joejack951

No, they don't. My son's Strider is about 7 lbs. (as others have noted) which allowed him to 'ride' it when he was only 1.25 years old. He grew out of that in under two years and is now on a 14 lbs. Islabikes CNOC 14 (lighter than most people's road bikes, even on this site). Not a cheap bike but one that will stay in the family for a while. At a few months shy of 4 years old, he's pedaling all over the place as of this past weekend when he finally cracked and decided to give the pedals a real try.

flyjimmy

Striders balance bikes weigh 6 lbs. They cost 79 bucks.

flyjimmy

My son got a strider at 1.5 and a Trek Jet 12 without training wheels on his 3rd birthday. He rode the Trek around the block on the first try. The foot brake took a few day to get used to. The jet 12 is a solid little bike that is geared low to help get up to speed and balance. Its one of the few 12 inch bike I have seen that looks like it was meant to be ridden without training wheels.
The jet 12 was about 160 bucks and I sold it 2 years later on CL in one day for 80. So not a bad deal for a great bike.

Darth Lefty 

So here's a report back. I bought him a Strider. He'll get it for Christmas. Bought the model with the QR's and second seat for $100, a Black Friday deal making it a good $20 less than Amazon.

There seems to be a pretty good delineation in this market between toddler toys made like toys and bikes made with standard bike parts, and the Strider seems to do the best job of straddling the line. The kiddo can fit on it ASAP, maybe even before he's able to ride it, but it will last him for at least a few years and then through more hypothetical kids. It's a very light design, due in part to its smaller-than-bike-standard tubing and also its foam tires. If the foam tires do wear out or get terrible, they are cheaply replaceable with standard 12" wheels with air tires, which will make it heavier, but he'll be ready by then.

I tried him on a Hotwalk and he seemed to get the idea but the minimum seat height was just too high and so was the price for very few features.

So I'll report back soon as he's on it, and then again once I'm shopping for a 16" bike...

Meerkat80

I got a used one, my daughter used it for 4 months then went onto a 'proper' bike. A friend of mine did what other people on here have suggested and taken the drive train off a standard bike and i remember when i was a kid I used a standard bike and just didn't use the pedals, that was in the days before balance bikes. I'm sounding old But I'd save your money for when they need a a bike form around 8 onwards when they start to care about what they have and what their friends have etc.

Darth Lefty 

I'd agree about "save your money" except this cost less than a set of brifters

Harhir

We started with a Skuut for my daughter. Back then there were hardly any balancing bikes on the market. No metal bikes and only very few wooden bikes. There was Likeabike (really expensive at around $300) and Skuut for less than a 1/3 of that price. My daughter loved it and used it for about two years. Also with the Skuut you can turn the frame around to have a lower seating position for starters.
https://akadad.wordpress.com/2013/09...-up-the-skuut/

It helped a lot and we basically did not have to use training wheels when she moved to a real bike.

But nowadays I would only pick one with brakes! She scared the the hell out of us riding downhill like a kamikaze and then was barely able to stop with her feet. And she ruined one pair of shoes after the other. With brakes they can stop more safely and the kids do not wear out a pair of shoes at one weekend.

Basically when you get one without brakes be aware that they will need new shoes every couple of weeks or sometimes even days..

Darth Lefty 

Yeah, I think right about the point he gets good enough on it to coast he might get an upgrade that has them. There's a spoon brake for the Strider Foot Brake - Accessories - Accessories and I think with some reasonable cleverness the mounting hole could be used for other brakes too. The low starting price and the upgrade path to bigger more advanced hardware is one of the reasons I picked this bike.

joejack951

Have you seen some of the awfulness passed off as kids' bikes these days? I bought an Islabikes CNOC 14 for my son when he was three (to replace his Strider) and he absolutely loves it. It fits his proportions perfectly and is simply a very high quality bike that can be passed down, or sold for most of what I paid for it. It might be a bit selfish but I want my kid to love cycling as much as I do, and so far he really does. I'm not so sure he would if he was on a Toys R Us boat anchor with unusable hand brakes and handlebars 4 inches too high and too close. I also wouldn't be so willing to strap a heavier bike to the top of my Burley trailer and tow him and the bike to the local parks like I do with the 12 lb. CNOC 14.

davidad

I tell people I see with small children to dump the training wheels, lower the seat until their feet are on the ground and remove the pedals. The kid teaches him or her self balance and within a few days to a week can ride.

prathmann

That's the approach we used. Got a used kid's bike that someone in the neighborhood had set out with a $25 sign and took the pedals off. A few hours in a deserted company parking lot and the pedals went back on.

atbman

As I've said before (probably ad nauseam), we teach 50+ kids a year using either our own el cheapo wooden balance bikes, or the kid's own bike minus pedals. Usually takes one 2-hour club session or less (5 minues was the record). Only once did I have to use the oldfashioned, pushing the kid along on their own bike [I]with[I] pedals because she was older (12/13 ish) and wouldn't countenance anything else. Took about 10/15 minutes because she was ready (age factor).

Always ceremonially present an "I Learned to Ride My Bike today" certificate - goes down well with the nippers.

Am seriously biased towards Islabikes through the range because:
a) beautifully made with proper child-relevant sized components (esp. brake levers and cranks)
and
b) resale value is fantastic so cost per week is vanishingly small

But then, I'm obviously preaching to the converted.

Dave Cutter

+1
I paid $5 (at a yard sale) for the (like new) one I got for my granddaughter.