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It’s hard to know what’s best for your child when you want to get them a bike so they can join the wonderful and exciting sport of cycling with you. If you’ve spent any time at all searching the internet for a “kids bike” you’ll likely be sifting through thousands of results to the point of decision paralysis! Don't worry though, we’re here to help you decide if a balance bike or a pedal bike is right for your child as a first bike.
Let’s start by covering the things to avoid; tricycles and training wheels. The primary skill required to ride a bike is balance and both tricycles and training wheels prevent the rider from learning this necessary skill. For more information on that, Two Wheeling Tots wrote an informative article about their experiences with a tricycle.
If your child is under the age of 3 then a balance bike will likely be the best tool for learning how to ride a bike. Children as young as 12-18 months can start with a balance bike, really the only requirement is that they’re able to confidently walk on their own. If your child is 4 years of age or older, we’d suggest starting with a pedal bike, and we’ll tell you how to introduce the bike without ever needing to use training wheels!
Each and every child is different, that’s the beautiful thing about the human race, we’re all so unique. That uniqueness means that we all develop and learn at a different pace. So while age helps get us pointed in the right direction, it’s not always that precise. You as the parent have to fill in the rest of the pieces. Ask yourself if your child is able to listen and take verbal commands well, this is important when on a bike because you’ll have to alert your child to hazards in the road like a car. Also consider how tall your child is, many pedal bikes are just too big for smaller children to start on until they are older.
Now that you know where to start, we’ll help you introduce your child to their new bike or balance bike!
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