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Youngest turns 4 in the Autumn,he has done the pedal trike and now the scooter with ease.I was wondering about getting the old stabilisers out for his brothers old bike.Or..will he get the use out of a push along? What are the experiences of others on here?
stabilizers don't allow kids to learn to balance the bike by leaning from side to side to correct the bikes preference to fall and will hinder learning this process, balance bikes do
if you have a bike for him already, just remove the cranks and chain and presto - instant balance bike!!!
Either/or in my opinion - they'll learn to ride whether they use a balance bike or stabilisers.
If he is 4yrs old i would say you have missed the boat for any benefits of a balance bike. Unless you want him scooting around till he is 5.
I dont buy into the balance bike thing. My son was riding without stabilizers by his 4th birthday and was hooning around for a good 12mths before that with them fitted. My daughter is 3 and she is now in the hooning around stage and tbh i reckon will be riding long before her 4th birthday. Nothing special, just having lots of fun riding their bikes instead of over analyzing things. I come home and my daughter is holding her bike helmet asking if we can ride around the block a few times every night. Its great fun.
If it was me i would just buy him a bike he likes and encourage him to go on it as often as possible. He will be riding without stabilizers in no time.
My son never had a balance bike, a mates son did, they both started riding a bike without stabalisers at near enough the same time.
A bike with stabilisers is like a trike really. You need to skills to ride a bike. Balance and turning the pedals. Ours had balance bikes but they could not just get on a bike and ride straight away. They needed to be able to pedal as well.
Get a bike, take the pedals off. Lets them have a go on that to get the balance then put the pedals back on and they will be away. I would not bother with stabilisers.
Agree you may be a bit late for the balance bike thing, my twins were on their Specialized Hotwalks from about, 20 months and are now ready for a proper bike at 4 and a half. Balance bikes are great for when they are littler, I highly recommend them.
Push, or scoot a bit with saddle down, then saddle up and push.
Have elastoplast ready. 😉
Push along. Tescos goes one for 40 quid and its ideal. My boy is 4 and has loved his for the last year - he's truely cr@p at trying to pedal though!
Our youngest started on a balance bike at 2, his sister,3, started on a bike with stabilisers at the same time. He took 3 days to get the hang of it, his sister was ok from the off, but struggled when we took the stabilisers off- I ended up taking the cranks off as well, and a few days later she had her balance.
One thing we noticed is that without the cranks she can get up just about any hill, and get through mud and loose ground that she couldn't using pedals- she doesn't yet have the leg muscles to turn short cranks when the going gets tough. This was a big help in increasing her enjoyment since most of their riding is on dirt tracks and uneven ground, which to be honest was a nightmare with stabilisers- invariably the back wheel ended up spinning uselessly in the air. She's just turned 5 a couple of days ago, and she still prefers it without the cranks for most of the riding we do.