Err….I learned to ride a bike with stabilisers. Years later and I’m still clowning about on a bike. How did this happen without a balance bike?

Shock!
Horror!

First (Tr)(b)ike

Second bike (the day we removed stabilisers)

A little later that day

That evening

Call the NSPCC.

Of course kids can learn to ride a bike with stabilisers, but if they are unnecessary and don’t speed up the process, then why bother with them?
My experience is from teaching kids medically diagnosed with coordination problems to ride bikes (some of whom had difficulty with walking). We used various reclaimed bikes with pedals removed and the saddles lowered. I spoke to people who taught adults, to get some tips, and they didn’t use stabilisers, so I used the same process with the kids and it worked really well.

I did

I did

Cool.
Anyway, do what’s right for your kid(s). Neither balancers or stabilisers are wrong, as long as they get a love for bikes 😀
(I’m nice me)

All kids are different, and will go at their own pace.

Yup. I had exactly the same issue as OP with eldest FO Jr. Simply wasn’t interested in his bike and I. Tried. Everything. Eventually I just gave up, rather than trying to force him and then ending up with a kid that never biked at all. In the end it was a bikeability class run at the local leisure centre that did it. An hour with kids a lot younger than him riding bikes was enough to eek out a bit of competitiveness in him and now we can’t get him off the thing. Which is great. That’s at nearly 7 years old.
Youngest FO Jr is completely different. 2 years old and he goes down to nursery on his (3 wheel) scooter, and has a typical 2YO tantrum if we attempt to just walk. He’ll be riding a bike before he’s 4 I reckon.

Really helpful post.

Our son was whizzing on a balance bike at an early age but at 4 we gave him a bike with stabilisers and he just struggled with pedals and became reliant on stabilisers and lost interest.

After reading this took pedals, stabilisers off, lowered saddle and can’t get him off it now.

Next step is pedals on and hopefully riding. He also says he wants an uppy down post now!

Not sure where you live, however Blackrock Sands (or any flat beach with compacted sand) is a great place try. I managed to get all three of mine off stabilisers and pedalling in an afternoon (different years, obviously).

Cezza

The whole point of balance bikes is stabi.. why am I explaining this? 😆

Agreed. Going by the responses to my post the stabilophiles aren’t going to be convinced so I wouldn’t bother trying. 😃😁

is the general consensus that if your child starts on a balance bike, the transition to a pedal bike is one without the need for stabilisers? Or is there no trend with this?

#2 was better than #1 on a balance bike, but decided that, as her peers had stabilisers, she needed them too, and wouldn’t be convinced otherwise.