Balance Bikes Are A "Craze"

[Puddles]

The funniest is someone else asking "Does it look like a scooter?"

Err no... it looks like a bike but with no pedals

 

[Saluki]

I don't know if we had balance bikes in the mid - late 60s when I was very little. My Dad got a regular bike and took the pedals, cranks and chain assembly off and I whizzed about the back garden on it. I have seen photos of me on the bike. After a while he put the pedals etc back on and away I went. I don't have any memories of stabilisers at all.
I did have a brilliant trike with a big 'boot' area at the back for carrying whatever it is that 5 and 6 year olds need to carry about.

Balance bikes are a great idea. Kids fall off, get back on, fall off, get back on. It's how I learned, it's how Hubster learned.

 

[snorri]

What a strange thing to get all worked up about.

Faceache is strange.

 

[ianrauk]

Yeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa!

 

[Arrowfoot]

Lets kids enjoy their childhood. Put a balance bike and a trike and watch the kid choose the ride and have more fun with. Riding a trike or a toddler bike with training wheels will not cause irreparably harm to a kid who eventually removes the training wheels. There is also no prize for the youngest ever kid who can pedal a 2 wheeler.

Adults looking for fun I am sure can spot that particular parent who has done tons of reseach, written to notable academics and done a mini dissertation on balance bike. Next step is to engage them and ask for advice and it will be a long conversation. That should kill an hour of waiting time at the playground.

It will be same parent, that you will meet when bronze bracelet and magnetic beds come back in fashion again.

 

[ayceejay]

There is something to the annoyance of over protection that some parents impose on there children but using the balance bike as an example doesn't work. I sent my grand kids one each in a box, lesson no 1 was putting it together - 30 minutes - adjust saddle height - 2 minutes - zooming round the garden unassisted - 20 minutes later. Transition to proper bike 6 months later - instant. Sell balance bike locally 3 days.
Incidentally the trick with pushing a youngster on a trike is to use a broom.

 

[Puddles]

Incidentally the trick with pushing a youngster on a trike is to use a broom.

I found pulling with a dog lead worked well too oh and also when she objected to that and got better with steering pushing the back wooden rack thingy with a foot when there was a hump in the pavement

 

[puffinbilly]

@ianrauk just watched your video - you're a lot smaller than I imagined you to be and very young looking....think it's the mass of blonde curls.....

 

[Mugshot]

@ianrauk just watched your video - you're a lot smaller than I imagined you to be and very young looking....think it's the mass of blonde curls.....

Perhaps even more surprising is the mileage he manages on the thing, 10K target for the year I believe.

 

[Sara_H]

I don't know if we had balance bikes in the mid - late 60s when I was very little. My Dad got a regular bike and took the pedals, cranks and chain assembly off and I whizzed about the back garden on it. I have seen photos of me on the bike. After a while he put the pedals etc back on and away I went. I don't have any memories of stabilisers at all.
I did have a brilliant trike with a big 'boot' area at the back for carrying whatever it is that 5 and 6 year olds need to carry about.

Balance bikes are a great idea. Kids fall off, get back on, fall off, get back on. It's how I learned, it's how Hubster learned.

I remember a trike with a boot too! Loved it. We had a Westie/JR cross who's lead was tied to the seat post and she had to trot along with me whether she liked it or not

 

[Saluki]

@ianrauk just watched your video - you're a lot smaller than I imagined you to be and very young looking....think it's the mass of blonde curls.....

I expected @ianrauk to be taller as well. He's really cute though

 

[Sara_H]

I expected @ianrauk to be taller as well. He's really cute though

He could fit in my trike boot!

 

[Mummy3monkeys]

I can highly recommend balance bikes, our first did the whole stabiliser off routine, took her ages to get her confidence, but she got there in the end, killed our backs, months of holding onto her.
Our second, a boy (whether this has anything to do with it, I'm not sure) had a balance bike at 3. The first day he got his big bike, aged five, he got on and rode, none of this hanging onto the back of him. So impressed, want to do it for our youngest, age 3. Only problem is he is so tall, the balance bike is too small for him. I remember my Uncle taking the pedals off my cousins bike and doing the very same.

Each to their own, who am I to criticise how people do things. There are many different ways to do things, everyone has their own opinion, I certainly wouldn't tell anyone they are doing it wrong. Some people just like to moan I guess.

 

[Mummy3monkeys]

I would say from what I see out and about the bigger pressure on parents to spend money is on phones and tablets. None of mine had a phone before they went to secondary school, and then it was also so that they could let us know if their school bus was stuck in traffic (the latest they ever arrived back was 2 hours after school finished on a very stormy day).

Personally, I would rather spend the money on a bike that gets kids out and about in the fresh air than a tablet

 

[macbikes]

I've seen people complain that balance bikes are dangerous and that there is no way children younger than 3 can control them properly. What nonsense!