Balance bikes - are they worth it?

Make-it-3

My OH wanted to buy our DD a bike for her 3rd birthday. I said lets wait till the summer for lots of practical reasons. Weather means we can actually get out and use it. We have a postage stamp size garden, and its a 20-25 minute trek to the park across several main roads. I can't carry bike and child back when she tires out. Clogging up the house with more toddler stuff etc

So he ignores me and buys a balance bike instead. His excuse being they are lighter and she'll learn to ride a proper bike quicker.

I say she won't be on it long and then we'll have to buy a proper bike anyway, ie waste of money. He says they have good resell value (except he bought a cheap model, so not sure about that).

It's sitting here unopened as he won't have time to assemble it till the weekend so I've still got time to convince him to return it and wait till summer to get a bike with stabilisers.

But what do you think? Should we stick with it? I've been googling pros and cons but that's just confused me more.

My girl is 3 yrs, loves her micro scooter, is small/short for her age, rides the tricycles at nursery so can pedal already.

flutterby_lil

Hello all

My son is 6 in July and wants a scooter for his birthday - I know there are lots of different types, he used to have a baby chuggington one but my sister tells me they have moved on a bit, does anybody know anything about scooters?

Thanks in advance.

flutterby_lil

Sorry that was meant to be a new post!!

sacha28

I am all for balance bikes. We bought my 22 month old DS a balance bike for xmas and it really is the best thing we've bought.

The whole idea, as your OH has rightly pointed out, is that it teaches the child balance whilst riding so the transition between this and a bike without stabilizers should be relatively easy, whereas if you start a child on a bike with stabilizers it is much more difficult to make that transition.

My LB picked up how to use his balance bike within 2 days, I kid you not! We don't intend to buy him a 'proper' bike until next xmas so he will get a good year out of it. The re-sale value on the bike we bought him (a Haro Z10) is very good but you get what you pay for and assembly consisted of attaching the seat!!!

We bought a bike with stabilizers for my DSD when she was the same age as your DD but she never got on with it. The bike was very heavy and difficult for her to maneuvour, a balance bike is a fraction of the weight as there are no real components added on (pedals, cogs, chain etc). We ended up selling her bike and buing her a scooter as she much preferred it (she is somewhat lazy tho and she found this much less taxing!!!)

I would recommend a balance bike over anything else.

daveyjp

We bought our daughter a proper pedal bike for her 4th birthday. She spent a few weeks on stabilisers, to get used to braking and steering.

I took them off after three months, took her to the park and within an hour she was pedalling merrily on her own. Once children understand that it is pedalling which stops them falling off they 'get' riding a bike and the more they pedal the longer they stay balanced.

Balance bikes only give a short opportunity for them to balance as speed tails off too quickly so they spend most of the time with feet on the ground.

marisco_2

Both my boys used a balance bike. They then progressed onto a normal bike initially with stabilisers. After a very short while they could be taken off and they were riding very confidently. Whether they would have needed the stabilisers for longer without having used the balance bike I will never know. I have leant the balance bike around my friends and family as their little ones became old enough to use it and all of them now ride their bikes really well.

peachyprice

I can see the benefit for the very young and for a child who has no experience of pedalling so that they don't have to learn pedalling and balancing at the same time, but for a 3yo who can already pedal a trike, no, I can't see what benefit there would be over a proper bike.

honeypop

Most of my friends bought their children a pedal bike, but removed the pedals so it acts as a balance bike. This way, the child gets used to the bike and doesn't have to change it to progress to a 'proper' bike, you just add the pedals back on.

I don't know if all childrens bikes have removable pedal bits, but I can see how it saves buying 2 separate bikes, which is rather moneysaving!

GobbledyGook

If she can pedal already I would have bought her a proper bike. For mine the pedalling has been the bit they've struggled with the most.

In our house cycling is a Daddy + Kids thing. I did take them out on their bike when they were tiny, but I can't ride a bike so once they were whizzing about there was no way I could keep up with them and the park they ride in means they go out of view too often for my liking. So he takes them on his bike. I don't know if that would work for you.

[Deleted User]

My two children learned to balance from an early age, first with a two wheel scooter at 2 years, progressing onto a bike with stabilisers (in my mind this hindered as my dd adopted the half pedal stroke for a long time), finally at 3.5 they both mastered riding a 2 wheel bike, independently. I put this down to living next to a playing field which has a slope, so we could easily access it without a trek. We just opened our gate and away we went..

They used their balancing skills from scootering to get down the hill, then their pedalling skills to carry the momentum.

We often had people commenting as we rode our bikes to nursery, standing up for hills, well before starting school. Now its a real pleasure to take them out on our bikes, just wish I could go further afield with a bike rack!!

I'd opt for progressing on the skills she already has.

Good luck OP.

Make-it-3

Hmm, a variety of opinions.

We have a cycle store round the corner from us, I wonder if it would have been an idea to go in and get her try some models to see what would be best.

Too late now, OH rushed home tonight to put the balance bike together, although LO is a bit under the weather so wasn't very interested. So it looks like we're keeping it now. I expect her shoes will take some battering if she gets into it.