What sort of bike can you get for a toddler? If older siblings or friends are racing around on "real" bicycles, your precocious toddler might beg you for one of his own.
You might assume that-- with training wheels-- your child is never too young for a bicycle.
You might even believe that-- with a little perseverance-- you can teach your little one to balance on his own.
Before you get too excited, take an objective look at your toddler and consider whether your child is developmentally-ready for a bike.
As we grow from infants to adults, our limbs become proportionally longer with respect to our bodies.
Most toddlers' legs are simply too short to effectively pedal and balance a conventional bicycle, a problem compounded by the fact that they are also exceptionally light relative to the bike.
Further complicating the physics is the fact that those smaller wheels create less gyroscopic stability, making it even harder for a small bicycle rider to stay upright.
If you are looking for a toddler bike, you have probably considered buying a traditional pedaled bike with training wheels or stabilizers.
Training wheels may help your toddler ride a bike without tipping over, but training wheels present their own problem in that they don't "train" anything.
In fact, training wheels can make it even harder to learn to ride a two-wheel bike.
As soon as the balance falls on a side training wheel, it is almost impossible to restore balance onto the main wheels without putting a foot on the ground.
One solution is to leave children asking for a toddler bike on tricycles until they are old enough to properly handle and ride a real bicycle.
But toddlers can be very persistent in their demands for a "big kid bike.
" A better toddler bike option is a stripped-down variant known as a balance bike: a two-wheeler with no pedals.
By dispensing with pedals, a balance bike does not require its rider to make the difficult transition from balancing on feet to pedaling up to a high enough speed that gyroscopic stability and intuitive steering inputs can keep it balanced.
Instead, toddlers can scoot along and lift their feet off the ground for as long as they are comfortable.
T Balance bikes allow toddlers to learn at their own rate, discovering the increase in stability that comes with increasing speeds.
It also gives them plenty of experience taking the "leap of faith" over the slow speed instability without having to commit to falling over if they are unable to pedal up to speed in time to catch their balance.
A balance bike is the ideal toddler bike because it safely helps young children learn to how ride a bicycle by balancing first and pedaling second.
Also, because it looks like a real bike, a balance bike may satisfy a toddler's desire to ride like bigger kids.
This toddler bike can be adorned with all the streamers, lights, and bells that draw toddlers to bigger bikes.
And if children spend enough riding balance bikes, they will be ready to balance a real pedal-bike without training wheels when they are finally big enough for one!
You might assume that-- with training wheels-- your child is never too young for a bicycle.
You might even believe that-- with a little perseverance-- you can teach your little one to balance on his own.
Before you get too excited, take an objective look at your toddler and consider whether your child is developmentally-ready for a bike.
As we grow from infants to adults, our limbs become proportionally longer with respect to our bodies.
Most toddlers' legs are simply too short to effectively pedal and balance a conventional bicycle, a problem compounded by the fact that they are also exceptionally light relative to the bike.
Further complicating the physics is the fact that those smaller wheels create less gyroscopic stability, making it even harder for a small bicycle rider to stay upright.
If you are looking for a toddler bike, you have probably considered buying a traditional pedaled bike with training wheels or stabilizers.
Training wheels may help your toddler ride a bike without tipping over, but training wheels present their own problem in that they don't "train" anything.
In fact, training wheels can make it even harder to learn to ride a two-wheel bike.
As soon as the balance falls on a side training wheel, it is almost impossible to restore balance onto the main wheels without putting a foot on the ground.
One solution is to leave children asking for a toddler bike on tricycles until they are old enough to properly handle and ride a real bicycle.
But toddlers can be very persistent in their demands for a "big kid bike.
" A better toddler bike option is a stripped-down variant known as a balance bike: a two-wheeler with no pedals.
By dispensing with pedals, a balance bike does not require its rider to make the difficult transition from balancing on feet to pedaling up to a high enough speed that gyroscopic stability and intuitive steering inputs can keep it balanced.
Instead, toddlers can scoot along and lift their feet off the ground for as long as they are comfortable.
T Balance bikes allow toddlers to learn at their own rate, discovering the increase in stability that comes with increasing speeds.
It also gives them plenty of experience taking the "leap of faith" over the slow speed instability without having to commit to falling over if they are unable to pedal up to speed in time to catch their balance.
A balance bike is the ideal toddler bike because it safely helps young children learn to how ride a bicycle by balancing first and pedaling second.
Also, because it looks like a real bike, a balance bike may satisfy a toddler's desire to ride like bigger kids.
This toddler bike can be adorned with all the streamers, lights, and bells that draw toddlers to bigger bikes.
And if children spend enough riding balance bikes, they will be ready to balance a real pedal-bike without training wheels when they are finally big enough for one!
SHARE
