The balance bike was invented as a way to separate money from overly earnest and self-righteous parents.

Kids, mine included, learned how to ride bikes without any issue for generations before balance bikes.

I put balance bikes in the broad category of "wipe heater" and toddler beds - useless crap that people buy because they think they should, but really have no value add.

The purpose is to learn balance! My 2 year old loved his balance bike and rode it often with me on mountain biking single track trails. He got a Woom 3 when he was 4 years old and took off pedaling immediately. I know a lot of kids who stay stuck to training wheels for years because they never actually teach balance.

We went with Woom bikes and used them without pedals for three days before my girls learned how to ride with pedals the week at three. Never used training wheels. The balance bikes literally help kids learn how to balance a bike, hence the name. Your kids were four and six so I'm not surprised they figure out how to ride a bike without training wheels pretty fast. Most people (in my group of friends) who used some sort of balance bike/bike without pedals used it at younger ages.

TLDR: training wheels are hard to pedal, are heavy, and are slow. Balance bikes are lighter and faster to ride and easier to control.

We have a Strider and my now 5YO was so freaking fast on it, he hopped on a friend’s bike and took off, never used training wheels. My 3YO wasn’t particularly interested in it so my MIL got him a bike with training wheels and he loved it... until he tried keeping up with his big brother on bike rides. He got tired and frustrated really easily. He picked up the balance bike and now can pretty much keep up and we can take actual bike rides. I really like them and think they’re great!

love balance bikes. Kids have to have get different sized bikes as they get older anyway.
The reason people assumed your kids used a balance bike is because they are riding well at relatively young ages.
My kids were the same way - rode very well with no training wheels at 4 and 5. They got that way because their first bikes were balance bikes. When they outgrew those by size they were 4 and 5 and were able to use a pedal bike (no training wheels) right away.

There are many ways to get to where you want to go and some work better for some kids than others.

Balance bikes are essentially bikes where the kid's legs serve as the "training wheels". They learn to balance by putting their feet down when they fall towards either side. Because they can go faster if they actually balance, it teaches them to learn to balance to go faster. With training wheels, they don't learn to balance nearly as naturally or fast as the training wheels always "catch" them. They will learn, but not as quickly. I have twins and the one that used the balance bike learned balance much faster than the twin that didn't want to try the balance bike and relied on the training wheels.

Anonymous wrote:Balance bikes themselves are stupid - they are just regular bikes with the pedals removed but someone involved in selling bikes figured out parents are stupid and will buy anything so started selling bikes without pedals.

But tooling around on a bike with no pedals is actually a great way to get a sense of balance and learn how to ride a bike - my first kid figured out how to ride a bike in an afternoon of tooling around on his bike with the pedals removed after struggling with it for more than 2 years with training wheels. Kid #2 (who is more athletic) figured out how to ride a bike in about 10 minutes without a "balance" bike.

What you are describing is a balance bike.

It's so they can learn to balance, obviously. It's so they can put their feet down and stop, and learn to ride -- balance on a moving bike -- while they're still in control of the bike.

We never used one but they make sense to me.

And your point is...???

They aren’t essential but they are great, IMO. My kids could ride a 2 wheeler by age 3 after tearing around on a balance bike. Super painless way to learn.

Balance bikes themselves are stupid - they are just regular bikes with the pedals removed but someone involved in selling bikes figured out parents are stupid and will buy anything so started selling bikes without pedals.

But tooling around on a bike with no pedals is actually a great way to get a sense of balance and learn how to ride a bike - my first kid figured out how to ride a bike in an afternoon of tooling around on his bike with the pedals removed after struggling with it for more than 2 years with training wheels. Kid #2 (who is more athletic) figured out how to ride a bike in about 10 minutes without a "balance" bike.

None, mine never touched the one we had.

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow! This must be proof your kids will get into an ivy, they are amazing!

+1

Oh wow! This must be proof your kids will get into an ivy, they are amazing!

So in these last few weeks of staying at home my two kids, 4 and 6, have been riding their bikes a lot.

Historically they were both not particularly into bikes in general. After several days of nonstop riding they both asked for their training wheels to come off. Literally within 5 minutes they were both speeding around without any help at all.

Everyone has said to me "oh they must have learned on a balance bike!" And I'm like "no, I honestly never understood those things". I mean obviously I get what they are supposed to do but every time I have ever seen a kid riding them they are using their feet 100% of the time.

Are they just overly expensive fancy things that some parents need to have for their kids? They just seem weird.