Balance Bikes...

[Lazmo]

Well, my little man (grandson) is about to turn two very soon. I've already spoiled him with every possible, three and four wheeler bike known to man. He's nearly got as many bikes as me, for fricks sake. But, it's all good, as he loves them and belts around on them at warp speed, and has just started to pedal the yellow four wheeler.

My question Two Dogs, is... at 2 years old is he okee dokee for a balance bike? He certainly loves riding and is constantly lapping our house or my daughters place, but wondered if two is a bit young. The internet collective wisdom varies between two and three year old.

So, if two year old is balance bike sweet... what is a the best, readily available balance bike out there, as I only have a few days till Bday. Work has been crazy.

Timber, alloy, carbon, tapered headset, boost, dropper, tubeless...? What say ye... keen for opinions from youse who are recently experienced with this phenomenon, as they didn't exist when my bratlettes were young.

I'm thinking something where he can rest his legs when he get to rolling stage, with tubed tyres (not foam) and maybe something with a left handlebar rear brake...

What say ye... ?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Wait another 2 minutes...

 

[creaky]

For sure grandad. Try to find one that you can slam the seat and the stem / quill down on. I got my kids Giant pre- something’s years ago as the seat post went down low for them. Worst case, it sits around for 6 months of growing.

Alloy for sure, not timber.

 

[Labcanary]

Well, my little man (grandson) is about to turn two very soon. I've already spoiled him with every possible, three and four wheeler bike known to man. He's nearly got as many bikes as me, for fricks sake. But, it's all good, as he loves them and belts around on them at warp speed, and has just started to pedal the yellow four wheeler.

My question Two Dogs, is... at 2 years old is he okee dokee for a balance bike? He certainly loves riding and is constantly lapping our house or my daughters place, but wondered if two is a bit young. The internet collective wisdom varies between two and three year old.

So, if two year old is balance bike sweet... what is a the best, readily available balance bike out there, as I only have a few days till Bday. Work has been crazy.

Timber, alloy, carbon, tapered headset, boost, dropper, tubeless...? What say ye... keen for opinions from youse who are recently experienced with this phenomenon, as they didn't exist when my bratlettes were young.

I'm thinking something where he can rest his legs when he get to rolling stage, with tubed tyres (not foam) and maybe something with a left handlebar rear brake...

What say ye... ?

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Yes

Whatever you can get.

Both my kids started riding balance bikes at about 18 months old. Not well, but getting on it and trying. By two they were very happy to get on the balance bike to get around.
My eldest just turned three when he decided he wanted to ride a pedal bike. In about 10 minutes on a grassy slope he had it. My youngest is still happy on his balance bike.

Both started on a cheap Aldi one, then I got a second hand specialized hot walk with pneumatic tyres. The latter is heavier but very tough, the former had low standover for little legs, was lighter and a great starting point but rattles like crazy now from all the cheap plastic bits wearing out and causing lateral play.

 

[Labcanary]

Alloy for sure, not timber.

Agreed. The wooden ones tend to have a steering/turning limiter on them, which doesn't really help teach them how to control their turning. There have been a few times where I thought one of my kids was going to stack for sure, the bars had turned so far, but then he just went with the turn and saved it. I'm sure I could learn something from this...

At 2yo, lighter weight is good. Cheap is fine too. The ALDI bike I mentioned, the eldest still uses it to jump off our deck and attempt tail whips!

 

[ausdb]

Start him on a plastic fantatsic and maybe he'll be a carbon fanboi for life!
Seriously my son got one of these around 2
https://www.firstbike.com.au/
The lowering kit was handy and made it rideable when he was little, it then got handed on to his sister who never touched it.

 

[ozzybmx]

My 2 were on balance bikes from 18 months.

#1 son wasn't really interested at first, #2 son spent every second of the day on his, even sat on it while watching TV.

I bought them little pedal bikes at about 2 1/2yrs.

One day at the BMX track in the city I could see #2 son was basically pedalling without his stabilisers on the ground.

Stabilisers got removed and #2 son rode a two wheeled bike at 2y 10m.

He could go like the clappers forward but had no fekking idea what a brake was, he was nearly 4 before he worked out how to brake correctly.

Will post you some pics later.

 

[Labcanary]

My 2 were on balance bikes from 18 months.

#1 son wasn't really interested at first, #2 son spent every second of the day on his, even sat on it while watching TV.

I bought them little pedal bikes at about 2 1/2yrs.

One day at the BMX track in the city I could see #2 son was basically pedalling without his stabilisers on the ground.

Stabilisers got removed and #2 son rode a two wheeled bike at 2y 10m.

He could go like the clappers forward but had no fekking idea what a brake was, he was nearly 4 before he worked out how to brake correctly.

Will post you some pics later.

Yeah, don't do stabilisers after balance bike. The balance bike gets their muscle memory primed for riding with pedals, stabilisers have a totally different feel to them and they have to re-learn how to control the bike without the training wheels as well as how to pedal.

My son went straight to two wheels, no stabilisers, after the balance bike. He had a friend 2 years older who was riding with training wheels and who took another couple of years before dropping the stabilisers. Anecdotal, I know. What works for one might not suit another. We just follow the kid's lead and let them tell us what they are ready for.

 

[Cardy George]

Another vote for get one now. All three of mine started on a balance bike and never used stabilisers. The Little Sender preferred the balance bike to pedaling and it took the wheel literally falling off it, and me refusing to put it back on, to get him to pedal.

And it doesn't have to be expensive, Kmart have some pretty neat looking balance bikes, and Christmas isn't too far away. Gives you sometime to research the upgrade.

Although @fjohn860 might struggle to supply one of his handmade creations by then.

 

[dazz]

The cheaper ones are lighter due the plastic wheels, foam tires and lack of headset bearings and the like. Still good to find one that has half decent wheel bearings though, especially if its gonna get a lot of use and be left out in the yard from time to time.

Went with one from Little Nation which has done well, though I did have to give the headset bushing a little attention once. But very light @ 1.9kg
https://littlenation.com.au/buy/blue-balance-bike-little-nation/

Just saw this one from Kmart that looks amazing for the price. Would weigh quite a bit more than the little nation one though.
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/30cm-racer-balance-bike-42970071/?

But yeah, what the others said. Doesn't really matter. We've also got one I grabbed from hard rubbish and the 7yr old still fangs it round the back yard on it occasionally, can't believe the sun faded, brittle, plastic wheels haven't collapsed yet.

 

[ozzybmx]

Yeah, don't do stabilisers after balance bike. The balance bike gets their muscle memory primed for riding with pedals, stabilisers have a totally different feel to them and they have to re-learn how to control the bike without the training wheels as well as how to pedal.

What works for one might not suit another.

Worked for mine, the biggest issues was getting bikes to fit them so their feet could touch the ground and braking. Was nearly 15yrs ago now, probably better options about now... though I'll not have to worry about that until grandkids, so maybe soon

Top pic was taken on a Saturday morning ride around the bike path at Glenelg, the very next day we were at the BMX track and he was off stabilisers.

 

[slowmick]

By the time our daughter arrived most of our friends kids were at school or much older. When we announced she was coming the bikes, scooters, trikes started to arrive. Much to my wife's disgust they all lived on the back veranda from about 2 onwards. She would chop and change between them and then ignore them for months. My daughter did balance bike, bike with training wheels and then eventually moved on to regular pedal bike. There was a big overlap between all of them as she liked to go back to the one she was confident with.

TLDR - buy it but be prepared that it may not get ridden for a while.

 

[Labcanary]

There are heaps more options now than 15 years ago.
My father in law turned a regular bike into a balance bike for his daughter 30 odd years ago. His friends mocked him for removing the pedals and said "why don't you take the wheels off too?"
But she never used training wheels either. When she was ready to pedal he just had to put the pedals back on and off she went.

 

[Jpez]

The Cruzee balance bikes are awesome. Light aluminium so they can pick them up easily and most importantly when they get jack of riding it far from home it’s light enough for Mum or dad to carry home.

And another vote for NO training wheels.

Cruzee Ultralite 12" Balance Bike Blue

Buy Cruzee Ultralite 12" Balance Bike Blue Now at Pushys. Lowest Price, Secure Shopping and Fast Delivery from Australia's Best Online Bike Store

www.pushys.com.au

 

[ozzybmx]

The Cruzee balance bikes are awesome. Light aluminium so they can pick them up easily and most importantly when they get jack of riding it far from home it’s light enough for Mum or dad to carry home.

Cruzee Ultralite 12" Balance Bike Blue

Buy Cruzee Ultralite 12" Balance Bike Blue Now at Pushys. Lowest Price, Secure Shopping and Fast Delivery from Australia's Best Online Bike Store

www.pushys.com.au

Awesome the way the saddle can go right down too

Little kids have little short chubby legs... and a fat nappy can be a hinderance for those very early balance bikers.

 

[Switch]

My kids both used the Cruzee and it is a great bike as it's so much lighter than a lot of the other options out there. Again got the bike at 18 months and just let them decide when they wanted to jump on.
Only mistake I made was number two kid never had a bike or trike with pedals on it. He could coast on the balance bike easily but had not been used to the feeling of pedalling so ended up needing stabilisers to get the feeling of using the pedals. Where his older sister used to cruise around the house with a little pedal trike and just went straight onto riding a bike when it was time.

 

[RealizE]

My first son (now 8) started on the Cruzee at around 14 months. I say started, because I was still helping him balance it because he was so small. I chopped arches into the nose and rear of the saddle so I could slam it down another inch or so. At the time, every bike dad insisted on buying pneumatic tired junk with headsets and "proper" bike parts on them. They were absolutely the wrong tool for the job. None of the kids with those even came close to riding them because they were so damned heavy and probably put their kids riding back at least a year waiting for them to be strong enough to handle them.

That same Cruzee was ridden and abused for 3 years as it became the stunt bike. It has been sent off wharfs, thrown sky high from decks onto driveways and done countless laps of the bike paths (literally hundreds of Ks). It is still mechanically sound, tires are missing the centre lugs but still good, bearings never packed it in, nylon headset has a little slop in it now, but it is still totally rideable. It will be back into service in a year when my youngest is ready.

 

[fjohn860]

Although @fjohn860 might struggle to supply one of his handmade creations by then.

100%

I'd need to get a heads up before conception!

 

[cammas]

My grandson has been going since he was 18 months and I think it was just a Kmart or the like but seems to roll really well and he’s now absolute hoon on it, they bought it without talking to me but it worked out otherwise a Cruzee would be the go.
He now tries to ride anything including mine or my granddaughter’s bike.

 

[slowmick]

I live in a fairly bogan area (Boronia) so expectations at the shops are rather low. I took my daughter to k-mart a couple of times to check out the bikes offerings. It was good to see what caught her eye and what she could make work. She'd spend 20 minutes cutting laps of the display stand trying all of the options.