Create a positive biking experience at a young age!
A Balance bike, also known as a running bike, prebike, or push bike, is an amazing educational toy that can teach your child how to ride a bike without tears, scraped knees and insecurities.
Children as young as 18 months old and up to older youth can benefit and enjoy the freedom of bike riding.
These ultra light bikes have no pedals, chains, or sprockets for little legs to get tangled up in, and are propelled by your child walking, running, then gracefully gliding down a pathway!
The balance bike is not only a fun toy for your child to enjoy everyday, but also teaches your child many skills such as coordination, balance, steering, motor skills and strength building.
One parent was amazed how their 2 year old was shy getting on their Prebike the first day and less than two weeks later can confidently go down a small hill with his feet off the ground and smiling the entire time!
You can see the excitement begin to grow as your child starts to gain confidence in their rapidly growing skills and start to ride like the 'big kids'.
A balance bike easily paves the way.
Many parents consider buying a tricycle as the first ride on toy for their kids. Some even purchase a pedal bike with training wheels, even though their child cannot touch the ground while sitting on the seat or safely get on and off on their own.
Toddler tricyles and pedal bikes with training wheels are very limiting and can even be a safety hazard when kids tip over because they haven't learned their balance.
Toddler trikes and training wheels are also limited to level pavement and are nearly impossible to push uphill! Parents who have gone through this faze will whole heartedly agree!
Another perk of a balance bike is that most of the smaller ones like the Strider Prebike, can fit nicely over the pushbar of a stroller
These pedal free bikes can manage a multitude of terrains and easily glide over grass, dirt, wooden bridges, and even bark. It's a breeze to go up and down curbs while riding through the neighborhood.
While enjoying the balance bike, your child is gradually learning the skills needed to transition to a pedal bike when they are ready.
Once a child learns to balance, glide, and steer, they can usually hop on a pedal bike (with no training wheels of course!) and be riding within one day.
In many European countries, where a child on a push bike is the norm, it is very common for children to be riding pedal bikes without training wheels by the age of three or four.
With the introduction of balance bikes over the last 4-5 years in the U.S and with hundreds of thousands sold in 2011, the reality of pedal biking by age 4 years in the US is no longer "an amazing" pnenomenon, but quite the norm.
Even though kids can now pedal bike at an earlier age, riding a balance bike is still fun and easy and enjoyed by kids up to age 5 or 6 when starting out on the small 12" models.
As pictured to the left, this 4 -5 year old girl is mastering trail riding in a fun and easy way and maintains full control of her bike.
Similarly, balance bikes are fun to take on camping trips, easy to pull out a rest stops on family vacations, and can change a boring trip to the store into an adventure!
Don't let your child miss out on this great opportunity to introduce biking to your child the fun and easy way - on a balance bike!
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