gringomojado

I find training wheels counterproductive. Balance buddy handles worked for me when teaching Grandkids. Do people still remove pedals to make a strider (temporary) out of a kid bike? Buying a balance bike for a kid old enough for a "real" bike seems like a waste of money.

gm

tagaproject6

Yup, removing pedals is another way. Nothing wrong with doing that.

Fahrenheit531 

I just got actual Striders on CL. $40 or so, perfectly useable.
And yes, far better than a kid's bike with training wheels.

autonomy

I just recently saw a kid on a Woom bike with pedals removed, he was moving really well. For our daughter we skipped the balance bike for the same reasons as you plus we knew she wouldn't like it. However, recently she hast tried other kids' balance bikes and seemed to like them, though she wasn't good at balancing.
Our daughter is a risk-taker and is very prone to flipping her bike with training wheels, I feel like it'll be even worse on two wheels. We're in no rush, we'll wait until she's a bit more mature to understand the risks and she'll learn the two wheels eventually. Right now she can do 3 miles on her little 4-wheeler (Byk-250) and 30 miles on a trail-a-bike!

sdmc530

GET A STIDER!!! We got our son a really nice kids bike (trek) and removed the pedals but he was always hitting the cranks. So I had to remove the cranks for him to use it like a strider bike.

I wish I would have gotten a actual strider then just purchased a regular bike instead of doing it the way I did. Live and learn.

Strider bikes are great though, my son learned to ride a bike really fast after using a coaster bike, I absolutely think its the easiest way to teach kids how to ride a bike.

mpls85

You could definitely pull cranks/pedals to make your own balance bike. The advantage of a Strider is the size and light weight- I've had both of my kids started on the Strider with the seat all the way down before 18 months. The sloped top tube and 12" wheels make it feasible for pretty small kids to at least walk around with it while holding the handlebars (my 17 month old daughter's current preferred way of using it ).

Like Fahrenheit531 said, look for a used one. I see them on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for $20-40 all the time vs. $100 new. IMO, it's a great investment for under $50 to get kids rolling really early.

Darth Lefty 

Even with the crank or pedals removed, a 12" pedal bike is (usually) too tall until a kid is 3 and a 16" bike til four. Although newer premium bikes like Cleary can sit lower. A good balance bike can be ridden at 2yo. A Strider brand can be ridden at 1.5 if your grandkid is precocious. But my Kid 1 didn't get the idea til 2yo, good enough until 2.5yo, and by 3yo he needed brakes and air tires. So Twins 2A and 2B got bigger balance bikes. Muna, specifically, though there are tons of other options.

This is not ragging on the Strider, I think it's a great design. Especially the second-level version with the bigger seat and quick release clamps. My kid rode his all over. It can be upgraded with air tires too. But it needs a hand brake and a longer wheelbase for a kid over 3.

GlennR

Got my 22 month old grand daughter a Strider. It was $70 shipped from a online vendor. I'm sure it will be handed down to others so it's money well spent.

mstateglfr 

We didn't want our girls to ride faster than they were capable of processing and understanding, so training wheels were great as they effectively slowed em down.

Once we were comfortable with each of them riding ahead of us(on walks and whatnot), I pulled the training wheels and pedals and they practiced balancing.

The church parking lot across from us was grest as it has a gentle but consistent slope for maintaining balance speed.

Our older daughter was ready sooner for the process and learned it quicker.
Our younger is more cautious and having training wheels allowed her to still participate on family neighborhood and path riding.

Balance bikes are great and the benefits are obvious. But there are also limitations.

I didn't want a 2yo riding a bike on their own without training wheels. The lack of situational safety and forethought isnt something i wanted to deal with more than the normal amount that comes from kids.

fietsbob

OneIsAllYouNeed

My 4yo daughter just transitioned from Strider 12 Sport to Islabikes 16" Cnoc pedal bike with no training wheels. She was really comfortable on the Strider before making the leap to a pedal bike. It took three 20 minute sessions on the pedal bike before she got the hang of riding and starting on her own. I was astounded a how fast she figured it out.
I highly recommend getting the kid comfortable on a balance bike. If they're strong enough to hold up the pedal bike, use that (with the cranks, chain, and pedals removed). If they can't pick up the pedal bike, get a lightweight balance bike like a Strider or Woom.

TiHabanero

The balance learning concept of pedal-less bikes certainly works. With my kids they wanted to pedal a bike like dad did so I put training wheels on the bikes and we rode around and around the block for several years that way. When it was time, it was time and they rode without them as if they always knew how to balance on 2 wheels.

Truth is, when a kid is ready to learn, he is ready to learn.

Rajflyboy

Take pedals off a kids bike. Yes.

t_e_r_r_y

balance bikes are so perfect for getting a kid comfortable on 2 wheels, i don't know why they weren't being used forever ago instead of training wheels. i'm keeping an eye out for one for my 1.5 year old nephew right now, that kid's such a daredevil that i know he's going to love it.

MEversbergII

Getting my 3.5 year old one here shortly. Sounds like she's behind the curve on learning to ride, though.

mchb

My nephew learned to bike on a strider and he went from being afraid of curbs to railing the trails on a solid tired strider that were up behind my folks old place.


It was a fun day (picture is of him and I from 2016!) His mom is sneaky with the camera apparently lol.

pickettt

It may even be better, considering they’ll be more comfortable on the same bike when the pedals go back on.

Doug64

I'm involved with teaching bike safety to 5th graders. We taught 3 classes this spring, and had 3 students who did not know how to ride a bike. The lead instructor removed the pedals from one of our bikes and used it as a strider bike to teach the kids balance before the actual training started. All three kids were riding and participating in the 2-week course. At the end of the course the tree kids also participated in the community ride as their graduation from the class. This is a ride through he community using their new knowledge including: intersections, taking the lane rift and left hand turns, handling traffic and signal lights. It is 2-3 miles through a busy part of town.

[/url]

saucerdesigner

I'm wanting to design a variant of a 12" balance bike wheel and hub to be made completely of carbon fiber, with steel ball bearings, except it won't be used in a bicycle. It will be used to mount a high-speed fan in an experimental scale model VTOL aircraft prototype of my own design.

1. Where can I find the dimensions of such a hub?
2. Can spokes for 12" wheels for balance bikes be made from carbon fiber?

TIA

Darth Lefty 

Hi saucerdesigner , such wheels already exist for the folding bike market and for people to bling out their kids' bikes. Look on Ali Express. Search "carbon fiber balance bike wheel" for example. Some are mags and some are spoked.

Spokes are not made of carbon fiber because its modulus is too high and it doesn't tolerate abrasion. Spinergy and Berd make spokes from other fibers. But adult bike spokes are around a foot long. At the ~4" length of spokes on 12" wheels it's going to be hard to find anything like that.

A fan will load up a lot differently than a wheel and I think you might need to design something more specific to your application. Or buy a propeller. The amount of power you need to hover a vehicle is many times more than what a bike wheel for a toddler is meant to handle.

saucerdesigner

Hi Darth Lefty!
Thank you! I'll check out Ali Express.

BlazingPedals

My grandaughters learned on an actual balance bike, when they were 3. It wasn't wasted money, because by the time they were ready for pedals they were ready for a bigger bike anyway. The oldest is now 6 and just used her allowance savings to buy herself a PINK (favorite color) multi-speed mountain bike with 20" wheels.