Originally Posted by
jfondren3
We bought our son a balance bike from REI when he was 18 months old. Around 2 years old he started trying to ride it but was frustrated after falling. He would get on it a few times but never really wanted to ride it. Around 3 years old he started having an interest in it and loved riding it. We let him ride it inside the house also and do laps which helped. A few months before he turned 4 we bought him a 14 WOOM bicycle. I ended up putting training wheels on it just so he could learn how to pedal. After a month we took the training wheels off and he has been crushing it. I just purchased a 16 Trek for him, but its a little big and I think I was starting to rush him. But the 14 bike is starting to look small and he is out pedaling the bike.
I think at this age, upsizing bikes is similar to to getting them on it in the first place. I built up my son's 16" bike when he was about 4-1/2, but his first few times he tried it he was just a little nervous on it and wanted to stick with his 12" Hot Rock. His twin sister had trouble getting onto her 16 as well, so rode a 14" with training wheels, briefly. Eventually, before their 5th birthday, they both started to realize their bikes were just a bit undersized, and tried out the new ones again. They haven't looked back.
They'll be 6 in July and they're already looking like they're stretching out the limits of the seatposts. I still have a little bit of room to raise to go (which I do on the sly, when they're not looking).