Balance bike or regular bike?

[GingerPuddin]

DS will be 3.5 at Christmas. We're thinking of getting him a bike for Christmas. He has a trike but he doesn't use the pedals very often and prefers to push it with his feet. It's a big heavy trike so that might be why. Any recommendations? Ideally something light for when I end up carrying. Thanks!

Regular bike. You can take off the peddles and make it into a balance bike if needed. Don't put stabilisers on though.

DD is two and we've gone for a Puky balance bike. I think MIL has bought her one with stabilisers too but she had a go on one in the shop and didn't really like it. Hoping to go straight to a normal bike with no stabilisers once she's a bit bigger

Islabike balance bike IMO is brilliant. Very light. Looks like a real bike and you can sell easily on ebay for not much less than you paid for it. DS got his for his birthday when he was 2. By age 3 he was off on a new bike with no stabilisers needing no help. I highly recommend them. I know lots of here don't rate balance bikes at all though.

The only thing is they go bloody fast in them when they get the hang of it!

I am slightly terrified at how fast he'll go. We live near some big hills. Will need to get a helmet as well.

We got my ds a balance bike at 3 (Puky) and it's been great for his confidence and helping him learn a bit of road sense (he does exactly as I say or walks). Can't say what the transition to bike is yet, we are thinking of getting one without stabilisers at 4 to get the most use out of the Puky.

It's given him a lot more independence than if he had a regular bike and stabilisers I think, as he is in control himself, can go ahead a bit, stop etc. He's never gone mad on it, but yes, a helmet is a must!

I've seen kids of a similar age on traditional bikes at the park and they seem much more hard work for all involved, usually requiring a parent pushing/steering, whereas he can just cruise alongside me.

I echo getting a regular bike and taking the pedals off so you get extra use out of it. This is what we did with both ds's and it worked a treat :)

I second the Isla bike - my son adores his!

If you need to carry it day in, day out it'll need to be a balance bike.

However my short DS outgrew his balance bike around his 4th birthday so if you get one, make sure it's a big one. I think a 12 inch proper bike would be a better use of the money. Take the pedals off for a few months then put them back, if you can compromise on the carrying thing. Never use stabilisers.