When I was growing up, I learned to ride a bike using training wheels. A couple of things that stick in my mind.
First, the bike was HEAVY. It was a pain in the butt to walk that thing anywhere and having the training wheel made the bike doubly cumbersome to manipulate. Second, I remember how many times I fell and tumbled when my Dad took the training wheels off. Having the wheels there allowed me to ride a bike at all, but it didn’t really translate into me learning how to ride a bike. Most importantly, I didn’t learn to balance very well.
And if you ask my wife, I still probably don’t know how to balance on a bike well.
Well, the experts out there now say that the best way to teach kids bikes is to start them off on a balance bike. They look just like real bikes – without the pedals and chains/gears – so they’re really glorified scooters. BUT, and here’s the big but, it gets the kids to be good at balancing on two wheels. And they get it quick.
I have personal proof this method works.
We got my son a balance bike at age 2, and he graduated up to a pedal bike by age 3. It took him a while to get the muscle power to pedal easily, but balance was never the issue. And more importantly, he never got discouraged because he couldn’t figure out how to balance on two wheels.
Now, having said all that, I want to make a personal recommendation – Isla Bikes.
We initially got my son a balance bike without too much thought into the make and model. We lucked out because the one we got – a Yvolution Y Velo Single Wheel – worked out beautifully for us.
But when it was time to move up to an honest to goodness real bike, we went with Isla Bikes. They are an outfit out of Portland, OR and they came recommended to us by word of mouth from friends.
And now, of course, I am recommending them to you. Why? Two big reasons.
First, they are well made and very sturdy. My son, once he realized after a couple of days what the whole pedaling thing was about, has taken his Cnoc 14 anywhere and everywhere. And when I say he has taken, it is well made and light enough that a 3,4 year old could manipulate it easily. And as he got older (4-5) he was able to lift it and move it about easily as well.
Second, they have great customer service. When it was time to graduate out of the Cnoc 14 to a bigger one, we called and the person who picked up stayed on the line for 20 minutes to explain to us and walk us through how to select the right model. Incidentally, we selected the Benin 20. And once we got it, I made a boneheaded mistake in assembling it and (I think) the same lady who helped us select the bike also helped me work my way out of the mess I made and saved the bike.
Now my son is riding a 7-speed gear bike at age 6 and racing his old man and beating him handily. Need I say more?
