# transitioning from balance bike to pedal bike



## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

hey, all. my son is 2.5 and is doing great with his strider- can go for a long time, balance really well, go fast, etc. i brought home a small kid's bike with pedals yesterday. how do you transition him from his strider to a pedal bike?

it's hard for him to get the pedals going to get up enough speed to balance. i would hold the seat or his back and push him along to get the speed, but it's hard for him to keep his momentum by pedaling.

any tips?

thanks.
ez


----------



## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

I let my son ride his balance bike for an entire season. He didn't give up any ground to any of the bigger kids on their pedal bikes.

I don't think a 2.5 y/o has the leg muscles and coordination developed to fair well on a ride. In fact, except for having kick-back brakes, I don't think there is any advantage to going with pedals until they are older.

My daughter turns 3 in September. She balances very well and likes to ride with her older brother around the neighborhood and we even rode on a 2 mile loop together. But I have no plans to get her a pedal bike until next season.


----------



## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

thanks, traffic! good points. i'm glad i at least introduced it to him and we'll see if he's even interested in the pedal bike- he wass cool with it for a while, but then went back to the strider. i just want to continue to make it fun for him.


----------



## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

I think you did great with giving your child a balance bike vs trying to do something with training wheels and such. I think parents think that a pedal bike is a real bike and the sooner they can ride one, the sooner they are on a real bike. But to me, a balance bike IS a real bike since it gives him the freedom and transport to ride around much farther than he can walk or run.

Well, my son was 4 when I got the balance bike for him. He rode it all season long. He got so good at it they he could ride circles around the other kids that were trying to pedal a 20# bicycle with tiny cranks.

One thing, KEEN sandals are the best. They have a tough rubber front and durable sole. My son learned to drag his feet for brakes. Crocs lasted like one ride. The KEENs held up quite well.


----------



## Demo9 (Nov 20, 2006)

Our son started on a balance bike at 19 months. We then pickup up a trike so he could get the pedal motion down. At 2 years and 4 months he took his 12" pedal bike out and started pedaling. I was shocked and amazed. Heres a video of some riding time. Theres a few clips from the first day he pedaled his bike... 



My brother made the video.

Later


----------



## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

i do like how he can get along quite well on his strider- i still can't believe how fast he can go! i can go for ride with him and actually have to pedal pretty good to keep up.

nice video, demo! it is amazing how kids can learn so young. the stunts are really cool. i'm thinking about putting some together in my backyard.

thanks, guys!


----------



## CharacterZero (May 19, 2004)

THanks for starting this thread. My kiddo has been rocking the Strider for 8 months or so and has really been talking up the pedal bike. He turns 3 in Sept and I am tempted to get him one, if only to introduce him to it. He doesn't dig riding the tricycle so much, but I have been encouraging him to do that. 

Test fit his little brother (14mos) on the Strider today while big brother was out to lunch...bike is one of the 8 words or so that he knows and he always gets jealous. Result - hands on the grips and walking ahead. That was quick!


----------



## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

CharacterZero said:


> THanks for starting this thread. My kiddo has been rocking the Strider for 8 months or so and has really been talking up the pedal bike. He turns 3 in Sept and I am tempted to get him one, if only to introduce him to it. He doesn't dig riding the tricycle so much, but I have been encouraging him to do that.
> 
> Test fit his little brother (14mos) on the Strider today while big brother was out to lunch...bike is one of the 8 words or so that he knows and he always gets jealous. Result - hands on the grips and walking ahead. That was quick!


i think it's great to get him started on a balance bike sooner than later. they are really great! the best thing is how my son is excited to ride his bike with me- it's the best feeling! i never want to discourage him by trying to force a pedal bike on him.

enjoy it!
ez


----------



## GSR101 (Aug 4, 2009)

Eric Z said:


> any tips?
> 
> thanks.
> ez


We started too with a trike, then got our son a skoot at three. He was on the skoot for a couple of weeks then was like a duck to water when he got on his little 12" wheeled bike.

I think the trike got the pedal motion down, the skoot mastered the balance.


----------



## BeatAFool (Jan 14, 2008)

You need to build the muscle memory in the legs for pedaling. ATOM... The best way to do that is to use a tricycle or a bike with training wheels. Some people dis on training wheels but that's just BS. We didn't use a tricycle for my kids just training wheels on a 12" and they both were riding at 3.5-4 yrs old (with NO pressure from me to go without). The youngest was ready to go without at 3 but he didn't like having to put his feet down when stopped. We'd take them off and go to the soccer field and he'd ride all day, then come home he'd want the training wheels. We're working on the unicycle now......... it's all about muscle memory!


----------



## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

BeatAFool said:


> You need to build the muscle memory in the legs for pedaling. ATOM... The best way to do that is to use a tricycle or a bike with training wheels. Some people dis on training wheels but that's just BS. We didn't use a tricycle for my kids just training wheels on a 12" and they both were riding at 3.5-4 yrs old (with NO pressure from me to go without). The youngest was ready to go without at 3 but he didn't like having to put his feet down when stopped. We'd take them off and go to the soccer field and he'd ride all day, then come home he'd want the training wheels. We're working on the unicycle now......... it's all about muscle memory!


I guess kids are all different.

My son took like 3 minutes to get the pedaling thing down. He doesn't even know what training wheels are.

I think we put too much value on pedaling.

Now, we do have his old trike, so my daughter is showing some interest in playing around with it. But she pushes her balance bike just fine now and can get around better than if she was pedaling; especially uphill. The only thing that I can wish for her is the ability to have stronger brakes. Her feet dragging isn't as strong as her brother's was. So she "walks" down inclines to keep her speed in check.


----------



## BeatAFool (Jan 14, 2008)

> I guess kids are all different.


That's the key thing really. The kids across the street all used balance bikes and tricycles. The oldest just started pedaling at 7yrs. I think the parents pressured the kid to keep up with the other kids on the block, so she lost interest. But she's better at basketball than most kids (and parents) on the block.



> I think we put too much value on pedaling.


until you need to go up hill or go faster..................


----------



## MrsH (Aug 16, 2009)

We picked up a small pedal bike for our son when he was 3, after 18 months on his balance bike (FirstBike by Dirtworks). He rode it for a day with training wheels to get used to the pedals, we took the trainers off and 'pushed' him for a bit on flat/smooth ground and gradually let him go so he went a foot, 2 feet, 5 feet on his own. Now he can stand up to pedal up hills and chases my MTB riding hubby all over the place.


----------



## Harrier (May 5, 2008)

I am among the some people that think that training wheels are useless. There, I said it. They are useless. Go somewhere really flat and use a really small bike, or just wait a few months. Glider bikes are super fun, so let them have fun!


----------



## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

Yeah, I don't understand the need to TRAIN your child to pedal. Once they have mastered balancing on two wheels, adding pedals is a breeze.


----------



## MrsH (Aug 16, 2009)

> Glider bikes are super fun, so let them have fun!


Agree 100% here. Our son still has his balance bike and often takes it out for a ride, choice is his totally.


----------



## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

traffic002 said:


> Yeah, I don't understand the need to TRAIN your child to pedal. Once they have mastered balancing on two wheels, adding pedals is a breeze.


i wish it were that easy. my son balance and cruises like crazy on his strider, but has a lot of difficulty pedaling.

i do like the advice of letting him enjoy his balance bike- i don't want to rush him into anything and he is having a blast. thanks, guys!


----------



## traffic002 (Dec 16, 2008)

Sounded like you're child has still a ways to go in terms of age, right?

My son rode the Like A Bike until 4.5y/o. Again, he had no trouble beating any kid close to his age up hills or around the block. He often kept up with kids older. His only weakness was braking on steep hills.

Once I got him the pedal bike, it was a breeze. 

His friend is 1yr younger with a sister that is 1 yr yonger than he is. They both were on the verge of balancing. They got one of the PV gliders and then used the glider like a day, got the balance and then started riding pedal bikes. But these are 4 and 5y/o.

Ryan, at 6, is able to keep up with kids that are 9. So I wouldn't worry about rushing anything.


----------



## mappable (Aug 29, 2004)

based upon my experience with my two boys, the training wheels soon become a crutch that they don't want to give up if you give them a choice.

my oldest son, who is small, learned to ride when he was three. i did have to saw part of the seat post off to get the seat low enough for my oldest son since he had trouble touching his feet to the ground.

with my middle son, we were lazy and let him use training wheels up until he turned four. he argued about needing the training wheels and pitched fits when i tried to take them off. finally we set a deadline for this 4th birthday and told him big boys who are 4 years old don't use training wheels. so on his birthday, i used a suggestion i picked up online about using a tube tied around the seat post as a handle and he was off on his own in about 30 minutes without the training wheels.


----------

