First Bike

[HIU8]

DS has just started showing an interest in learning to ride a 2 wheel bike. He is about 2ish years behind in motor development, so needless to say, this is a really good thing. A neighbor gave us their youngest DS's bike. It's a 10inch so it is to small (DS is almost 5 and 42 inches). Meanwhile, it's weird b/c you can push it along and the pedals don't move. However, DS can pedal it and make it move. Is that normal? My dad called it a coasting bike. Do all bikes that we would be getting for DS (first bikes) do this? Is there one that the pedals actually move if the bike is pushed? We are going to take DS to shop for bikes this holiday season (in the hopes that there will be some good deals) and I want to be sure of what we are buying so that he can properly learn how to ride.

[o_mom]

That's normal for a bike. All of ours are that way, from the $5 Goodwill special to the Trek bikes we got on CL.

If you are willing to spend a bit, something like the Trek Float might work well. It starts as a balance bike and then you can add pedals to it later (it is designed for this to be easy as opposed to trying remove pedals and cranks from a regular bike). My DS1 is very cautious and we skipped any kind of training wheels because I felt with his personality he would never want to take them off. Being able to put his feet down at any time was great for building his balance and confidence.