Love ours! We tried to do the pedal-taking-off thing, but it turned out that our son was too small for any of the frames out there. Our local bike store also recommended against going that route simply because they find that many of the people who do discover that by the time their kids are ready to ride with pedals, they have outgrown the frame that was converted to the balance bike so they need a new bike anyway. YMMV based on how fast your child grows and how soon he/she is ready for pedals, though.

We have the FirstBIKE and really like it--very adjustable so will fit from around age two (barely) with the special lowering kit all the way up to age five or six, though most kids have moved on to full bikes by then. You do need a place to ride where it's possible/safe to pick up enough speed to glide around on the bike, though--not so fun if all you do is shuffle around on it.

Our 3YO -- who is tall for his age and also on the risk-averse side in terms of personality type -- hated the balance bike. Like another PP said, he just kind of shuffled along and never "glided" with it. And I think because he's tall, it just wasn't as good a fit. Definitely test out the balance bike at a store or borrow a friend's bike before committing to see if your kid will take to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say take your 4YO to the store and have him try them both out if possible. Our 3YO hated the balance bike, loved the bike with training wheels -- he really just wanted something with pedals. But every kid is different -- I know other kids who love the balance bikes. And I will say that we have not yet tried moving him to a two-wheeler bike so we'll see how that goes.

This was true for us too. In order to get started with a balance bike, you have to trust the process: be willing to give the bike a push with your feet and then lift your feet up, for a short time at least. My fairly timid son was never willing to do that, so he just shuffled down the sidewalk with the bike between his legs and never really enjoyed it. He might be a little slower in learning to ride a bike, but I'm in no rush.

Another balance bike fail. Have had it since his second birthday and never could figure it out. Finally got a bike with training wheels at 4 and he loves it.

4 yo is too old to start glance bike. These bikes are for smaller kids. His/her legs will be too long.

My 2 boys used balance bikes since 2.5, and at 3.5 they were riding a normal bike with pedals. Never used training wheels.

DD just turned 4 and now rides a bike without training wheels because she spent a couple of years on a balance bike.

Go to a bike store and try things out (City Bikes is wonderful).

It worked for my dd. At 5, she got onto a regular bike without training wheels and started riding it immediately.

My son never really embraced his. He's tall for his age and I think by the time he was coordinated enough to do it, he was already too tall for the bike.

Anonymous wrote:I'd say take your 4YO to the store and have him try them both out if possible. Our 3YO hated the balance bike, loved the bike with training wheels -- he really just wanted something with pedals. But every kid is different -- I know other kids who love the balance bikes. And I will say that we have not yet tried moving him to a two-wheeler bike so we'll see how that goes.

This was true for us too. In order to get started with a balance bike, you have to trust the process: be willing to give the bike a push with your feet and then lift your feet up, for a short time at least. My fairly timid son was never willing to do that, so he just shuffled down the sidewalk with the bike between his legs and never really enjoyed it. He might be a little slower in learning to ride a bike, but I'm in no rush.

Anonymous wrote:Worked very well for our son.

What we did, though, was buy a regular bike and take the pedals off. He picked up the balance aspect pretty quick, and then we put the pedals back on.

This is what we did too. Worked great.

Worked very well for our son.

What we did, though, was buy a regular bike and take the pedals off. He picked up the balance aspect pretty quick, and then we put the pedals back on.

I'd say take your 4YO to the store and have him try them both out if possible. Our 3YO hated the balance bike, loved the bike with training wheels -- he really just wanted something with pedals. But every kid is different -- I know other kids who love the balance bikes. And I will say that we have not yet tried moving him to a two-wheeler bike so we'll see how that goes.

Love them. My DD could ride a 2 wheeler after being on a balance bike for about 6 weeks. For my youngest I learned... Just buy the right size bike and have the bike store take the pedals off. Instant balance bike and no need to purchase a bike with pedals with they are ready.

We bought one at Performance Bikes for our 2.5 year old. Now at 3.5, he can easily balance and coast downhill with his feet up, but he's getting a bit too big for it. He is still not very good at pedaling, so he's not ready for his "big boy bike" yet.

We're in the market to buy a bike for our 4 yr old DS and thinking about buying those balance bikes instead of a bike with training wheels. Apparently they're suppose to learn faster given the coordination aspect of no pedaling and trying to balance themselves, anyone have experience with these?