kids bike

souter

Hi,
Does anyone have recommendations for a bike for a soon to be 4 year old boy?
Or shops that have a good selection. I'm looking for something with removable pedals ideally.
He's pottered about on a few bikes with stabilisers but not very often and needless to say I want him zooming around on 2 wheels.

roadmanmad

very few children are competent two wheeler at 4. They often lack any understanding of judgement.

Let them take it at their own pace. I would always recommend a good quality bike. Nearly all bike shops have them. They are not the cheapest thing in the shop. 10inch + wheels will give growing room for 2 or so years. But buy solid stabilizers that at adjustable upwards. As your child becomes more confident raise them up 1-2mm at a time. Or set them high and let a lot of pressure out of the tyre. Pump the tyre to get a similar result over time. Also continuously raise the saddle that their toes are only touching the ground.

I have 3 boys. No 1 learned at 5 just. No 2 was still unstable at 6.5 and only barely learned. I have serious concerns over his appearent non existent centre of gravity. No 3 learned at 4 1/2.

Also remember that most of what you will teach them, they will forget after a month. In the summer if you are confident that they are up to the task, take the stabilizers off for a while, take your child to a green area and let the child off. Minimise the first traumatic falls. Learn stability first. No harm doing this on a slope. Use two people, one up to set them off one lower to stop them. Then work on stopping without falling off, and then work on self starts. All a bit obvious I know, but no harm in saying it.

If it does not work out quickly, decide quickly if they need to grow more and gain a little more confidence. Plenty of praise no matter how badly they do.

souter

Cheers Roadman. The Guardian had a good article about it, http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/guides/cycling/story/0,,2021817,00.html ,
stressing our own memories of how easy it was are highly subjective.

Did you ever try removing the pedals and using the bike like a hobby horse - I've seen this recommended by a variety of sources?

cerebus

Removing the pedals and letting a child use the bike like a scooter is great way to seperate the pedalling and balancing parts of learing to ride a bike.

They can get the hang of balancing on two wheels - just scooting themselves along and pulling their feet up for longer and longer periods. Once the child can balance, you can add the pedals back on.

Some resources:

Sheldon Brown (as always!)
Some guy with the mantra "training wheels are evil"