I have heard that it might be easier for younger kids to learn to ride a bike with a balance bike, which is just like a 2 wheeler except is has no pedals. It made sense to me that it might be easier than learning to ride with training wheels and then having to learn to balance on 2 wheels. Has anyone used one with their child? If so what age did it work for your child? What brand did you get? There are a lot to choose from! This would be for my very active 3 year old (who is also tall). Thanks!
I am thinking about getting this bike for my 4 year old http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3181128 but am having second thoughts. I don't know if I trust him to be on his own with no training wheels and it is really expensive. I will be interested to see what else everyone has to say!
Hi J.,
We actually have a Like-a-Bike for our daughter. She isn't old enough to use it yet...but I'm so excited for the day she is!!
We lived in Germany for 2 years and purchased ours there before we left. ALL the kids use them over there. I've seen kids as young as 2.5 or so using them with great fun. As far as coordination it isn't really any different then the ride on toys, but it does help with their balance.
In addition, it seemed like I also never saw kids with training wheels in Germany. It was either the balance bike or a regular 2 wheeler. That's why we opted to get one before we left for our daughter. They really seem to work!
I would suggest getting one with a height adjustable seat. The LikeaBike has one. That way you can adjust it to fit your son.
Three years old is really young to have all of his neurology together to ride a bike w/ no training wheels.
There's motor planning involved in pedaling, motor planning involved in steering, balance (from the vestibular system -- I'm not sure when that system is ready to ride a bike), the motor planning involved in stopping the bike, plus all of the attention shifting, gaze shifting, shared attention (joint attention) required to keep from running into someone or something and to keep out of the street. There's probably some hand/eye and foot/eye coordination needed, too.
He may be tall, but developmentally, he may not be ready.
These bikes are awesome. We are currently living in Germany and kids here cruise around on those things as little as two! You can buy them in all heights. We plan on buying one for our daughter before we leave if we don't go with the Skuut bike. Those I believe are made in the US. You can also find converting balance bikes, from tricycles, to bicycles, or my friend just bought one that goes from balance bike to with pedals. :o)
Our son was almost 5 when we started using a "balance bike", after hearing about the great success another mom had. My husband is handy, and so he just removed the pedals (and training wheels) from our son's bike. We have a gently downward sloping street, and our son kept coasting down that hill while trying to keep his balance. I was truly amazed at how quickly, easily, and confidently our son learned to do this. It was literally at the end of two days of this, we put the pedals back on his bike, and off he went!! No running behind, no frustration -- it was fantastic. We will definitely be using this same technique with our almost 3 year old when he is ready, but I think that might be in another year.
Best wishes!
i didn't know that they made such a thing. for our daughter she got her first bike at 3, so it was a small bike. than when she out grew it we bought her a bigger bike. when she was almost 5 we tried to teach her to ride with no training wheels. we just put her back on her small bike so she peddled with her feet. within two weeks she was on her big girl bike with no training wheels.
my advice would be don't waste your money if you already have a small bike you can use.
It is the best thing there was no running behind my son just helped him start to pedal and off he went. We started him on the Like Bike when he was 2 - 2 1/2 and by the time he was 3 he was riding a 2 wheeler.
Yes, we love the balance bike. I started my daughter on one at 2 1/2. She is now three and is ready to start riding a two wheeler with pedals (no training wheels). We are from the metro area and are living in Europe at the moment. The balance bikes are what all the kids ride over here. My daughter is riding a Puky. Just make sure they have all the proper safety gear. There were a couple of spills in the beginning.
We just took the training wheels and pedals off of my sons regular bike. I couldn't see spending that kind of money on something he wasn't going to use for a long period of time. He did it without the pedals for the better part of an afternoon and asked us to put the pedals back on the next morning. He's been riding ever since. Good luck!
J.
We do the 'no pedals' for the kids in my family. Just get them a normal 2 wheel bike and remove the pedals. That way you're not having to make additional purchases. Good luck.
S.
We just used a small bike for both of my kids. They could put their feet flat on the ground left the petals on and let them scoot around. Then when they lifted a foot they could balance one on a petal or whatever. They figured it out. Mine were older though like 5 or 6 years old when I felt they were ready to try.
We took the pedals off of our sons bike and it worked
wonderful. It really teaches them balance on the bike and when we put the pedals back on, away he went.
We are from Germany and have one. There is one store in the US, that you can order online
http://bokoobikes.com/page.cfm?PageID=546
we bought some accessories with it, like a sled for the front, so our son can use it in the winter for sledding, too.
http://www.firstbike.de/
We got it for his 2nd B-day.
