In our Tech Q&A series, we tackle cycling queries – big or small, complex or simple – with insights from the BikeRadar team and trusted industry experts. Next up, a reader wants to know whether she should opt for a balance bike or a pedal bike with stabilisers for her two-year-old.
My son is turning two and is beginning to show real interest in riding a bike. Most people seem to think a balance bike is the better way to learn, but I’m worried about him falling and getting hurt. Are stabilisers really that bad an idea?
Sally Langton
It's great to hear your son is taking a real interest in riding bikes.
Senior technical writer and father of two Simon von Bromley reckons a balance bike is the better option in his experience.
His eldest son Freddie (now five years old) got a balance bike for his second birthday and rode it until he was three and a half, at which point he moved to a pedal bike without stabilisers, which he learned to ride in a day – fair play!
Simon explains a balance bike teaches a child the two hardest skills first in a safe way – balancing and steering. The pedalling comes later and is a much easier skill to add at a later date.
A two-year-old might not understand that they have to push forward on the pedals – and Simon explains how Freddie always wanted to follow the path of least resistance whenever he sat on a pedal bike when he was younger, which was to pedal backwards.
Stabilisers keep the bike upright to a point, but they don’t teach children any balance. The transition from riding with stabilisers to without them is a cliff-edge in terms of a steep learning curve – you’ve gone from riding a bike that you don’t have to balance on to suddenly having to find balance.
Since a children’s bike is heavier and rides faster than a balance bike, learning to balance on it while pedalling is a much scarier experience for a child.
Simon says it’s a more natural progression to head to a child’s bike without stabilisers from a balance bike.
On a balance bike, you can lower the saddle height so the child can put their feet flat on the floor.
Of course, you can fall off either type of bike, but you’re more likely to have a more serious crash on a bike with stabilisers than a balance bike because you’re travelling at a faster speed – we’d always advocate your little one wears a children’s bicycle helmet.
If you buy a balance bike, it’s worth opting for something that’s relatively lightweight if you can – a heavy steel bike is much less maneuverable for a child.
But there’s no right or wrong answer, and if you opt for a bike with stabilisers, that’s fine – but be aware this will delay learning the skill of balancing and there may be a steeper learning curve in the future.
