Working, so can only respond briefly. Thank you so much mhifoe and mel2012 for sharing how your kids go the distance. My own exposure to balance bikes has been limited. It is interesting to hear how they've worked out for others.

Mel2012, good point about the crutch business. It helps when parents are involved.

In my own case, when I was young, it was a bored and very nice group of high-school girls from the across the street who decided one day to train me. Well, it doesn't get any better than that. They ran me around the block and stayed with me and caught me when I fell, and suddenly I wasn't falling anymore.