Balance Bikes (for nippers)

[Deerfoot]

Hello there,

My three year old is bored of his trike and really wants a two wheeler.

I`ve read that the two wheel balance bikes are very good for the transition as they teach balance before the need to balance and pedal.

Have you guys got any experience of them and would you recommend them?

I`ve been looking at a steady eddie (http://www.steadyeddiebikes.co.uk/).

Many thanks in advance.

[Mekon]

We've got one. I'd seen a bunch of wooden likeabikes or clones thereof looking very sorry for themselves - many of them appear to delaminate very quickly. Also, the solid wheeled ones look like they really jar on rouch ground. We went for a likeabike Jumper, which has elastomeric rear suspension. It's overkill though, and a Islabike Rothan looks just as good for less. The Puky Learner is good when they are great at balancing, as kids can rest their feet on the platform instead of resting them on the top tube, but the platform gets in the way of their legs when scooting (or at least it does for my boy). Lot cheaper tho'.

Jumper - http://www.likeabike.co.uk/products/jumper_like_a_...
Rothan - http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/rothan.html
Learner - http://www.outdoortoycompany.co.uk/puky_learner_bi...

FWIW, my boy has really thrown his jumper about - they are definitely built to last.

[Deerfoot]

Cheers for that Mekon!

[hughjayteens]

I got a cheapy 'Eagle' wooden bike off eBay for £45 and it has been fantastic! Inflatable tires means it is very comfy and there is plenty of adjustment in the seat. My 3 year old has had it for about 4 months and is an absolute whizz on it - even done some ditches and singletrack at Swinley Forest on it!!

I make sure she looks after it, but it has been left outside on occasion and is still in perfect condition. It gets masses of attention everywhere we take it as it looks a bit like a motorcross bike!

Can't find them on eBay anymore and the cheap ones on there look a bit naff. Have seen these and the flesh and think they look pretty cool!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

One nice thing about the Isla bikes is that it has a brake which is a good thing for kids to learn to use.

[RRS_Staffs]

My youngest got a balance bike when she was 2 1/2

She would have easily ridden a 'proper' bike before her 4th birthday if she had deserved one!

Here she is age 3 and a bit:



And here she is age 4 years and 7 hours:



We took her new bike to the park, she got on it and pedalled it
Err thats it

Cheers

[Deerfoot]

Many thanks again chaps.

[Kermit power]

My eldest two kids both started on their first proper bikes when they were about 3 1/2.

The eldest took ages to suss it. My son, who turns 4 next month just got straight on and off he went. At this rate, he'll have the stabilisers off within a couple of weeks.

What is the aim of these balance bike things? Is it to get round stabilisers?

[Deerfoot]

Kermit power said:

What is the aim of these balance bike things? Is it to get round stabilisers?

From what I`ve read, they allow the kid to master balance before having to master the whole shebang of cycling.

[RRS_Staffs]

Absolutely right!

Stabilisers are a disaster
I made that mistake with my eldest

[SystemParanoia]

my 3yr olds are now riding thanks to balance bikes.

gets my vote

[dern]

You can achieve the same thing with a normal bike by taking the pedals off and then when they're ready the transition back is very easy and they're already on a bike that they're familiar with. I taught my daughter like this and she moon walked around for a couple of hours without pedals and then we put them on and she was off.

[a11y_m]

Deerfoot said:

Kermit power said:

What is the aim of these balance bike things? Is it to get round stabilisers?

From what I`ve read, they allow the kid to master balance before having to master the whole shebang of cycling.

That's my impression of them too: the new way of teaching kids to ride bikes is to avoid stabilisers. Sort of like the whole "avoid armbands" thing when kids are learning to swim - they do more harm than good.

One of the blokes who bikes with us recently bought his 2y.o. a Norco balance bike, really cool as it's all stickered up with the same graphics as full-size Norco's

[nogginthenog]

We got young Noggin one of these for his 2nd birthday...



and it has been really good for teaching him to ride. He's 3 now, and will be ready for pedals soon. We considered a few of the other options - like-a-bikes etc - but this one has a rear brake so that's another thing for him to play with / learn to use.

Got the bike from here :

http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=976

[tybalt]

RRS_Staffs said:

My youngest got a balance bike when she was 2 1/2

She would have easily ridden a 'proper' bike before her 4th birthday if she had deserved one!

Here she is age 3 and a bit:



And here she is age 4 years and 7 hours:



We took her new bike to the park, she got on it and pedalled it
Err thats it

Cheers

That is weird. We are obviously living some sort of parallel life. My daughter had exactly the same bikes at very similar ages. Took to riding the pedal bike straight away (sans stabilisers). I'm pretty sure she's even got the same clothes too. Took her for an accidental 20km ride the other day on the CNOC (lost in the woods). She feel asleep while eating chips in the car on the way back. Great fun.

[tobeee]

nogginthenog said:

We got young Noggin one of these for his 2nd birthday...



and it has been really good for teaching him to ride. He's 3 now, and will be ready for pedals soon. We considered a few of the other options - like-a-bikes etc - but this one has a rear brake so that's another thing for him to play with / learn to use.

Got the bike from here :

http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=976

That looks brilliant! My son's only 7 weeks old but I want him to enjoy bikes early like I did (and hopefully get into trials like me too, so he'll be on a motorbike VERY young... if he wants to of course!) so will definitely look at these nearer the time. What is the youngest that kids can use these?

[nogginthenog]

tobeee said:

nogginthenog said:

We got young Noggin one of these for his 2nd birthday...



and it has been really good for teaching him to ride. He's 3 now, and will be ready for pedals soon. We considered a few of the other options - like-a-bikes etc - but this one has a rear brake so that's another thing for him to play with / learn to use.

Got the bike from here :

http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=976

That looks brilliant! My son's only 7 weeks old but I want him to enjoy bikes early like I did (and hopefully get into trials like me too, so he'll be on a motorbike VERY young... if he wants to of course!) so will definitely look at these nearer the time. What is the youngest that kids can use these?

When we got the bike he was 2 and he took to it quite nicely. We got it with a lowering kit that drops the height by about 2cm ( another reason to choose this model over the like-a-bike ) and was about £12.

If you want your nipper on a trials bike, you need one of these :

http://www.osetbikes.com/

[hughjayteens]

dern said:

You can achieve the same thing with a normal bike by taking the pedals off and then when they're ready the transition back is very easy and they're already on a bike that they're familiar with. I taught my daughter like this and she moon walked around for a couple of hours without pedals and then we put them on and she was off.

I thought about that but was worried she might bang her ankles on the bottom bracket shell which could be quite painful! Maybe I was over-worrying!

[Deerfoot]

Well, I`ve just ordered an islabike for my lad, hopefully he`ll get the hang of it pretty easily.

Thanks for the replies.

[tricky69]

saw this on saturday... And my daughter is 2 in October ! Perfect present !!

[outnumbered]

One thing about dedicated balance bikes is they are really quite expensive. I didn't want to shell out £100 for a balance bike my daughter was going to use for a couple of months before inheriting her sister's CNOC (yes, another one for the thread!).

So I got a knackered small kids bike off the local Freecycle scheme, took the cranks off & lowered the saddle, and thus made a balance bike at a cost of £0.