Three Years Old On The Two Wheeler

Wobbegong

Well-Known Member
Wanting to foster a good start for my son in biking, I bought him a balance bike for his third birthday late last summer. He got on it, walked around on it a bit the 1st day, slowly getting faster over the half hour he tried it inside the house. The next day, I took him outside with it. He took a few steps, lifted his feet and glided about 10 feet and dragged his feet to a stop. The smile on his face was huge when he realized he could do it! 10 minutes later, he was going over 100 feet at a time without putting his feet down. I was so proud of him. Now he is carving turns and riding roots. He likes to pile up the garden hose at the end of the driveway and ride over it going "Super fast", as he says.

I shot this video of us goofing off in the driveway. This is our daily routine. I don't get out much since the twins were born, so this is my time on the bike lately. I think this guy is going to be a monster on the bike when he's older, considering his skill set at 3....

A lot of our neighbors stop to watch him. They cant believe he doesn't have training wheels. Get one of these balance bikes for your kids! Start em young. :getsome:

http://vimeo.com/27076074
 
He is so cute.
That car will get some scratches in it. Just part of life with kids and a car in the driveway.
 
These push bikes are great. My son learned on the same thing and he loves it. Before he turned 4, he learned to ride a pedal bike w/o training wheels, but still prefers his push bike.
 
My son learned on the same thing and he loves it. Before he turned 4, he learned to ride a pedal bike w/o training wheels, but still prefers his push bike.

Im going to wait on the pedal bike until next spring/summer. He's loving the push bike so much, I dont want to switch it up on him yet. I don't plan on using training wheels for the pedal bike either.
 
J! This is great. Totally made my day.

I have a rule at the shop that I won't sell training wheels to a parent if their kid is older than 5. I think they make it harder to learn.

Balance bikes are key at a young age. I figure if you can walk, you can handle a balance bike.

Keep it up. I can't wait for his 1st visit to 6mr.
 
I have a rule at the shop that I won't sell training wheels to a parent if their kid is older than 5. I think they make it harder to learn.

Great Rule!

Our son is just learning to ride his bike without training wheels. He's shown very little interest in learning until two days ago. We haven't pushed him at all until now... he asked for no training wheels, so we jumped at the opportunity. The first night was a little rough, but last night he pedaled a good hundred feet or so until he panicked and stopped.

Anyway, the point of my comment... I can see that the training wheels have developed bad habits. They taught him nothing of balance. They taught him that he can look around and not pay attention. They taught him that he can take his hands off the bars. They taught him that he can jump off the bike without the bike (or him) falling.

Really, I don't know that the training wheels are beneficial at all. He needs to completely reprogram his idea of "riding a bike" thanks to the training wheels.
 
J when all your children are done doing the balance act, I'll probably have one ready to hop on 🙂 thanks for taking the depreciation 😉
 
J when all your children are done doing the balance act, I'll probably have one ready to hop on 🙂 thanks for taking the depreciation 😉

You are 1st in line. 🙂

is one of the wooden ones because my wife liked the looked of it better and it was cheaper than the like a bike one. Only problem is the handlebar split but never fully cracked.

You can see it at the beginning of this video.


I looked at the wooden bikes too. They do look cool. I was nervous about how it would handle the beating of a 3 year old, so I went with metals.
 
Last edited:
Im going to wait on the pedal bike until next spring/summer. He's loving the push bike so much, I dont want to switch it up on him yet. I don't plan on using training wheels for the pedal bike either.


very cool video, he'll have such an advantage once on a pedal bike.

when my youngest was 2 we bought him a Strider Balance Bike and loved it. On his 3rd Bday has was riding a pedal bike w/o training wheels. Now at 5 he's jumping off curbs chasing his two older brothers.

It's relatively cheap and did the trick:
http://www.mystriderbike.com/?gclid=CLit0IWis6oCFQUHbAod0zUn-A

The Smile is priceless...
 
Back
Top Bottom