Hi parents. My #lad is four and a half now and hasnt really shown much interest in riding. He loves watching it! He had a strider balance bike from 2 and he didn’t really use that much, but recently I bought him a second hand 16″ wheeled bike. Plan was to take the pedals off and watch him rip around.

He hasn’t. We made it to the football field about 500m away, but that was with coaxing with haribo. We have always been “he’ll do it when he is ready” type parents, with nappies, dummies and so on.

Should I just fold and get him stabilisers? Or just wait until he wants to cycle… He can snowboard really well but I dream of cycle rides with him this summer….

I’d wait until he wants to, in my opinion stabiliser hold em back.
Number 2 got a pedal bike way too small for his size, deliberately. The idea being he could get his feet on the the floor when he had a wobble. Half a day of me pushing up to speed and running behind did the trick.
But when he was ready, around 6 if I recall

I’d resist stabilisers. My eldest learnt to ride properly when he was five and half, youngest was nearly 5. Now riding a 16″ Inbred with Rebas and my old XT kit, and a 13″ 1×10 Commencal Normal with Fox Race forks respectively.

It’s actually cheaper if they prefer swimming, tbh.

I’d suggest avoiding stabilisers, as they generally are a hindrance to developing cycling balance. I’d persevere with the pedals off approach, but as above, let him do it in his own time, he’s still quite young..

yes i know what you are saying about stabilisers and thats why I have avoided them. However, I had stabilsers , i’m ok… wasn’t it the done thing?

Thought is perhaps some sort of cycling will get him into it, enjoy the feeling of beeing on two (four) wheels) Or perhaps i am being selfish.

I’d resist stabilisers too. If the balance bike gets too small for him then yeah just take pedals and cranks off the pedal bike and make sure the saddle lets him reach the ground.

My eldest rode her balance bike till she was 3.5 and would happily
whizz to school on it. When we finally persuaded her to try a pedal bike she got it straight away and had it sussed by the second lap of the car park. So I’m definitely a believer in balance bikes.

Our youngest has been a much slower start. She’s 3.5 now and only just now starting to cruise with her feet up on the balance bike. As you say she’ll do it when she is ready.

Sustrans have some good advice and also run (free) Learn To Ride sessions for kids. Might be worth checking if they have one locally to you.

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-you-can-do/children-and-families/cycling-kids/teach-your-child-ride-bike-without-stabilisers

Nothing wrong with stabilisers. If it gets the kid riding and enjoying it, it’s better than being all “oh, stabilisers hinder balance” and having a balance bike sat around doing nothing!
My son learned before balance bikes were the trendy thing and he did just fine.

(Balance bikes hinder the development of pedalling skills 😛 )

For us, daughter loved her balance bike but the first pedal bike we bought her (off eBay) didn’t fit right and she never felt confident with it and resisted.

Went to Evans, sized her up and bought a Pinnacle bike which was the right size and weight for her (she’s quite light) and she took to it instantly. Never looked back.

So imo, first pedal bike should be light enough to give them confidence.

Had something similar a while back – but it was getting him back on after having had a gravel-faceplant – pretty shit one to be fair to him. Anyway, best suggestion was “competition”. Try bringing him somewhere with the bike where there are other boys – maybe a few years older who are whizzing around a pump track or something. Boys can’t resist copying older boys. I’d made the mistake of thinking if t was nice and quiet at the track, he’d give it a try. However, took him there with a few older kids on BMXs and I had to hold him back!

I also think stabilisers are the less favoured option where balance bikes are available. But if that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes. Mine was a bit shit at getting the concept of pedalling = propulsion & balance – but (IMO) I think that was because we’d never really given him pedal toys (e.g. tractors, trikes). Not by design, just never crossed our minds – everything he had was push-with-feet stuff. Once he got pedalling, it was all fine after that.

Patience really. He’ll get it when he’s ready.

My son learned before balance bikes were the trendy thing and he did just fine.

Same with my 2. Eldest had stabilisers on when we were on a bumpy caravan site & his back wheel kept being lifted off the ground so he said ‘Dad, take those wheels off!’ So I did, & off he went on his own straight away.

To the OP, he’ll want to cycle when he’s ready & I wouldn’t try & make him if he doesn’t want to.

So imo, first pedal bike should be light enough to give them confidence.

Yeah I think that is a massive factor and is partly why brands like Islabikes and Frog do so well – low weight and kid-specific components like smaller brake levers.

Quite a contrast when you see some little kids struggling to pick up their completely unsuitable toy store BSOs with scaffold steel tubes and just-for-looks suspension.

(Obviously there is an undeniable snob factor too – but our balance bike and first two pedal bikes are all Islabikes. They were all bought second-hand and once our two have been through them they’ll be sold on for roughly what we bought them for).

I’m in a similar situation. Eldest son was wicked on his balance bike, we spent a year using a tagalong so he could get used to pedalling. Hopped on his Isla Cnoc at about 4 1/2 and it took two pedal strokes to get going.

Youngest is similar but different. Great on the balance bike and tagalong, but simply won’t try on the pedal bike. He’ll ride the bigger bike with the pedals off, but just doesn’t like the combination. My wife wants to fit stabilisers, I’m refusing. it’ll come..

My two have both learned with balance bikes. My son is now 7 and rides quite well although refuses to stand up on the pedals (or change to a higher gear). He’s always been cautious about things but he took to the transition from balance bike to pedal bike quite well. The eureka moment for him came on the tissington trail, riding back from the sweet shop in Tissington, it was something from the bag at every bridge you cycle to. Lots of bridges, lots of sweets, distance covered and happy son and proud dad.

Daughter has just nailed the pedal bike (she did it first go last summer at 3 and 9 months but then lost confidence and stopped trying), recently took her to a trail cntre with two other families and her friend’s dad helped her and i stood back. That’s a good technique, kids don;t like listening to their parents, but they will listen to other parents and older kids. she also wanted to do it, she’s dead set on going bike-camping this summer and i told her we can’t unless she can ride herself, so she cracked it and now i’m planning a bikepacking trip with the kids.

so in short, plenty of motivators (sweets and promise of adventures – make good on the promises though), get someone else to help – older kids or another parent, don’t be too pushy, make it fun.

nice light good quality kids bike defnitely helps. There’s loads more to choose from now and you don’t need to spend islabike money.

Chill out and let nature take its course I reckon.

Both of my lads used a balance bike and could ride a proper bike before they were four. Then….nothing. Neither were really interested until they were 7 or 8. The eldest, now 10, still isn’t that bothered. Likes cruising around on his bmx and much prefers his stunt scooter and wants to learn to surf. The youngest, nearly 9, is massively into racing bmx and riding mtb and has been for about 12 months. His decision though. Getting coached is a good start as it isn’t mum or dad and there’s other kids there at varying stages of radness. Quite motivating for young uns!

My two boys had stabilisers and rode unaided much younger than my brother’s two boys who had balance bikes.

My lad loved his balance bike, which was actually a £15 bike that had pedals fixed to the front wheel that I cut off, I also cut the seat post down to drop it right out of the way. when he was big enough for a pedal bike he took to it straight away, he was 2½-3ish. Bloody think weighed a ton as well!! He’s nearly 9 now and will happily ride 20 mile road rides or MTB trails in the Alps!

My daughter on the other hand had a proper balance bike and wouldn’t go near it. She also wouldn’t go near my lads old 10″ wheel tank, so we bought her a 16″ islabike when she was big enough. I fitted stabalisers and we went out on it armed with a spanner. After 2 or 3 sessions of riding a bit and removing one or both stabilisers I told her I was not putting them back on and if she can’t balance she needs to practice on the balance bike.
She had a quick go on the balance bike but wanted her big girl bike.
She was 4ish then and is now 6½ and rides a 20″ Orbea.

Kids learn different things at different rates. try them with different stuff but don;t force them.

so, in summary, so did use stabilisers, most didn’t, but it could be worth a try….. 😀