Balance bike for 4 year old?

[taubel]

Hi - My son will be 4 next month. His older brothers (7 and 9) do a lot of bike riding on a dead end street in our neighborhood and of course the youngest wants to join in the fun. 

My youngest son has never been very athletic. He can ride a tricycle, but he's not great at it, so never wants to do it! We gave him his brother's big boy bike (12" wheels) with training wheels. He can ride that as well, but is always terrified that it is going to tip over. (It does tip a lot, whenever the training wheels hits a gully or low spot in the road). 

We're thinking he might enjoy a balance bike for his birthday. However, yesterday he tried a neighbor's Strider brand balance bike and it was too small for him to use properly. It looked like the seat was already raised almost all the way, too.

Are there any taller balance bikes out there? I never see them in stores, so I'm thinking we're going to have to buy one online, sight unseen.

Thanks for your help!

[Owen'nZoe]

This isn't going to help with the birthday present idea, but you could use the 12" bike you already have as a balance bike. If you take the bike into a bike shop, they can take the training wheels and pedals off for you and help you lower the seat enough so your child's feet touch the ground. (You could also take the pedals off yourself, but it is easier with a special wrench that bike mechanics have.) It works well as a balance bike, and will cost a lot less. Later, if you decide you want to use the bike as a regular bike again, you can just put the pedals back on.

[taubel]

Originally Posted by Owen'nZoe 

This isn't going to help with the birthday present idea, but you could use the 12" bike you already have as a balance bike. If you take the bike into a bike shop, they can take the training wheels and pedals off for you and help you lower the seat enough so your child's feet touch the ground. (You could also take the pedals off yourself, but it is easier with a special wrench that bike mechanics have.) It works well as a balance bike, and will cost a lot less. Later, if you decide you want to use the bike as a regular bike again, you can just put the pedals back on.

We might want to try this. Would they remove just the pedals or the whole crank as well? What about the chain and all that stuff? Does it just stay on? 

I was also thinking it would be good for him to have a balance bike AND a pedal bike (so two separate bikes). Then from time to time he could try the pedal bike to see if he was ready for it. 

But the balance bikes do seem to cost a small fortune...
 

[Owen'nZoe]

In my experience, they just remove the pedals. Everything else stays.

[bass chick]

Originally Posted by Owen'nZoe 

In my experience, they just remove the pedals. Everything else stays.

Yes. This is what we did. Remove only the pedals (and training wheels). Once he has his balance and is actually comfortable on the bike, put the pedals back on. This also helps in the future when your child is riding his bike and loses his balance. He will automatically put his feet down to catch himself.

[MomtoDandJ]

There is a great website called http://www.pedalfreebikes.com/ (I went to elementary school with the founder!) The site is super easy to manage and they will personally talk you through your needs and recommend a bike that's perfect for your child's individual skill set.

[Polliwog]

My DD got a KaZAM balance bike for Christmas and we love it. She's a tiny thing but my 6 1/2-year-old can ride it too.

[Lucy Alden]

I'd go to Goodwill and find a cheap bike that is his size and take the pedals off.  I've seen junky little bikes there for $15.  My husband took off the pedals of my daughters bike but somehow broke the mechanism in the process.  Now she has a homemade balance bike and a real bike.  Surprisingly, even though she can ride the real one, she prefers the balance bike.  Our 5 year old neighbor boy who had a bike with training wheels came here and was balancing on our daughters bike within 15 minutes.  They took the training wheels off his the next day .

Edited by Lucy Alden - 4/14/11 at 12:22pm

[swd12422]

We have a KaZam too, and DS's 4-year-old friend was riding it yesterday like it was a dirt bike.

[sewaneecook]

This is perfect timing!  I was thinking about getting a balance bike for my DS, but now I'll just take off the pedals on a bike we found at a yard sale last year (for only $6!).  Yay, thanks for posting!

[mija y mijo]

DS has a Strider bike and LOVES it.  He's 4 yo and really gets cruising on it.  I love how it's lightweight and we never have to worry about putting air in the tires.

[Polliwog]

And I love our KaZAM because it has air-filled tires. And a footrest to really support balancing.

Originally Posted by mija y mijo 

DS has a Strider bike and LOVES it.  He's 4 yo and really gets cruising on it.  I love how it's lightweight and we never have to worry about putting air in the tires.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Strider offers an additional seat that has a longer seat post.  We had to get it for DS who is almost 42 inches tall (at 3.5).  I love his Strider because it is so light weight and most kid's bikes are HEAVY.  Ds can carry it up and down the steps himself, when it falls over on him it doesn't hurt etc.  

We also found that having him ride around at a friend's house on the grass really helped his confidence for "balancing" because he wasn't as afraid to fall over.  Now he's confident to balance on the road/sidewalk as well.

[taubel]

Well - we were all set to make a temporary balance bike out of my son's 12" two-wheeler, but even with the seat in the lowest position, his toes can barely reach the ground. So it's not going to work. I guess we will have to get a balance bike for him, or he'll have nothing he can ride all spring/summer. I with I could find a used one! His birthday is coming up, and we can all chip in to get him a balance bike, but then he won't be getting any other presents.