Bike with stabilisers better than balance bike?

[Em2122]

My kid has a balance bike and can do it but she’s not really fast on it like some kids, was thinking of getting her a bike with stabilisers for Xmas as she’s seems bit bored with the balance bike. She’s only 3 , do kids enjoy bikes with stabilisers or is balance bike more enjoyable? And is a 12 inch or 14 inch bike better for a 3 year old?

Other way round-balance bike will give her confidence and peddling just evolves after the balance. Stabilisers develop peddling without balance so VERY hard to remove to move on. Size is all about height-try islabike website for measuring advice.

Balance bikes are supposed to be better but none of mine found cycling really easily despite having a balance bike for years. I think do what suits you and your dd. We all learnt to ride bikes before balance bikes were a thing afterall!

Take her to your local BMX track so it's more fun? There's a kids area in most of the ones local to me.

DS2 is 3 and can switch between his balance bike and pedal bike without stabilisers pretty easily at this point so I'd say it's worth persisting with the balance bike. Do you have the seat set at the right height? She'll get more speed up if she's just balancing on the balls of her feet and toes rather than being able to put her feet flat.

Be patient with the balance bike. What sort do you have? It is possible that a different model of balance bike might suit your child better but more likely it is just that your child isn't into speed.
I am a huge fan of balance bikes because stabilisers affect the way the bike balances, and children who have learnt on stabillisers have to relearn how to balance a bike.

DS got his balance bike for his 2nd and his normal bike for his 3rd birthday. He learnt to ride it within 2 days without stabilisers. He was very fast and confident on his balance bike though.
The size of the bike would depend on your childs hight.

No, I wouldn't get her a bike with stabilisers. As the PP said, balance is the core skill to learn first, and once she is really confident on a balance bike she should be able to transition to pedals without using stabilisers. A pedal bike with stabilisers on is basically a tricycle which is a completely different technique to riding a 2 wheel bike. If she can "glide" for reasonably long periods with both feet off the ground on her balance bike, go round corners etc confidently with her feet off the ground, then you could consider getting a pedal bike. Take the pedals off it first and get her to use it as a balance bike so she gets used to the feel of it, then add the pedals. Pedal bikes tend to be quite a bit heavier than balance bikes because of the additional components so the balance point will be a bit different. Stabilisers add more weight and make the bike feel completely different so can actually undo the skills learned from a balance bike, and are usually much slower than a balance bike.
If you don't think she's ready to pedal yet maybe you need to try to make the balance bike more fun to build her confidence more.
At the cycling club where I coach we base our pre school activities on the British Cycling Ready Set Ride programme that you can access for free at www.readysetride.co.uk There are quite a few fun activities that really help build balance and confidence on 2 wheels.

My kids had both. My youngest was a speed boy on the balance bike and also learnt to ride the youngest....but he had more desire than the older kids and that was their stumbling block. My view was the bike with stabilisers teached about the pedals moving. And as soon as they are able you can take the stabilisers off.....

They tended to play on the pedal bikes in the garden but we took the balance bike on walks (partly because it was light enough to stick on the buggy if they got tired.)

Which balance bike does she have? Some of them are really heavy still and this will affect her ability to ride it. Mine learnt on balance bikes they had a strider bike which was very light. They would still use it at the skate park after progressing to a pedal bike!

I wouldn’t get a bike with stabilisers.

I would find some gentle slopes at your local park and let her practice on the balance bike going downhill.

Balance bike. Only just managed to prise 6 year old away from stabilisers. And did this by removing pedals too and getting her to practice on her bike like it was.... A balance bike!

Dont be too bothered about getting them to ride a bike quickly. Its like anything, theyll learn at their own pace!

I wasn’t asking about which will help her ride a real bike, I just meant is riding with stabilisers enjoyable or is it slow ?

Different children enjoy different things.

My youngest could never master a balance bike. She hated it. Loved a bike with stabilisers.
Learnt to ride without stabilisers at 5/6yo...later than her sister (who was a balance bike whizz) but she was never as coordinated.

So, at the risk of being struck down by the cycling Gods... maybe children who are good on balance bikes and then peddle bikes early would have been good anyway?

My last post was more at the other posters.
Stabilisers may be slightly slower than a balance bike but is no less enjoyable for the rider! Its like anything really, we have to do it our own way and what suits us, whether its the fastest/greatest/latest or not. Your dc will be fine on stabilisers!

Speed...well I have many memories of sprinting after her down the road.

My nephew is resisting cycling the pedal bike he was given as he can go quicker on the balance bike.
So I wouldn't bother with a pedal bike for speed.
She might just be naturally cautious and slow is her speed!

DS hated stabilisers. He had a balance bike and we were given one with stabilisers on, he didn't like how it lurched about and didn't feel safe. Got a bigger balance bike with pedal attachment, once he was used to the new size and weight, put the pedals on and he learned in 45 minutes at not long turned 4.

Well I don't think any of us can predict what your child will enjoy OP, you might have to try it and see. But from my experience of coaching quite a large number of preschoolers over the years I would say that the vast majority enjoy balance bikes more, not just because of speed but mainly because they are a lot easier to manoevre and tend to be easier to ride on different surfaces. You physically can't corner on 3 wheels in the same way as you can on 2 so you can do more interesting stuff on a balance bike - but that presumes your DD wants to of course, which may or may not be the case, you'll be best placed to judge that.

Riding with stabilisers is slow and that is a GOOD thing.
(once they get hang of it) Balance bike means they go too fast to keep themselves safe.

What model balance bike do you have?

One thing I was warned when I was looking at them was to get a very light one as if they are too heavy the child won't enjoy using it.

As a result my DD has one from Wiggle that weights less than 2Kg. This means I can carry it in one hand for miles, and DD can also carry it herself while walking.

It is one of her favourite things and she will happily go up to 6 miles on it. She has been using it since she was 20 months and is now 3.

She has learnt to glide first down slopes then on the flat which has increased her enjoyment. She also quite quickly worked out how to get me to pull her along on it when she decides she doesn't want to use her legs.

She is actually cautious so there are some slopes she will refuse to go down it on as the gradient is too steep. She also started really slowly on it and I thought she didn't like using it until one day I found myself running after her.

She wants to use a pedal bike but is too short to use them at the moment. Instead she gets to use trikes at nursery so has the concept of pedalling.

@lljkk

Riding with stabilisers is slow and that is a GOOD thing. (once they get hang of it) Balance bike means they go too fast to keep themselves safe.

Nope.

Depends on the individual child.

I've also taught older children using a pedal bike as a balance bike by taking the pedals off. As soon as they had the pedals put back on and understood the concept of pedalling they could ride the bike.

I used to coach kids’ cycling and I am a big fan of balance bikes. DS learnt to balance on the balance bike, and learnt to pedal on nursery trikes (learning to pedal is as an intellectual development as it is a physical one, so give the child learning time). It took less than any hour fir him to master a pedal bike. Similar experience with DD, but she just got on a bike one day and pedalled, after a year on a balance bike. The big thing with kids bikes of any type, is how heavy they are. A small child is going to struggle with a heavy bike.

have a look at this article too though

@Em2122

My kid has a balance bike and can do it but she’s not really fast on it like some kids, was thinking of getting her a bike with stabilisers for Xmas as she’s seems bit bored with the balance bike. She’s only 3 , do kids enjoy bikes with stabilisers or is balance bike more enjoyable? And is a 12 inch or 14 inch bike better for a 3 year old?

Hi @Em2122 , I could have written this post at the time. My older DC got both a balance bike and a scooter. After the initial excitement, lost interest in both. Then when he saw a friend on a balance bike (Sometimes just watching a youtube clip of a child on a balance bike) helps re-spark interest. Once he was on it for a while (I would say from 3-6 months) it was SUPER EASY to transfer to a real bike, no stabilisers.

My point here is sometimes their interest sometimes fade, as it does with some toys, and then suddenly a friend comes overs, plays with the same toy and now their interest in old forgotten toy has been re-kindled. I suggest trying to rekindle spark. From experience, my LO easily took a 6 month break from going on the balance bike. But we kept gently offering and encouraging. And eventually when he was re-interested, it was worth it from my view.

All the best

We used both and then my child wanted the stabilisers off at almost 4 and knee how to ride it without any help as he could balance and use the pedals from practicing on both

My youngest is 6. He never got on with a balance bike. He likes and can ride with stabilisers. I'm fine with that, his brother was 9 before he could ride a bike. It's whatever suits your child really.