Balance bikes: Catching the bicycling bug nice and early

The first time I put my 3-year-old son on a 'balance bike', he sat silently until a boy rattled past him on a little bicycle fitted with stabilisers. 'Why can't I have one like that, daddy?' he asked me wistfully.

The theory (entirely lost on him at the time) is simple: Remove a bicycle's pedals and you allow a child to concentrate fully on learning the tricky business of steering and balancing. After all, pedalling's the easy bit. And when the time comes, the transition to a conventional bicycle is a doddle.

In many cases, balance bikes aren't equipped with brakes. Just like the velocipede precursors of the bicycles we ride today, a child's feet are always near enough to the ground for shoe leather to do a good enough job of bringing them to a stop. Some models of balance bike include a rear brake that's adjusted to make it hard to skid the back wheel - although casting my own mind back to my own early years, performing a flamboyant handbrake turn-style skid was one of life's greatest joys.

Balance bikes are, by definition, simple. However, optional features include a stop on the steering to help prevent oversteer and pneumatic tyres obviously offer increased comfort and handling.

How young can a child be to ride a balance bike?

There was a time when learning to ride a bike involved little more than discarding rickety stabilisers on a wing and a prayer. Don't get us wrong, it's a an approach that worked for generations and continues to be the way most of us start our lives on two wheels. My own son decided balance bikes were not for him and took the stabilisers route without any problems at all. However, balance bikes offer an interesting alternative approach and offer the option of putting a kid on a bike at a really young age.

Looking like a cross between a child's bicycle and a Dyson wheelbarrow, the Velio by Easy Rider is aimed at children 10-24 months, but be warned; at £250, cheap it ain't.

Cheap balance bikes

Like the idea of a balance but want to save money? Get yourself a small kid's bicycle and remove the pedals and crank arms. When your child's ready you can simply re-fit them.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance (covers cargo bikes), breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK's most ethical provider.

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