Balance Bike with Pedals for later for 4YO? help please!

[fauve01]

my 4YO DD isn't too coordinated and i think she needs the balance bike, but DH doesn't want to "waste" money on something she will not use long before needing the pedals.

I was searching the archives about balance bikes and i found something about a balance bike with pedals to add after DC figures out how to balance. FunOne was the one recommended by a poster. someone else recommended buying FunOne off Ebay because it's much cheaper, but i can't find it. are there other types of balance bike with pedals to add later? My local bike shop does not carry balance bikes.

what do you guys think? is a balance bike a good idea for a 4yo? or should we just get a big girl bike with training wheels?


here is the thread that i found the info in:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=170735&highlight=fun+one+balance+bike


should i just suck it up and get it from the FunOne site or is it cheaper somewhere else?
http://www.funonebikes.com/

thanks for any advice.
anne

[Melanie]

My Ds had a 'big kid bike' with training wheels for a couple of years. He was relying on the training wheels so heavily that they were starting to wear smooth. He just couldn't "get" the balance aspect.

This past year, just before he turned 6, we bought our two year old one of the little wooden Target balance bikes (gone now, sorry, but I stalked them all summer long until they went down to $12.50! Maybe they'll have something similiar again this year in their nice wooden toy summer section). She was just a bit too short so we adjusted it to it's fullest height and let our 6 year old ride it for the past 5 months. We started to see him balance more and more and more on it. It was fantastic! This past week we took the training wheels off of his regular bicycle, he hopped on and away he rode without any help! He's only fallen twice, and they were minor and due to turning too sharply. Now our 2 yo is tall enough so we've adjusted the balance bike back down to her size. Stay tuned to see how that works out! So far she just sat on it and won't "scooch" it anywhere, preferring some vehicle or another of big brother's that doesn't fit her.

ETA: I don't know anything about funone bikes, but $99 seems like as cheap as you can get for a balance bike, save the Target bargain of last year.

ETAA: Now I see your other thread. I guess it's just the wooden ones that are so costly. The kinderbike looks like a nice price if you don't need the pedals. Whichever you decide you ought to be able to sell it on craiglist or SWAP and recoup much of the costs.

ETAAA - last time, I promise! Check on ebay for 'balance bike,' and you see a lot. Including the Target ones going in the $30 range.

[fauve01]

My Ds had a 'big kid bike' with training wheels for a couple of years. He was relying on the training wheels so heavily that they were starting to wear smooth. He just couldn't "get" the balance aspect.

This past year, just before he turned 6, we bought our two year old one of the little wooden Target balance bikes (gone now, sorry, but I stalked them all summer long until they went down to $12.50! Maybe they'll have something similiar again this year in their nice wooden toy summer section). She was just a bit too short so we adjusted it to it's fullest height and let our 6 year old ride it for the past 5 months. We started to see him balance more and more and more on it. It was fantastic! This past week we took the training wheels off of his regular bicycle, he hopped on and away he rode without any help! He's only fallen twice, and they were minor and due to turning too sharply. Now our 2 yo is tall enough so we've adjusted the balance bike back down to her size. Stay tuned to see how that works out! So far she just sat on it and won't "scooch" it anywhere, preferring some vehicle or another of big brother's that doesn't fit her.

ETA: I don't know anything about funone bikes, but $99 seems like as cheap as you can get for a balance bike, save the Target bargain of last year.

ETAA: Now I see your other thread. I guess it's just the wooden ones that are so costly. The kinderbike looks like a nice price if you don't need the pedals. Whichever you decide you ought to be able to sell it on craiglist or SWAP and recoup much of the costs.

ETAAA - last time, I promise! Check on ebay for 'balance bike,' and you see a lot. Including the Target ones going in the $30 range.

THANKS, Melanie! this is great info for me. :-)

anne

[shishamo]

Personally, I would not buy a balance bike for a 4 year old, since by 5 you can learn to ride a bike. If my kids (who are probably one of the least coordinated kid in their class) can learn on a regular bike, you can!

Here's how I taught my older two kids how to ride a bike: by having them scoot and balance on a regular non-training wheels bike (just like with a balance bike: it's a bit tricker since the pedals are there, but by age 5 my kids could do that after a few tries) until they were ready to pedal and then off they go. My son took 1 hours till he figured it out, my daughter took 30 minutes. They both never fell down either.

Learning to start a bike and learning to stop is a bit tricky, but you will get there.
Good luck!