Missing the appeal of balance bikes please explain

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Its my LO 2 year birthday party next week and DH wants to get her a balance bike.

But a decent one is 150quid (Byk). I just don't see the point if it doesn't have wheels.

I want to convince him to get a scuttle bug or an actual bike instead.

My oldest DC had a bike with stabilisers because balance bikes weren’t a thing yet. Hours of torturous holding the back of he
is seat followed, with him not cracking it until 6 years old.

I’d cottoned onto balance bikes by no.2 (and 3 and 4) and never had to teach a child to ride again. They literally got on the bike with pedals and rode them immediately. Completely miraculous!

And all riding pedal bikes before they started reception!

Just buy a secondhand one! How much can go wrong safety wise?!

Some rave about balance bikes. Mine never got on with them (but picked up cycling easily enough later on). Better to buy second hand than waste the money on new.

My eldest loved his balance bike, he got a proper bike for his 4th birthday, and within 5 mins he was confidently riding it like a pro. It completely cut out all of the wobbly, training wheels, having to take them off and push him bit.

Younger twins did not get on with the balance bikes, preferred scooters, and it took them much longer to be confident on a proper bike, they weren't until they were 6.

They all got there in the end, but I would say balance bike was a better start.

All of mine have had second hand bikes - they're perfectly safe and if there's any defect it's completely obvious. It's nothing like a car seat or helmet that might be secretly harbouring damage.

If you genuinely thought it was defective (and not just an accident, which happen very frequently with toddlers) you should have taken it back so it could be looked into, not dumped it into landfill.

You can get a good enough one brand new for£40. Save your money for a decent first pedal bike - that's where the difference is important
Wouldn't bother with a scuttle bug. A 2 year old would be too big I think.

Agree with everyone that is saying get a second hand balance bike! DS got one at 18 months, was doing miles on it at 2 and cycling with pedals within days of getting a bike for his third birthday. It really gave us so much freedom to do things without the pram.

Honestly get a 2nd hand mountain bike. I have numerous bikes, my best bike I did buy new, with some inheritance and it was over £6k, I also have a couple that are 2nd hand, including one I ride in a bunch on a velodrome in close proximity to loads of other riders at 25+ mph and another is a mountain bike that rides bouncing over rocks, foot drops etc and even with my ample weight they haven’t just disintegrated under me. If it’s steel or aluminium and it superficially looks OK it probably will be more than fine for a kid scooting around! If you must buy new, do you have a decathlon near you? Their kit is usually very good quality for the price.

Sorry should say balance bike, not mountain bike. Was talking to my DP at the same time about MTBs

Not true for a balance bike. Some of the cheap ones are lighter. Vitus nippy is a good option.

You threw away something in perfect working order for no reason. That makes you a planet wrecker I'm afraid.

My biggest regret was not getting one for dd. Don't get wood one as heavy. All dd friends who can't cycle without stabilities first had balance bike ...

Also don't get a pedal bike. There are no decent pedal bikes small enough for a just 2 year old. And they need to be lower still if you want to use it without pedals.

DD had the frog tadpole balance bike, it was great, she was whizzing around on it straight away. We got her a pedal bike at just turned 4, she got on it and rode it first time, no help from us at all. Honestly just get a decent lightweight second hand one.

My DD had a Puky one which was less than half that, new. She got it when she was 2 1/2 and like so many other posters have said she got on a normal bike on her 4th birthday and was riding it happily in 5 minutes without stabilisers.

Like multiple PP, I would also highly recommend. DC1 was gifted one for 2nd birthday which both children have used and moved onto pedal bikes without stabilisers before they were 4. The balancing is key to riding a bike and hardest part to master, if they get that when young, next step takes an hour or 2 max.

You don’t need to spend much for a good lightweight balance bike - lots available brand new for under £50 but I would recommend your partner gets over his ridiculous attitude towards second hand goods otherwise you will be needlessly spending a fortune for years to come. When you get to next step, good quality lightweight pedal bikes can be purchased for around £200 second hand and then sold for pretty much same amount. You’d be absolutely crazy to spend the £400 upwards for brand new models

If he wants a new expensive one OP have you looked at something like the Bikeclub? You rent the bikes and can swap them for bigger ones as they grow.

to echo what lots of people have been saying I’d really recommend one, we got our son one at 18 months and he was on a pedal bike with no stabilisers before he was 3. He loved it and it meant he was outside and burning off lots of energy!

Once you have children and get tuned in to thinking about others first and the future welfare of the planet ; buying everything new should be anathema.Give your other half a bit of a shake. My DC were riding bikes before balance bikes were a thing but I am utterly convinced . My dog walk takes me on the fringes of a public park where all the tinies appear to be having great fun on their balance bikes.anything to avoid the backbreaking task of running after a bossy and moany child clutching onto the back of the saddle .

We used this £35 balance bike from Chicco for our eldest, and it was so perfect we bought the exact same one again when we had twins who both wanted to ride (first bike still going strong after nearly 5 years!):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004MW55Z2/ref=cmcrrarpmbbbdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

This one is good from just under 2yo to 3.5-4yo depending on height. My eldest son and daughter LOVE theirs, younger son prefers his scooter but does ride it sometimes. They can go pretty fast once they get the hang of it, it's better over rough ground than a scooter, and as others said, perfect prep for riding a pedal bike later. My eldest never used stabilisers once and was riding a normal bike easily at 4.

It's a must-buy for a toddler in my book (but wouldn't spend £150!)

We just bought an actual bike and took the pedals off.

What's fine? That they didn't work for my kids?! 😁

That's great that yours were cycling properly at 3 but I'm not sure what you're getting at - obviously it's pretty accepted that balance bikes work for some kids, that why people buy them! I was just flagging that they're not universally effective, hence suggesting not spending much.

My middle child struggled with bikes until someone suggested taking the pedals off for a bit. Once the balance was there it clicked for her and she started riding her sisters pedal bike just by trying it out, just rode off no stabilisers. With my youngest he went straight onto a balance bike and then a pedal bike when he was properly held back by the speed. Again, there was no learning to ride it was natural progression. Gears took a bit more explaining.
My eldest definitely had to.learn and relearn having become used to stabilisers.

Balance bikes are brilliant and make learning to ride a proper bike incredibly easy. Your husband's attitude is absolutely crazy.

Got my kids one at 18 months

1st son cycles off on his bike on his 3rd birthday , next son was even younger at 2 years and 8 months.

We used Islabike balance then bike. Buying decent quality bikes is definitely beneficial if you can afford it.

We are very outdoorsy and active so cycling young was important to me.

All four of mine lived on the balance bike between 1.6 and four years old, after which they moved onto pedal bikes, learning to cycle with ease