My oldest grandson is at the age (3yrs 8mo) where it won't be long before he moves from a balance bike to a pedal bike. He has been racing "Stryder" bikes, aka balance bikes, for almost a year now. He started on borrowed bikes at the races and we bought him one for Christmas last year. We have seen his balance getting better and he really enjoys the races, so it's time to think ahead.

Rather than a taller balance bike and then a second pedal bike when the time comes, I looked for convertible bikes. Couldn't find anything here locally or stateside that looked good. But I did find Little Big Bikes out of Ireland. I liked what I saw of their system and took a chance. It arrived yesterday and it is so much better than I expected. Real components like cantilever brakes, threadless headset, ands great welds. The handle bars can be rotated to adjust for reach as well as the stem can be flipped.

So, if you have toddler that is riding a balance bike and will be in the transition to pedals stage soon, I can give this a thumbs up.

Price was $270.00 including shipping and was delivered in 10 calendar days.

https://www.littlebigbikes.com/


My Pics




From their site showing the three configurations.


First config is the rear tube curved down with brake on bottom. Smallest/Shortest configuration.



Second config is the rear tube curved up with brake on top. Raises the height about 2" and puts about 1" distance between handle bars and seat.



Third config is same as second, but adds the pedals and chainring.

After teaching both my boys to ride bikes, the biggest help I found was a seat with a handle on the back so the adult can hold on. We never had balance bikes.

I will say, buy a quality bike. We bought our son a bike from Wal Mart and it was a total POS. After just a few weeks of riding, then entire pedal-hub assembly came apart. It's still sitting next to my trash can. I need to throw it out when he's not looking.

Our neighbor gave us an REI Novara. That is a quality bike.

A seat like this:

I simply removed the pedals from the bike for my boys when they were learning.

It doesn't take long once they get the balance.

Cheers~

quote:

Originally posted by slyguy:
I simply removed the pedals from the bike for my boys when they were learning.

It doesn't take long once they get the balance.

Cheers~

+1

We had one Stryder bike for our girls but given a do-over I would have bought a 12" pedal bike right away and removed the pedals. We ended up needing the 12" and then 16" as skills increased. And now we're onto 20" and 24" but anyhow. I sold our 12" to a friend and suggested she do exactly what you said. If there's one suggestion it's to get a good brand that is as light as possible. We sold the Stryder used for $50-60 even after two kids. The Specialized 12" and 16" bikes also held their value and actually paid for the used bikes we got the as they have grown. I think we spent $10 more and now we have 20" and 24" Specialized bikes (used). The 20" is 7 speeds and the 24" is 21 speeds. Shop around!