Balance bike or normal bike with the wheels taken off?

[PinkTulips]

So having read about them recently on here i'm keen to get ds1 a balance bike for xmas as he's not good at pedaling but he'll be 3.5 and i think he should have a bike as he's getting a bit big for the trike.

Having priced them though i don't think they're worth the 120euro+ price tag when i could buy him a normal bike (80euros) and just remove the pedals and achieve the same affect but have a product that he'll use for years once the pedals are put back on.

Am i missing something or are they really just a rip off?

I thought the point of the actual balance bikes was that you can get them in tiny sizes for 2 year olds. I've seen taking pedals off normal bike recommended, though I never thought to try it myself!

Normal bike that you can take pedals off/put stabilizers on as apt seems sensible.

Well, I don't have experience of normal bikes without the pedals, but would say the following in favour of balance bikes (of which there are currently two in the midnight household):

1. there's nothing mechanical like chains etc, so nothing to break
2. They are very light - lighter, I think than most pedal bikes, whch is a definite plus, as you'll inevitably end up having to carry it on occasions. Ours is aluminium, so doesn't rust and is really light to carry
3. the steering is generally more restricted, which makes it safer for them to start with. ours (likeabikes) have a wee rubber ring thing on them that does this - you can remove it once they're a bit more proficient

4 Apparently, the saddles are a different shape (though I haven't actually noticed this with ours) and that is good for some reason which I can't remember 5 I think resale value probably quite good (as there is nothing to break)

I should become a bloody likeabike saleswoman the number of times I'm on here raving about them.

I think jsut get the normal ones. Like a bikes seem to be lower, and smaller sizes. Make sure he can put his feet flat on the ground, if you are going to take the pedals off.

sorry, but had to giggle at taking the 'wheels' off in your title!

didn't even notice that. It would be a solution to the falling off problem, hey?

lol, brain is fried with ds2's whinging today, hadn't even noticed the typo

Am off to have a look at the likeabikes as i could only find chunky wooden ones by typing 'balance bike' into google and they certainly din't look worth the money!

After I got mine, someone on here recommended Islabikes, which are apparently cheaper than Likeabikes and very good.

This is what we have.

A good bike shop (the sort that do repairs, where they're used to taking bits off) might let your DS try a normal one without the pedals, if you think you'll go that route.

Hmmm, having just measured his inside leg (highly annoying of me apparently as Fireman Sam is on) i think he'd be too big for most of them anyway, he needs a 14" bike i think... will bring him to the toy shop and double check what size bike allows his feet to be flat on the floor but i reckon it will be a 14" as dd has a 16" for actually pedalling and isn't much taller than him.

You can try this one out in toys r us.