Stabilisers - yes or no?

[nastyhoneybadger]

DS (4) is getting a bike for Christmas and I'm dithering about whether to start him off with stabilisers or not. He's been bombing round on his balance bike for a good year and a half but he can be a bit reluctant to try new things so I wondered if stabilisers would give him a bit more confidence while he gets to grip with pedals... What do you think?

Nooo not if he has been balance biking.. he wont need them. You can take rhe pedals off his new bike for a bit to start and then put them on once he is used to the new bike. My 7 year old balance biked and was going a pedal bike b4 his 4th bday.

Thanks! I'd not thought about taking the pedals off to get him going with the new bike, good idea.

I wouldn't. The balance bike I imagine has set him up well to get straight on the new bike. Dd took an hour to pedal her new bike after a year or so of using a balance bike.

Agree with pps. The whole point of balance biking is to not need stabilisers (excuse the split infinitive, too tired to work our proper grammar).

Nooo you'll go backwards with stabilisers

No, don’t use stabilisers. When you are pedalling you lean into corners, with stabilisers you have to lean the opposite way. Any balance he has learnt will be destroyed with stabilisers.
There is an excellent video on islabike website about teaching your child to ride. Ds was off and pedalling before he was 3, going from balance bike to pedals without stabilisers. Highly recommend islabikes, although they expensive

Unanimous, thanks all!
I've been looking at islabikes and will probably splash out when he's a bit bigger, feels like a lot for a little bike right now but I've just been nosing around on some of the preloved FB sites....

DD went from a balance bike to a pedal bike at just over 3yrs, she rode off on her first attempt with no stabilisers. And it was a 12 inch Decathlon bike. If they have good balance from the balance bike they will be able to pedal. We upgraded to an islabike when she was 4 and I really rate Isla, Frog bikes etc but if they are good on a balance bike it shouldn’t be too hard for them to ride a small pedal bike.

No!!!!

If you are considering an Islabike, they are most worthwhile in smLker sizes, where the weight difference and better engineering and design will be much more noticed by a little body than a larger one.

Are you aware that you can lease Frog bikes for a few £/month and exchsbge up as needed? ]]thebikeclub.co/ The Bike Club]]

[[https://thebikeclub.co/ The bike cluib]{

On the other hand, ds2 would not countenance a hike without stabilisers even though he and his balance bike from his 2nd birthday. He had excellent balance and was very very fast in his balance bike but just could not get to grips with pedalling at all. He took nearly 8 months to get the hang of pedalling without falling over.

The bike club

teach your child to ride a bike without stabilisers video

Thanks for posting the link bikerun that’s the video I was thinking of which helped get my then 2 yr old pedalling.
He was on the 14 small Cnoc which is smaller than any other bike I have found. It was worth every penny. If you look a lot of children’s bikes have a strange stand up sort of cycling position. The Isla is beautifully ergonomic for small children.

I know Sweetpotatoaddict. DH and I are both lifelong cyclists. The dc have had more or less every size Islabike from the Rothan balance bike to the 26” full size Creig MTB. Hybrids, mtb and skinny bikes! It’s an expensive habit, but they are excellent bikes, and manageable with the resale value,