I’d like to get DS a new bike for his 4th birthday in a couple of weeks. He has outgrown his balance bike - in height, not in skill. He’s 43”, so I put him on a 16” bike with training wheels at Walmart but he was too nervous to put his feel on the pedals.
I’m looking for a convertible balance bike that you can add pedals to, probably in a 16” size. Any recommendations?
pear / 1718 posts
We moved from Specialized balance bike to Specialized Riprock 16" Coaster last fall. It comes with pedals and training wheels but we removed both. We will probably put pedals on later this summer, but will avoid the training wheels. Its not cheap but we're part of a trade in program. We traded in the balance bike and the retail price was applied to this bike. I think we can do that 2 more times before we arrive at an adult bike. The best part is all used bikes go to kids in need.
pear / 1750 posts
@SweetCaroline: Thanks for the recommendation! Those bikes look so cool and high quality, but that’s definitely out of our price range.
I’m looking at this brand: https://www.glidebikes.com/balance-bikes/go-glider.html
pomegranate / 3983 posts
I found recently that you can take the pedals off of any bike and turn it into a balance bike! So I would just get a regular one and then head to YouTube.
pear / 1718 posts
@Baby Boy Mom: bah! Good point! @macintosh: i forgot about that...our bike is not a special convertible bike, we literally just took the pedals off. It's a normal bike. I think there is probably some merit to comparing weights of bikes at your price point, since lighter bikes are easier to use as balance bikes.
apricot / 399 posts
I highly recommend using twowheelingtots.com to evaluate bikes. And echo @sweetcaroline that weight is a super important factor in determining whether a kid will be able to balance the bike. The kids I notice struggling the most to ride have very heavy bikes.
pomelo / 5258 posts
@Baby Boy Mom: We did this for DD and it worked well. One thing I didn't realize was that on her bike until I got the pedals off is the chain goes through the frame. I couldn't figure out how to get the chain off (there maybe a super easy solution - this is not my area of expertise). I gathered the chain in a Ziploc bag and taped it to the underside of the seat. It had a scrotum-esque appearance but did the job.
pear / 1750 posts
Thanks guys! I sent a Glide Bike link to Grandna (my mom) and she’s already ordered it. It had a good rating on twowheelingtots.com so i hope it works out.
kiwi / 745 posts
We have the glide bike and it’s been great! My only complaint is the hand brake is hard for our kiddo to reach so she puts her feet down instead. But otherwise she figured it out in about a month? She rode it as a balance bike for awhile then told us she was ready for pedals, then figured it out all of a sudden one day.
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