Moving from a balance bike...

mloc123

Any tips or advise on this? My son is 4 in a few weeks and getting a "bike with pedals". He has a balance bike and is well able to use it... but I am not sure how to teach him to use pedals also?

Bike wise I am looking at - https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/vitus-14-kids-bike/rp-prod168784

Lusk_Doyle

My youngest just "upgraded" last week. He had a balance bike and when we got his older brother a new bike he was all over getting the other one. Twice on it and he was flying around (2.5k no bother) by himself. Just can't do the start or stop yet but give it time. All I did was walk/run beside the bike holding the saddle and side of the bar ends and he just clicked fairly quickly. A lot of time spent looking down but plenty of encouragement and they should get it of they are coming off a balance bike. No need for stabilisers. Take the hand away from the bars first and when ready from the saddle.

py

mloc123 wrote: »

Any tips or advise on this? My son is 4 in a few weeks and getting a "bike with pedals". He has a balance bike and is well able to use it... but I am not sure how to teach him to use pedals also?

Bike wise I am looking at - https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/vitus-14-kids-bike/rp-prod168784

That's the very bike (albeit a prior model) my young lad got a little after turning 3. He wasn't ready for pedals so we took them off and used it as a balance bike for about 9 months. We put the pedals on and started him off on a very slight incline so he didn't go off too fast. At that stage he was used to balancing, steering and breaking. We had the same experience as Lusk_Doyle with the constant looking down so we had him set up before starting off getting him to call out "Hands, eyes and foot" to get him ready to start cycling. Hands - being hands on the handle bars, eyes being eyes straight ahead watching where they're going and foot being his foot in the ready position about to push down on the pedal. I was running up and down beside him for the first few runs. Took about an hour one evening to get him to transition to the a "big boy" bike with pedals. Now he's out on the thing terrorising the neighbourhood on a daily basis :pac:

On the bike itself, it's been great. Would highly recommend it as an alternative to the islabikes which are crazy money. Will be looking to go for an 18/20" bike when Santa comes around this year and would be happy to go back to Vitus if they've something suitable.

El Vino

2 hardest bits are getting the pedals in the right position to get started & getting through the dead spot at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Does your child have anything else with pedals, tricycle or toy tractor this can help get them used to pedaling without having to worry about balancing - renting a tag a long bike can also help.
Also practicing at the beginning on a very slight downward slope can help overcome these factors.

mloc123

py wrote: »

That's the very bike (albeit a prior model) my young lad got a little after turning 3. He wasn't ready for pedals so we took them off and used it as a balance bike for about 9 months. We put the pedals on and started him off on a very slight incline so he didn't go off too fast. At that stage he was used to balancing, steering and breaking. We had the same experience as Lusk_Doyle with the constant looking down so we had him set up before starting off getting him to call out "Hands, eyes and foot" to get him ready to start cycling. Hands - being hands on the handle bars, eyes being eyes straight ahead watching where they're going and foot being his foot in the ready position about to push down on the pedal. I was running up and down beside him for the first few runs. Took about an hour one evening to get him to transition to the a "big boy" bike with pedals. Now he's out on the thing terrorising the neighbourhood on a daily basis :pac:

On the bike itself, it's been great. Would highly recommend it as an alternative to the islabikes which are crazy money. Will be looking to go for an 18/20" bike when Santa comes around this year and would be happy to go back to Vitus if they've something suitable.

with the 14" bike... how long did he get out of it? I am on the fence between a 14" vs 16" as I don't want to be buying another one in a years time but feel the 16" (which he tried in halfords) might be a little too big now.

mloc123

El Vino wrote: »

2 hardest bits are getting the pedals in the right position to get started & getting through the dead spot at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Does your child have anything else with pedals, tricycle or toy tractor this can help get them used to pedaling without having to worry about balancing - renting a tag a long bike can also help.
Also practicing at the beginning on a very slight downward slope can help overcome these factors.

No other pedals at the moment, but he has used a trike etc.. in friends houses and is okay pedaling. He is very comfortable on the balance bike now, so with any luck he figures out how to do both at once pretty quickly.

py

mloc123 wrote: »

with the 14" bike... how long did he get out of it? I am on the fence between a 14" vs 16" as I don't want to be buying another one in a years time but feel the 16" (which he tried in halfords) might be a little too big now.

By the time he changes he'll have got close to 2 years out of it and then it will be put away for the younger one to use when they're older. He'd probably be able for the 16" at this stage but we'll get a few more months out of the 14" with a raised saddle unless he takes a large stretch in the summer months.

JMcL

With our 3 our two elder girls moved very quickly from the balance bike to pedal bike as they'd had a trike with pedals and a chain driving the rear wheels so more like a bike rather than. With them it was a case of holding onto the seat, giving them a push to get going etc until they had the hang of it. Their younger brother refused point blank to have anything to do with the trike however (he tends to develop very strong and resolute opinions on things) so when the time came for him to move up he didn't have the experience pedaling. I took the pedals off for a few weeks until he'd gotten used to it, then put them back on and proceeded as above.

At the start, keep the saddle low enough that they can get their feet to the ground. Not ideal for pedaling, but crucial to let them build up confidence

Lusk_Doyle

We got our eldest lad a 16" and he is now on a 20". My almost 4 year old now has the 16". I found that I had to lift the seat post very quickly on the 16" as our eldest fella grew. Kids bikes don't have much play in then so I'd go with the 16" over the 14" as the kids grow quick enough. Our bike shop said that 18 months out of a bike is average at that age.

mloc123

Great feedback from everyone, thanks

kenmc

Get the lightest bike you can find for him, e.g islabikes, or frog. As a proportion of their body weight, even a kg or 2 of extra weight like you find on Smyth's and Halfords "bikes" is a lot. Think the Isla weighs in around 5kg or so

My two went from balance bike to Isla cnoc 16 before they turned 4, couple of crashes, wobbles of course, but quickly overcome. Youngest did 17km of the Western Greenway on Saturday, at 4 1/2, outpacing his bigger sister who is on a frog 55 (20" wheels and 8 gears).

mloc123

kenmc wrote: »

Get the lightest bike you can find for him, e.g islabikes, or frog. As a proportion of their body weight, even a kg or 2 of extra weight like you find on Smyth's and Halfords "bikes" is a lot. Think the Isla weighs in around 5kg or so

No intention of getting a BSO from either of them. I was looking at the wiggins 16" in halfords, his balance bike is a wiggins. Which comes in roughly the same as the cnoc weight wise.

tigerboon

JMcL wrote: »

I took the pedals off for a few weeks until he'd gotten used to it, then put them back on and proceeded as above.

At the start, keep the saddle low enough that they can get their feet to the ground. Not ideal for pedaling, but crucial to let them build up confidence

Same as this. Only thing I'd add is to be constantly telling them to look ahead to where they are going and not just the wheel or road in front of the wheel. Keep to fairly level ground if possible for a while

Lusk_Doyle

tigerboon wrote: »

Same as this. Only thing I'd add is to be constantly telling them to look ahead to where they are going and not just the wheel or road in front of the wheel. Keep to fairly level ground if possible for a while

Exactly this. We had two near collisions with lampposts yesterday as he did his best owl impression.

abnormalnorman

hi,

sorry to jump the thread.


my son, aged 3, was a dinger on his balance bike. Loved it. Flew around everywhere, letting himself go with the fall - great crack.

we got him a pedal bike for his birthday a month ago. we put away / hid his balance bike. Iv pushed him around a lot on it, and he has started to pedal a little ,but he has no interest in it. you have to persuade him to go on it, and he'll only go on it for 5 mins. he prefers running now!.

Shud we just stick with the pedal bike (hard work for everyone!!), or shud we bring back the balance bike and enjoy it while he does. and have both on the go?!

I miss him whizzin around on his balance bike!!!:o

magicbastarder

i'd say (speaking as someone with no kids, i.e. no experience with this) to leave him with what he's happiest with. he might be a bit young yet for pedalling.

grogi

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'd say (speaking as someone with no kids, i.e. no experience with this) to leave him with what he's happiest with. he might be a bit young yet for pedalling.

Absolutely this. You want the kid to enjoy cycling, not hate it wholeheartedly... He'll want to go when he's ready

cletus

grogi wrote: »

Absolutely this. You want the kid to enjoy cycling, not hate it wholeheartedly... He'll want to go when he's ready

Small caveat on this. My youngest was flying on his balance bike, we tried him very briefly with a normal bike, but he wasn't really having it.

We picked a day, and said today is the day he pedals. Spent about 45 minutes at it, and by the end he was absolutely flying.

In retrospect, it annoyed me that we ever did stabilisers with the older fella, took him a long time to really take to cycling

John_Rambo

When it's safe (C-19 wise) get someone else to "see" the child cycle the proper bike, an admired uncle or adult friend of yours.
Get them to push him/her along with the pedal bike while you pretend not to be paying attention and you'll see a whole lot of progress compared what happens with you, the parent who's been cooped up with the kids for the lockdown.

The kids will be willing to learn a lot quicker & improve with someone else teaching & encouraging.

Then, when the magic happens, turn around and be amazed at the kids abilities.

Worked for us on the kids during normal times. It's human nature.

grogi

cletus wrote: »

Small caveat on this. My youngest was flying on his balance bike, we tried him very briefly with a normal bike, but he wasn't really having it.

We picked a day, and said today is the day he pedals. Spent about 45 minutes at it, and by the end he was absolutely flying.

I try to motivate my kids by giving example, not forcing them to do anything... If they see you doing something, they will want to do it too.

Sure, there are things that you need to force them to do something - brush the teeth for instance. But cycling is not as essential - it's better for them to want it...

cletus wrote: »

In retrospect, it annoyed me that we ever did stabilisers with the older fella, took him a long time to really take to cycling

Stabilisers are horrible, agreed.

cletus

grogi wrote: »

I try to motivate my kids by giving example, not forcing them to do anything... If they see you doing something, they will want to do it too.

Sure, there are things that you need to force them to do something - brush the teeth for instance. But cycling is not as essential - it's better for them to want it...



Stabilisers are horrible, agreed.

It was not a case of "forcing" him to do it, rather not allowing him to quit immediately when it didn't work. Just kept encouraging him, saying that he was nearly there that time, give it one more go etc.

By the way, I'm not trying to disparage your parenting technique, just offering other insights that may or may not help

Cee-Jay-Cee

I got both my kids balance bikes to learn on when they were 3 but they also had pedal bikes and stabilisers so the transition was more or less instant as they had the pedalling and braking skills already. It was literally a 5 minute job to have them cycling/pedalling and starting/stopping. I moved them to pedal bikes at 4 years old.

EC1000

abnormalnorman wrote: »

he prefers running now!.

Maybe let him run?!

ted1

abnormalnorman wrote: »

hi,

sorry to jump the thread.


my son, aged 3, was a dinger on his balance bike. Loved it. Flew around everywhere, letting himself go with the fall - great crack.

we got him a pedal bike for his birthday a month ago. we put away / hid his balance bike. Iv pushed him around a lot on it, and he has started to pedal a little ,but he has no interest in it. you have to persuade him to go on it, and he'll only go on it for 5 mins. he prefers running now!.

Shud we just stick with the pedal bike (hard work for everyone!!), or shud we bring back the balance bike and enjoy it while he does. and have both on the go?!

I miss him whizzin around on his balance bike!!!:o

Don’t force him. His leg muscles mightn’t be there. Keep the bike and the balance bike ha day and let him pick

py

abnormalnorman wrote: »

hi,

sorry to jump the thread.


my son, aged 3, was a dinger on his balance bike. Loved it. Flew around everywhere, letting himself go with the fall - great crack.

we got him a pedal bike for his birthday a month ago. we put away / hid his balance bike. Iv pushed him around a lot on it, and he has started to pedal a little ,but he has no interest in it. you have to persuade him to go on it, and he'll only go on it for 5 mins. he prefers running now!.

Shud we just stick with the pedal bike (hard work for everyone!!), or shud we bring back the balance bike and enjoy it while he does. and have both on the go?!

I miss him whizzin around on his balance bike!!!:o

Try taking off the pedals and see if he'll use the newer bike as a balance bike. He may not be ready for pedals just yet.

JMcL

I wouldn't worry too much. He'll probably come round to it in his own time. Out youngest was exactly the same - flew on the balance bike but was very reluctant to start pedalling whereas is two older sisters had taken to it like ducks to water. I took the pedals off which helped a bit, but it was difficult to get the saddle low enough for him to scoot along, A moment did come though when he got it in his head he wanted to pedal, and he flew after that (he had a similar block with sausages, claiming he hated them - until that is he actually tried them recently. Now there's great disappointment if it's not sausages for dinner :rolleyes:)

thejaguar

py wrote: »

Try taking off the pedals and see if he'll use the newer bike as a balance bike. He may not be ready for pedals just yet.

This worked for us.

My 4 year old had a bike for about a year and was never all that interested. We took the pedals off and she was straight on it. After about 2 days she wanted the pedals back on and now she's flying it.

mloc123

Should post an update, my son stuck with the balance bike for a good while longer... wasn't until March that we tried the pedal bike again and it took about 2 days for him to swap over... has not gone back since.

flatface

My 4yr old was the same just recently. Found it hard to start pedalling after the balance bike and always asked for the old bike instead. We did a deal of once around the block on each bike and he’s now getting his confidence. The 2 older ones didn’t need any encouragement, it depends on the kid but there is no rush. To be cycling by 4 or 5 is pretty great already.