balance bike?

spartacusthe1st

hey all, wanted to get your opinion on balance bikes if your little one has one or had one!i was thinking of getting my daughter one she will be 2 and a half at xmas!

any comments welcome

freda

We have one, it was my DD's xmas present when she was about the same age. Its one of those wooden ones with a red seat.

However, it didn't go small enough for her at the beginning, so her first efforts on it were rewarded with a lot of wobbling, which seems to have scared her off it since then. Such a shame as it is such a lovely idea.

Both DD an DS seem to prefer, and get better results from, little toddler sized pedal bikes with good stabilizers.

Desperado99

There was a thread about balance bikes a while back:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3407465

HTH

Margey

Balance bikes are a fab idea! I had one when I was little and they taught me how to ride to begin with. It enables people to move up and eventually have a proper push bike.

dgbeale

They're great.

We got one for our son for his third birthday at the end of July.

For the following Christmas we got him a standard bike - he didn't need stabilisers and was an an expert on it within minutes.

All due to his experience on his balancing bike.

Andwhen

My little boy had one for Christmas, he was just 3. He soon got the hang of it, and it was great. This summer we put him on a pedal bike with stabilisers. After an hour he was riding without stabilisers! He loves his bike, and we wish we had bought a balane bike for our 5 year old girl. We decided to get her a pedal bike with stabilisers, and she still uses the stabilisers.

jungliemac

Both my boys had one and when they were ready they just got onto normal bikes and rode off. No stabilizers and very few wobbles! They are both very confident now on bikes. Have seen balance bikes with brakes so that's something for you to think about. Don't know how hilly it is by you !

spartacusthe1st

thanks everyone for your input!im def gonna get one just need to decide if im getting a wooden one or the sort of real bike without pedals kind!!i love the look of the wooden ones but worried about the durability of them!

andwhan-i agree with u i have a 5 year old girl aswell and she is v wobbly and and not at all confident on her bike with stabilisers. she didnt have a bike when she was younger she had one of the micro mini scooters,the ones where you lean to steer and shes brilliant on that.

rachbc

we got one for my dd when she was 2 and she loved it - as she was teeny we went for the smallest lightest one we could find whcih was a firstbike (with the lowering kit) - she had 2 years of use out of it and then went to a real bike at 4 with no stabilisers and rides very confidently (too confidently she sacres me!!)

elff

We got one for the twins for their 2nd b'day (2 weels b4 xmas)... thought they wold be a bit too small but both of the jumped on them and started whizzing about... they both use them nearly every day and can both go a long way without having to put feet down... big boy bikes at xmas so we will see how they get on when they have to pedel

Andwhen

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_782659_langId_-1_categoryId_205254

This is the one that we had, and it is on sale at the momentt.

And it has brakes!