Light weight bike with training wheel ( 5 year old)

[Anonymous]

Please recommend a lightweight bike with training wheels for 5 year old boy, 42” tall & 35 lbs. He never & does not know how to ride a bike without training wheel, and tricycle is too small for him. He is really interested in riding at bike because neighborhood kids do that.

So, I need a solid & strong training wheels to keep the bike in balance, and he is definitely a newbie. 16” wheel or 18” wheel for his size room & a little bit room to grow? Can I get a decent one under $200? Thank you. We are not going to store to do the fitting, so it would be awesome that I can buy it online.

[Anonymous]

A number of local bike shops will do phone consultations with you- I know District Cycle Works in Georgetown does and I imagine other would too.

[Anonymous]

I think 16” may fit better.

[Anonymous]

Another suggestion—our bike show suggested not using training wheels but instead taking the pedals off so that you basically have a “balance bike”. We tried it and it worked much better than trailing wheels! It also meant that our son didn’t feel like a “baby” because he still had training wheels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another suggestion—our bike show suggested not using training wheels but instead taking the pedals off so that you basically have a “balance bike”. We tried it and it worked much better than trailing wheels! It also meant that our son didn’t feel like a “baby” because he still had training wheels.

+1 take a belt and loop it around his chest (under the armpits) and run with him for a bit so he can get the feel of how to balance without any major falls.

[Anonymous]

Skip the training wheels, I really regret that we didn't take this advice. It made getting rid of them much harder. The most important skill is learning to balance not the pedalling. Also you don't need to get a balance bike, just remove the pedals on the bike you get and dont put them on until your child can push off and keep his balance in a glide. Then put the pedals on and you'll be surprised how fast he gets moving the pedals and is off biking.

[Anonymous]

New poster - agree with removing the pedals. We left the training wheels on way too long with my first. With the second, no training wheels, just removed the pedals. I just worked really hard with him for a week on a local, flat trail. He got the hang of it quickly.

It's about balance. The training wheels just prolong things and it becomes a negative

[Anonymous]

You are overthinking this! Google how to learn how to ride a bike and you'll find a lot of videos with simple, easy instructions on how to teach your kid without all the specialty bikes - lightweight, balance bike, etc.

Just dedicate the time and be firm with lots of positive reinforcement.

[Anonymous]

Chiming in to also suggest no training wheels. My 8 year old with gross motor issues just learned to ride this summer. We got a Woom, which is expensive and out of stock, but if you can find a used one, I highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

get a 16inch bike without training wheels. Take him to a school parking lot or similar open space and teach him to ride the bike.
He will enjoy bike riding so much more if he can ride properly and not be held back by training wheels.

[Anonymous]

We did the balance bike and the kids can actually keep up with bikes with pedals. Bikes with training wheels are terribly slow.

Then they upgraded to bikes with pedals after they outgrew the balance bike by size, which will happen fast.
Other option is to buy a bike that fits him now and remove the pedals, but I did not find that to be worth it. For us it was much easier to just say, hey you outgrew your balance bike, time for a bigger bike. Also putting bikes together SUCKS so much unless you are bike person already and have the right tools. If I ever put a bike together again it will be too soon. Blech.

[Anonymous]

Please take PPs' advice about avoiding the training wheels and removing the pedals. My first bike had training wheels. It took me forever to learn that way, I think they threw the balance off. The idea of having the child learn to balance while coasting without pedals makes so much more sense.

[Anonymous]

We had a balance bike and kid was so fast on it. Can’t turn a corner on pedal bike without training wheels. She’ll get it eventually. It’s a heavier bike but we love it. Electra Sprocket. The bike shop suggested a larger rather than smaller size based on height. I though we needed 16”, but ended up with a 20” which was perfect, and leaves some room to grow.

[Anonymous]

+1 on balance bike to pedals conversion.

Also, you can google top bikes, but I suspect you're asking here because you don't want to spend the $300 on a bike and were hoping for a $80 rec.

For us, our $300 investment was totally worth the NO effort in teaching our son as an early 6yo and the use of the bike now for his younger sister. It was magical. We put on the pedals and he simply pedaled away. A day later and he wasn't even wobbly.