Trike or bike for ASD 4yo?

[sorryihaventacluetoo]

My DS is turning 4 soon and we'd like to get him a bike (he'd like one too, and excitedly shouts 'BIKES!' in toy shops etc. He's already got a balance bike, but just doesn't 'get' it at all, he can't manage staying upright, balancing AND steering, so we're thinking proper bicycle with stabilisers, or a sturdy metal trike.

What would you choose for a child this age?

This all depends on what you want to achieve. If you want him to have fun pedalling around and don't really care about the learning to ride a bike aspect, then get a bike with stabilisers. If you ultimately do care about him learning to ride a bike (faster) then I'd get a trike and continue with the balance bike too.

Ironically, stabilisers do make it harder to learn to cycle. I do cycle training in primary schools, and it is very hard to unlearn the habits from riding with stabilisers. Children with no cycling experience usually learn faster than those who have had stabilisers for a long time. Children who've had balance bikes tend to learn the fastest.

However, if your son's ASD is likely to make it hard to learn to cycle at all, then stabilisers can be a great option. You can have staiblisers on a bike up until age 9/10 unless you child is really tall. This could get him cycling around and enjoying himself much faster.

We bought my son a bike with stabilisers. He couldn’t pedal beforehand and managed to learn to pedal. However, a few years later he is 7 and still cannot ride without stabilisers so I am not sure how beneficial they are. We are thinking of buying a trike designed for slightly older bigger children but they are so pricey!

We persevered with the balance bike with my son. He got it eventually. Then we discovered he had no idea how to pedal so put pedals and stabilisers on (he was balancing on a
Normal bike, we took pedals on). That was backbreaking, we had to do hand over foot until he got it. However once we took the stabilisers off he got it within a week due to previous balance. Anyway just our experience, yours may be different!