Why even bother with balance-bikes…

Buy a normal bike and remove pedals if you want to remove the ‘distraction’ of them when teaching the young un to ride w/o stabilisers.

Fit them again once learnt – Save yersen a few bob into bargain. Voila!

fair cop, I missed that one. 🙄

Might have been 2 and 364 days old though, you know how many tall tales are told on here. 😉

Jo the lengths you have gone to here in over analysing the simple purchase of a ” toy” are quite remarkable.
Well done! 😀
new parents do post some bollox on here so don’t worry, you’re not alone.
I happen to know a boy who first rode a bike without stabilizers at just over 2yrs old and a fair few kids who did before 3 (all without ever even seeing a balance bike)

Flatfish, Chaps,

Apologies for my earlier post. I received some new eggbeater 11’s this afternoon only to discover that they are both non-drive side! so they’re going back. I’ve been in a bad mood ever since.

I suppose what annoys me is that a lot of parents have this ‘my child can do this better than or before your child can’ attitude. It starts with whose child can walk first, then speak, then write. There’s a video on youtube of a 1 yr old pedalling a bike, unaided. Strangely though it’s filmed from a distance so that you can’t tell if the child is really 1 or 3 yrs
I personally let my kids ride what they want at their own pace not mine,or other childrens. If they like stabilisers then that’s fine. And they can stay on them until they’re ready for the next stage.

For the record they prefer scooters & skateboards, not bikes.

Time for a beer me thinks

Balance bikes are here to stay, as they offer an alternative way to learn to ride. Although I suspect that the average man or women who has no interest in cycling will be more likely to buy a pedal bike over a balance bike. I guess the typical balance bike buyer will be a parent who has an interest in cycling themselves.

I am pro balance bike as they worked for my family. Although because I knew that the balance bike would only be used for a short time period, I bought a cheap one from Halfords (£35). TBH the quality was shocking but my eldest, who was 3 3/4’s at the time, used to scoot around the block, when we went for a walk. I guess it took her about 4 or 5 hours (over a couple of weeks) to truly master it. After 3 months she just took her 12″ Pedal bike into the garden and she just rode it. The balance bike was then given to my youngest and she was also riding a pedal bike by her 4th birthday.

My eldest is now 6 and my wife still gets asked by the other mums at the school gate how we managed to get them riding at that age. My wife tells them and they nearly always then ask “what’s a balance bike?”.

It just makes sense to me that we should be taught to steer and balance first and the learn to pedal later. I bet many of us were taught this way. We were sent off down a slope, just steering and balancing? Once we had that mastered we would then learn to pedal on the flat.

However in response to the OP’s question, one size doesn’t fit all. Some kids will just get BB’s whilst others won’t. If it isn’t working, ditch it and try the stabilishers route or put the BB away for a few months and then try again.

+1 for shotsaway

Balance bike worked brilliantly for my son – my daughter is now learning the the same way. Will it work for your kids? Who knows!

If it doesn’t though – just get a bike with stabilisers.

People learn things in different ways – well apart from the ‘one true way – in my day we didn’t do it like that so it can’t possibly work’ zealots on STW of course… 😆

I personally let my kids ride what they want at their own pace not mine,or other childrens. If they like stabilisers then that’s fine. And they can stay on them until they’re ready for the next stage.

I’d mostly say the same. My oldest got stabilisers for his first pedal bike even though he was a whizz on the balance bike, as that was what he wanted and wouldn’t have ridden it otherwise. Still riding without at 3 and a half, I don’t think that phase did any harm (apart from the aforementioned falling off because he was trying to corner too fast for them and tipping). Admittedly I have done quite a bit of encouragement of my youngest to use the balance bike, but then he needs a bit of encouragement at most things, and now he’s got going on it he’s loving it.

The thing is, for kids the right age who aren’t quite up to pedal bikes, balance bikes are great fun – having been a whizz on the scooter (which is the main reason he was so reluctant to try the bike I think), he’s now found the bike can go places the scooter couldn’t.

Don’t really care what other kids are doing, or whether mine are the youngest at school riding bikes. I am keen for mine to have as much fun on bikes as early as possible though – the bonus being that I get to have fun playing on bikes (or mostly unis right now) too!

Oh yes, and I have been asked about how I got them riding so young – oldest one’s best friend isn’t riding yet, and keen to so they can ride together. Several other balance bikes on the school run though.