often pedal bikes with stabilisers. We're talking about getting one. My lad is 20 months, 2 below the recommended start age, but in a few months he will have a birthday and Xmas which will be perfect for getting one. I'm trying to find somewhere nearby that sells firstbike. Heard it's one of the best. They have a lowering kit to lower the point the back wheel is attached. Lowers the seat height for younger kids. Anyone know such a shop in nw England?

Mike Healey

cyd190468 wrote:

Another thing you might consider is to get a trike aswell. One thing I have noticed since balance bikes have replaced regular bikes with training wheels is that many kids when they get a proper bicycle can balance well until they try to pedal at the same time. The balance bike doesn't provide any training for moving your feet in little circles, which is quite unnatural and requires practise.

Quite unnecessary. We teach kids most Saturdays in times ranging from 5 minutes to about an hour using balance bikes or their own with pedals and stabilisers off. The 40+ kids who learn with us every year take very little time to convert balancing to balancing and pedalling

bompington

cyd190468 wrote:

Mike Healey wrote:

cyd190468 wrote:

Another thing you might consider is to get a trike aswell. One thing I have noticed since balance bikes have replaced regular bikes with training wheels is that many kids when they get a proper bicycle can balance well until they try to pedal at the same time. The balance bike doesn't provide any training for moving your feet in little circles, which is quite unnatural and requires practise.

Quite unnecessary. We teach kids most Saturdays in times ranging from 5 minutes to about an hour using balance bikes or their own with pedals and stabilisers off. The 40+ kids who learn with us every year take very little time to convert balancing to balancing and pedalling

Next time I have to dodge a small child who weaves in time with his pedalling I'll tell his parents to give you a call. It might save them the $15 you would spend on a kids trike.

Actually, if it's dodging small kids you're worried about, you could always just sit them in front of the TV.

Balance bikes work - 4 year old Bompetta graduated from hers to her Islabike, on her fourth birthday, in slightly less time than the bottom end of Mike's range. Her two older siblings started riding before balance bikes were commonplace, certainly before I was aware of them (I was a long term non-cyclist back then), and they both fell into the classic stabiliser trap of leaning hard on one side to make sure that they didn't have to balance.
Of course you could use a trike but what's the point of spending even $15, £15 or 15p on something that doesn't really provide any benefit save (apparently) calming down nervous adult pedestrians?

tangled_metal

Trikes are unstable on turns if they can get up to modest speeds. how many of you remember tipping over on a trike?? They add very little to the kid's learning as far as cycling goes. If you don't believe me then look it up online. I am sure there is a lot about it out there.

There has been a lot of hype about balance bikes and that shows in how common they are now. IMHO, based on what I have read, it is one of the few classes of product to be worth the hype. Apparently research shows that by limiting the steering (as most balance bikes have) and taking away the pedalling aspect it allows the most important and hardest aspect of cycling to be developed which is balance. The result is balance bike users take to bikes without stabilizers (but with pedals) a lot quicker than the old route of trike, bike with stabilizers then bike without stabilizers. They often skip the stabilizers stage completely and do that at 4 or sooner not 5 or 6 like the old route worked out at.

This is just from what I have read about it from various articles and pieces on research, surveys, etc. Put it this way a tot on a trike goes slow but a tot on a balance bike can go for longer at a decent speed. Get the kid on one and go out for a nice walk at your pace while he/she bikes along. Then hit the 4 years old try a pedal bike with 16" or even 20" wheels (skipping the redundant trike stage and 12" wheel bike with stabilizers). i reckon most kids will get the pedalling concept quickly.

As far as getting hit by a wobbling tot on a balance bike goes well that is better than a wobbling adult on his first set of flat bar bikes on the canal!!! Trust me on that as I was that adult. You'll always get wobbliness when a bike is involved, it is not the bike but one of those things. Putting the kid in a trike you take away the balance requirement/skill. That leaves you with the benefit of learning pedalling?? Wow, a hard skill. Put your foot on one pedal (with Daddy holding you) thenpush down and repeat with other foot. Now how do I balance? Thud! Rather my kid learns balance than pedalling personnally as that is a harder thing to learn.

PS getting a balance bike in the next few months for my boy as he's not far off 2 years (where did those years go? It seems yesterday he fitted on one hand and I was able to fly him around on one hand making plane noises while he giggled his head off. Those were the easy days.). I'm looking forward to getting him out on a bike of any kind. he'll love the freedom I reckon. He's his own little man already.

alan_sherman

Don't get too excited, my boy is 2 and a bit and isn't getting far with the balance bike yet. Coordination isn't quite there. Also when it goes over he struggles to pick it up again. He is big for his age and strong too. it is the apollo wizzer though that is heavy.

He will get there, just isn't ready yet. No worries! he loves sitting there with me holding the bars and zooming him round the garden. He also is just starting to get pedalling on a trike. Only downhill though as the cycling muscles aren't strong enough yet to push his 16kilo mass along on the flat grass yet!

Mr Will

Tangled Metal wrote:

There has been a lot of hype about balance bikes and that shows in how common they are now. IMHO, based on what I have read, it is one of the few classes of product to be worth the hype. Apparently research shows that by limiting the steering (as most balance bikes have) and taking away the pedalling aspect it allows the most important and hardest aspect of cycling to be developed which is balance. The result is balance bike users take to bikes without stabilizers (but with pedals) a lot quicker than the old route of trike, bike with stabilizers then bike without stabilizers. They often skip the stabilizers stage completely and do that at 4 or sooner not 5 or 6 like the old route worked out at.

I bought my daughter a second-hand Specialized Hotwalk for her second birthday and it's on of the best purchases I've ever made. She got the hang of it very quickly and loved every moment on it, seldom went anywhere without it.

By the age of three she was getting overconfident and the lack of brakes caused her a couple of falls so I got her an Islabikes CNOC14 for her third birthday. She took to that without issue and was off and pedaling in no time at all, it just seemed like a completely natural progression.

She never had a trike or a bike with stabilizers but was off and pedaling in complete control aged 3 - if that doesn't speak volumes for the balance bike then I don't know what does!

tangled_metal

Our lad got given a trike by the outlaws. One with a bar that pushes it and steers it too. He is not even 2 but has just started to pedal. He's only 12kg but that's heavy enough to be the only reason he can't pedal properly. He has the technique just not the strength. He manages to push the pedal down then he pulls it back or switched to the other foot and pedal. So close to pedalling.

If pedalling is so hard how is it that he's learnt out having only been on the trike less than 4 days. The weaving while pedalling sounds like a balance issue as much as learning about pedalling. My nephew took to pedalling after half an hour one lesson and a second half hour at his home. He was slow getting it and his younger sister took less than half hour. My lad is not yet 2 but in the shop he sat on a bike with stabilizers that held him upright. He put his feet on the pedals and tried to pedal it forwards. Being 22 months He wasn't strong enough. Next month he's getting a balance bike for his 2nd birthday. We'll see how he gets on, but he seems to prefer real bikes. In a rush to get cycling!
Which is the best balance bike.for £100 for a younger kid?

stannie

My little boy is 2 and a half. He got a Strider balance bike for his 2nd birthday and loves it - but only to walk round pushing it. He won't sit on it even if I hold it upright. I think he is frightened of falling over. I think a trike or bike with stabilisers would have been better for him. He is just a bit too cautious for a balance bike.

baudman

singletrackanne wrote:

My little boy is 2 and a half.

'nuff said.

Check back in at 3 and a half. (Have patience... and yeah, it can be tough at times).

baudman

cyd190468 wrote:

But then again my middle son had his stabilisers removed before his third birthday. You can't just say that one method is going to be better universally.

To which, I'd respond... did he need them in the first place? Balance bike -> pedals.

(I'm not anti stabilizers per se - I just think many many of the kids you see on them don't actually need them. It's just a carryover from when we were kids. Balance bikes are a better way for the large majority.)