My daughter’s 4th birthday today and we got her an Isla Bikes Cnooc 14. In the last few months she has mastered a balance bike so I was confident she should make the change to a pedal bike reasonably quickly. What I didn’t expect was it took just 10 minutes, and after half an hour she rode 1/4 mile non-stop! A tear or two was shed by proud father (and mother)!!
Proof (for me anyway) that balance bikes are the way to go rather than stabilisers!!

Daughters similar age – which balance bike do you use. I’ve seen some of the spesh ones retail at around £100!!

I saw a great balance bike yesterday with a kid zooming along. It had a swingarm with an elastomer shock.

That sounds like the alloy Like-a-Bike my daughter has got.

balabce bike was a scoot.

Fantastic news. Didn’t work out that way for us, our daughter didn’t like her balance bike at all but loves her stabilised pedal bikes, we’re steadily working on supported rides without stabilisers but I reckon it’ll be a long road.

I think balance bikes are brilliant for little kids, means they can skip the useless stabalizer stage.

Our youngest (just turned 3) has just started on the balance bike and confidence and control is amazing already – will need to wait and see how she gets on when its time for pedals but so far another vote for them here.

People double take when they see such a “little person” riding a bike without stabilisers until they realise there’s no pedals!

Crag – We got a good deal on an aluminium Adams/Norco one but looks like the prices may have gone up since. Not as swish as the spesh ones – but more than up to the job.

Dylan has had the balance bike since 2.5 and has just started on the proper bike at 3. Job done.

Have given up on stabilisers with Jnr (nearly 6) – bought him a secondhand MX16 and have taken the pedals off and he seems keener to try it.

Of course, his baby sister (aged 2) is screaming to have a bike of her own to have a go on – she may be pedalling before her brother at this rate!

Both of mine learnt using a like-a-bike, it’s a bit of a battle at first but if you persevere they soon get the hang of it. My girl could go the likeabike at about 3yrs and was pedalling by 4yrs, my boy could go the likeabike at 2yrs and is now pedalling at 3yrs, although he still prefers his likeabike.

Doug

Little one got a Rothan at 2. He’ll be 3 next month and has serious pedal envy. Cnoc may be on the cards.

Just wondering what to get our son for his first bike. He’s got a trike but doesn’t want to pedal it. He’s a pretty tall guy who’s 2 in June, he’s sat on his 5 year old cousins bike with stabilisers and wanted to pedal that, so I’m thinking small normal bike so he can pedal like he’s seen me doing….

Apart from Islabikes, any other recommendations for a good small ‘proper’ bike?

My three year old has had his Like-a-bike for a year and absolutely loves it. We bought him a cheap bike with pedals to try but he currently struggles to get his feet on the ground which has put him off trying it. His confidence on the balance bike is amazing and watching him whizz around on it makes everyone who see’s him smile and comment – especially in the local supermarket where the old ladies love him.

Two year old little brother will soon be ready for the ballance bike but I doubt big brother will be willing to give it up… I suspect we will have to buy him one too when we are at Bothy Bikes in Aviemore in the summer.

It’s definately critical to get a bike small enough for them to feel comfortable on. We were tempted by the Cnooc 16 as daughter is almost onto the scale from the Isla Bikes sizing chart but thankfully decided against it and got the smaller one. Yes there’s a cost element, but the younger one will also use it, they have a reasonable second hand value, and Isla offer trade-ins, so all-in-all glad we went for the smaller one.

I also got knee and elbow pads from Bikehut which also add to the confidence, as well as the “just like daddy” factor!!

It’s definately critical to get a bike small enough for them to feel comfortable on.

Absolutely agree – we moved from Rothan to a Cnoc 14 at about 3 1/2 and I’d done the same wondering about a 16 as well, but it’s so useful for them to able to still get feet down easily and scoot to get going sometimes. I was wondering about putting the saddle up a bit this weekend (he’s now 4) but decided against it. Another one on the way now, so money hasn’t been wasted 🙂

I also got knee and elbow pads from Bikehut which also add to the confidence, as well as the “just like daddy” factor!!

Hmm… sounds like a good idea. Not “just like daddy” for me, as I don’t wear them, but falls are fairly regular as most riding is off-road* and he likes to go fast… “Let’s RACE!” 🙂

*Been wondering about knobblies really – anyone seen any 14″ knobblies anywhere?

so who makes good ones?

This is my boy at 2 and a half on his Early Rider balance bike. Complete with dramatic dismount ;O)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontacular/2856073016/in/set-72057594094874722/

He has just turned 3 and is almost off pedalling on his pedal bike. He is facinated by the brakes which makes him fall off. I may take them off!

MM

Another balance bike evangelist here. Eldest started with stabilisers at 3 on an Islabikes CNOC14, finally took stabilisers off at 4.5 after much faffing.

Having learned more about balance bikes in the meantime, we’d bought his 20 month younger brother a Rothan (balance bike) at 2. He didn’t use it much for first 6 months, then “rode” it like a demon for 6 months and was riding the handmedown CNOC14 without stabilisers within a day of being given it (on his 3rd birthday)… much to his older brother’s disgust (although he did get a new CNOC16)

So, from this highly controlled statistically-relevant experiment, I’d say a balance bike gets them riding without stabilisers 20 months earlier ;).

Just got little trb an Isla bike Rothan for his 2nd birthday in June. He loves it aleady & can just about scoot around the back garden on only the 2nd ride (and insists on me riding my bike in circles with him)

The Rothan was £112 delivered, but the build quality is excellent – just what I wanted after watching nieces & nephews be put off by riding cheap rubbish.

Just wondering what to get our son for his first bike. He’s got a trike but doesn’t want to pedal it. He’s a pretty tall guy who’s 2 in June, he’s sat on his 5 year old cousins bike with stabilisers and wanted to pedal that, so I’m thinking small normal bike so he can pedal like he’s seen me doing….

Don’t try running before you can walk (to mix the metaphors). Unless he’s huge, I’d be surprised if you can get a normal bike small enough that he can reach the ground sitting in the saddle well enough to scoot – mini-aracer is pretty tall, but he’s still fairly near the bottom of the height range on his Rothan at 2 1/4, and he’d certainly not fit on any of the neighbours’ 4 year olds’ bikes (he does try!) Meanwhile he has a trike which he didn’t want to pedal until very recently, and now he does try, he’s not really got the strength and coordination. He is however flying round on the Rothan. I reckon his balance is already virtually good enough to ride a normal bike, and I suspect pedalling ability will be the limiting factor (wondering if I get a proper bike for xmas a month before he’s 3 I’ll be able to claim bragging rights of getting a 2 year old riding 😉 ). One of the first things he said when he got on it is “got no pedals”, and he does occasionally mention it in different ways, so he’s well aware of the issue!

I’d definitely recommend the conventional route of balance bike first – mini-aracer is definitely a huge amount keener on the Rothan than he ever has been about his trike, it being a lot like the real bike daddy rides (and he does insist on me coming riding with him). Took a while to get him on it, but when next door’s 4 year old daughter (who he worships) had a few goes he suddenly got really keen, and we couldn’t get him off it for a few weeks after he first sussed it. Meanwhile next door’s daughter has now at her insistence had the stabilisers and pedals taken off her bike! Oh, and the looks and comments you get are just great!

a month before he’s 3 I’ll be able to claim bragging rights of getting a 2 year old riding [:wink:] ).

Sorry, already been done 😀

Another success for balance bikes !

Another balance bike fan!

Thump (three) has a Adams/Norco and loves it.
The bike is light with solid tyres (many thorns pulled out of the tyres already) and no brakes. Thump hammers up and down the street with a massive grin on his face, although we’ve scuffed through one pair of wellies already.

In in doubt, put the saddle down.

Sorry, already been done [:D]

I wasn’t after a first, but given Poppy’s age I presumably need to get him one at least a month before Xmas for proper one-upmanship!

Balance bikes weren’t around when my youngest was learning to ride. He didn’t like the stabilisers and asked me to remove them. The following day I returned from work to find him riding round the back garden (he’d not long turned 4, what blew me away was watching him trackstand at the kerb outside thehouse the following week, no-one had told him to put his feet down when he stopped so he didn’t 🙂

“Don’t try running before you can walk (to mix the metaphors). Unless he’s huge, I’d be surprised if you can get a normal bike small enough that he can reach the ground sitting in the saddle well enough to scoot..”

Trouble is, he’s the height of a 3 year old already, hence the dilemma – perhaps a normal bike with cranks taken off would suit?

You can make a balance bike out of any bike – just remove pedals, cranks and chain. My 4yr old was beginning to run out of height adjustment on the balance bike so was definately time to move on.

Trouble is, he’s the height of a 3 year old already, hence the dilemma – perhaps a normal bike with cranks taken off would suit?

Fair enough – he is huge! In which case doing as heihei suggests isn’t that bad an idea – there are some advantages to a specific balance bike (more space around BB, so easier to scoot), but they’re not huge. He should still fit fine on most balance bikes at that size, but you’ll probably be OK and save money by scooting on a normal bike (normal being a Cnoc, as most other things are still likely to big). One of the reasons most of us with little ones do get balance bikes is size.

For every success story on these training bikes i bet there are 1000X as many on normal bikes.

My lad managed to start riding before his 4th birthday and i cruely made him ride a spesh hotrock 12″ with (God Forbid) stabilizers!

I now have a little girl just turned 2 and am tempted by the balance bikes but i think i will just get her a 12″ Hotrock and take the crankset out if i decide to go down that route.

FWIW i just let my son ride his bike untill he got to the point where stabilizers were a hindrance (Going to fast around bends & anything off road) and then took them off. It took 10mins to get him riding after that.

my 3yr old the other week

here

My little girl (age 4) wouldn’t go anywhere near her balance bike, so I gave it away to a friend for his son.

Took the pedals off my son’s old Curtis last Sunday and she was happy to scoot about on that like it was a balance bike. Put the pedals back on the following Saturday and she was riding it after about half an hour.

In my opinion, stabilisers/training wheels are obsolete nowadays. Balance bikes/normal bikes with pedals off are the way forward.

I am far to tight to buy a balance bike, so the cranks came off my son’s bike when my youngest daughter wanted to learn. Few days scooting around then cranks back in and she was away.

I did stick a bit of wood through the BB for a while so she could get used to “feet up” riding, coasting down the hill.

But yeah, stabilizers suck.

Youngest son now 2 and a half, huge, and just enjoys throwing his sisters old bike down the steps in our front garden. Fair play.

Wot no shedfire / ragley balance bike??