balance bike or proper bike

[enas]

Hi,

I'm calling for advices. My daughter will soon turn 3, and I want to offer her a bicycle for her birthday. At the moment, she's using a Toddlebike. She absolutely loved it, but lately she seems to be getting a bit bored of it, and in fairness she does look like she's outgrown it. I now regret that I haven't bought her a proper balance bike when she was younger (such as an Islabike Rothan, but in fairness there are many other decent ones that are way cheaper), but I fear that if I buy one now, she will outgrow it too soon. So I'm considering buying an Islabike Cnoc 14 directly. Since I can use the method of removing the pedals and lower the saddle, so that she uses it as a balance bike to begin with, I'm not too sure whether it makes sense to buy a dedicated balance bike at all. My only concern is regarding size; she might be a tad too small for the Cnoc 14.

Any advice? My main question I suppose is, does a balance bike bring anything more than a normal bike without pedals and low saddle? Is it easier or more fun to use for little kids? If I go for the Cnoc 14, what should be the best approach? Quickly teach her balance and then put back the pedals as soon as she masters balance, so that she learns pedalling, or let her use it for a while as a balance bike?

Thanks for your advices!

 

[compo]

I would be inclined towards a proper bike with cranks and pedals removed. I would also remove the bottom bracket spindle so there isn't a protusion from the frame close to where her legs will be.

 

[derrick]

At 3 years old i think a proper bike.

 

[enas]

I would be inclined towards a proper bike with cranks and pedals removed. I would also remove the bottom bracket spindle so there isn't a protusion from the frame close to where her legs will be.

Isn't that a bit overkill? Is there anything wrong with leaving the cranks on? I thought that what people were doing?

Thanks for the replies by the way!

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Is there anything wrong with leaving the cranks on?

Yes they can spin, a crank whacking the calf muscle of a child is one way to deter them from riding a bike, simply because it hurts, nobody enjoys being hurt

 

[enas]

nobody enjoys being hurt

Sure enough... But how can the crank spin when the child is essentially freewheeling? And more importantly, how can they spin with any amount of force? Sorry for my annoying questions, they're quite obviously genuine!

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

When a child is moving the legs the have the opportunity to catch their legs on the crank. If they hit the crank when moving one leg back, the other side can whack them in the ankle or calf muscle. Unless you are going to fix the crank arms somehow so they can not physically move this is a possibility imho
This is the logic which would make me remove the crank

 

[Hicky]

We used a £30 balance bike for our son from about 18 months ish....moved onto a ridgeback mx14 age 3 with stabilisers they didnt last long.....he's 4 on new years day, 5 mile ride no problem(flat of course)....the downside is he aims for EVERY puddle!
My avatar is him at about 2 1/2.

 

[enas]

This is the logic which would make me remove the crank

All right thanks for the explanations.

I think I'll go for the Cnoc. The only thing that puts me off is looking at Islabikes' size chart. My daughter is below the recommended size range for the Cnoc 14" -- in fact she's rather at the low end of the size range recommended for the Rothan (and no, she's not a midget! I'm rather surprised at the ages they give for those sizes). My reasoning for going for the Cnoc 14 nevertheless is that, maybe, if I set it up in "balance bike mode" she might be able to use it anyhow, and she would start cycling properly only once she feels confident doing it (which might coincide with when she'll be big enough for the bike, which, according to this chart should happen closer to her 4 years). Does that make any sense?

 

[Hicky]

Enas, I've found with my lads that when kids are ready you will know, aslong as she's confident with the height/weight of whatever bike you buy then I'm sure she'll cope....good luck.

Mine...eldest wat just over 6 and never really was confident for about 12 months.....my youngest was roughly three and a bit, he then started throwing himself off anything and trying to bunnyhop, crashing makes him more determined rather than put him off unlike the elder.

 

[steve52]

balence bike cant beat em for getting new cyclists on there way

 

[alecstilleyedye]

eldest daughter, just left to own devices, learned age 5 (proper bike, no stabilisers, and a decent slope in the garden)
eldest son, proper bike with stabilisers, learned age 7
youngest son, balance bike, was up and running on a proper bike at 4 1/2

balance bikes can be bought fairly cheaply, so you can then buy the proper bike when they're ready.

 

[enas]

Thanks again for your responses. I finally settled for an Islabike Cnoc 14:

Not yet her birthday, so I don't yet how she'll react. So far all I can tell is that I'm jealous I can't ride it myself a bit

 

[subaqua]

Yes they can spin, a crank whacking the calf muscle of a child is one way to deter them from riding a bike, simply because it hurts, nobody enjoys being hurt

ty raps are your friend. remove pedals and tyrap crank to lowest part of the rear triangle . thats what i did to youngests bike when i finally convinced SWMBO that stabilisers were a bad thing. withiong 2 weeks pedals were back on and he was pedalling properly

 

[enas]

withiong 2 weeks pedals were back on and he was pedalling properly

What age was he?