Best first bike for 3 year old?

[winogal]

DS1 turns 3 this week and we want to get him a bike. I'm wondering whether to go for a balance bike, or a normal bike with stabilisers? Any advice/recommendations gratefully received!

Some people swear by balance bikes, and it's true that balance is key to children learning to cycle. However I think they can sometimes be a bit of a rip-off. We bought a tiny bike (Raleigh) - small enough for DC to reach the ground with his feet while sitting on the seat. We then removed the pedals with a spanner and let him practise in the park on a small incline. As soon as he could pull his feet up and balance we popped the pedals back on and off he went. He was 4 when he learned but I know kids aged 3 and a bit who did this quickly and easily - it depends a bit on how coordinated your son is. Whatever you do, if your aim is to teach him to cycle properly, I would not bother with stabilisers. They do not teach balance and basically just turn bikes into big tricycles.

Thanks CocoK, that's interesting. Bumping incase any other views!

I would say balance bikes (need not be expensive) are great in our experience. DC's have been confident "scooters" at 3 and pedal cycling at 4. They are also loads of fun - the children soon get a taste for speed rather than tootling along on stablisers.

Apart from no pedals, balance bikes also have quite restricted steering so kids can't twist the front wheel sideways and fall off - they learn to cycle by leaning the corners very quickly. Not sure how you would replicate this by taking pedals off a normal bike. There are ones that are multi function but invariably cost more than cheap wooden bike and cheap pedal bike put together!

Something like this did us very well.

Thanks for that blithedance. Have now done some further reading since my original post and it seems a clear choice between balance bike and normal bike with the pedals taken off - the later seems more cost effective in the long run, but are there any advantages to having a balance bike as opposed to a normal bike with the pedals off?

Well it's the steering mainly I think but obviously wasn't a problem for Coco - older child maybe? The balance bikes are very easy to ride and designed for the purpose. They are loads of fun.

Also at that age they grow out of bikes very quickly, the smallest (12 inch?) pedal ones are pretty crappy (heavy, no free wheel, useless brakes). DS went straight from balance bike to 14inch pedal bike. So never needed the smallest size. Does that make any sense?

link here

Hello, so I have been choosing a bike for my kid for like 3 weeks now and I finally picked the “Yeedoo TooToo” bike for him, I think it is really fitting and he likes it a lot. He is just in love with this bike and never been so happy ;) By the way, this thread helped me so much and you should check it out yourself: cutelittledarling.com/best-bike-for-2-year-olds/