Balance Bike for toddlers

[bekkiz]

I've been looking into getting one or two of these for the twins. They're super obsessed with bikes right now. Our 4.5 year old neighbor is learning how to ride, and the boys just love it. I came across the idea for a balance bike--I guess they're really popular in Europe--and not only are they really cute, I like the concept of learning balance first and then pedaling, not the other way around (then again, I may be biased watching the afore mentioned 4.5 year old and her struggle to learn. The girl can only turn left )

Does anyone have one that they recommend? We were looking at the Kickboard G bike, but it's a little pricey.

Here's a picture if you don't know what I'm talking about.

And a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrIYunydVAc

 

[Nennie]

We got my DS a balance bike for his first bday. Yeah, he was a little young, but DH was excited about it! LOL!! DS is 18 months old now, so still young, but loves using it inside the house, ha ha. He sits on the seat, and can just touch the floor with his tippy toes while DH pushes him, but he's already getting the idea of balancing on it. When he gets a little taller, and can reach the ground better, we'll start using it outside.

The one was got is made by Specialized:

 

[Nennie]

Whoa! Didn't mean to make the pic so HUGE! Sorry about that!!!

 

[golfgal]

Personally I would just give them a regular bike with training wheels. I don't see the need for a 'balance' bike but then my kids took to bike riding pretty easily. DD15 was 3 1/2 and her friend didn't have training wheels so she wanted her's off. We took them off, 2 trips up and down the street and off she went. DS15 then saw this and insisted that we do the same thing for him, 2 trips, off he went. DS17 was 4 1/2 but probably could have done it earlier. It took him a couple more trips because we lived on a hill at the time and that was harder to learn on.

We taught our kids with a large beach towel wrapped around their middle so they still had to balance on the bike but we could slow the fall.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Don't buy a special bike, just use a small one without training wheels. Don't have your child pedal, just cruise using foot power on the ground and every once in a while, have him pick up his feet for a second or two, before you know it, he'll be doing it for longer and longer. Pedaling just gets in the way. This is how all four of my kids learned. Some parents remove the pedals, but I didn't find that to be necessary.

 

[mjkacmom]

Don't buy a special bike, just use a small one without training wheels. Don't have your child pedal, just cruise using foot power on the ground and every once in a while, have him pick up his feet for a second or two, before you know it, he'll be doing it for longer and longer. Pedaling just gets in the way. This is how all four of my kids learned. Some parents remove the pedals, but I didn't find that to be necessary.

My kids learned on bikes that were too small for them, and just glided. They all learned between ages 3 - 5. I'd make sure they knew how to pedal first, then balance.