My eldest at almost 11 years old still can’t ride a bike if it doesn’t have stabilisers. We tried to teach her but she gave up and insisted she didn’t want to learn. So we left it and didn’t push her. Back then I hadn’t heard of balance bikes – were they even around 6 years ago?
Bee has learnt how to ride a bike with stabilisers even though she is still a bit wobbly. But when we got the chance to try out the Chicco Pink Arrow balance bike from Kiddies Kingdom we decided it was worth checking out.
I have to admit when I first heard about balance bikes I was a bit sceptical. Bikes….without peddles?? What’s the point in those!? But I have heard friends and fellow bloggers rave about them so it did make me curious.
The benefits of balance bikes seem to be that they are simpler to use as they have no pedals and they are easy to control as they can only go as fast as the little one can make it go with their strength….with pedals it can get easy to get carried away and keep pedalling! They are also meant to help with balance, therefore making it easier to later learn to ride a bike with pedals and no stabilisers.
I personally loved this balance bike as it was so lightweight. The bike arrives in 2 separate parts but is very easy to put together. It literally took me less than 5 minutes.
Once it was all together there was no stopping Bee. She was whizzing around with it indoors and insisted on taking it with us when we went to the grandparents house….and then she was riding it around inside their house.
The real test though is when we took it out to the park.
The bike is for ages 3-5 years and Bee is now 4. I wasn’t sure if it would be too small for her but she seemed to manage on it OK. She was quite happy riding it around the park but I noticed she was often standing too. However I think that is more because she was still getting used to it. The steering is nice and light and the bike itself is also lightweight enough for Bee to pick up herself if she needs to.
Is a balance bike better than one with peddles and stabilisers?
I think I will reserve my judgement on that just yet. As it has been cold we haven’t got out as much as I would have liked with the balance bike. Bee does seem to love it and hasn’t asked for her other bike yet. And I know a lot of my friends have said they love these bikes and they have helped their children move straight on to bikes with pedals and no stabilisers. It will be interesting to see if later on she does easily transition to a ‘big’ bike.
The bike receives a big thumbs up from Bee. However that could just be because the bike is pink! But if you don’t like pink then the bike also comes in yellow and red.
Do your children have a balance bike? What do you think of them?
Read our review of the toddle bike which is also perfect to use before a balance bike.
Disclosure: We were sent a balance bike for the purposes of review. However all thoughts and opinions are our own.
Balance bikes do sound great as a stepping stone, fortunately with a bit of bribery we managed to get our two riding bikes, but it wasn’t easy! Maybe this would have sped up the process x
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Our youngest had a balance bike and transitioned really well to a real bike. The older one had stabilisers on his bike and was the same – i think they both give children extra confidence in the saddle. x
How brilliant is this. I feel so bad that my three can’t ride and I worry most about my 10 year old, I feel like we should have done something by now. I love the idea of balance bikes, such a great way to get them started.
For some reason mine could never get the hang of a balance bike, she looks like she is enjoying it though
I remember seeing this on one of your social media platforms. This does look like an interesting and useful product. Right now, my son is riding the Toddlebike2 and he enjoys it. Will look into this one after a year maybe.
I was also like what!…bikes without pedals. But seems like a lot of fun.
We see balance bikes a lot in Singapore and we used one for my youngest boy and he learned how to ride really confidently and quickly
That’s a cool bike for kids…without peddles…i think it will give good exercise to the feet of the kids…
I’ve never heard of balance bikes before but seems like a good idea
I have no experience with balance bikes so it would be good to see a follow up to this post inshaAllah. I loved the little clip of Bee on the bike, so cute Allahumma barik laha
Balance bikes our really popular with the lil ones at our local park! It’s a great confident builder I think for young learners !
That looks so fun! I think I’ll get a balance bike for my daughter soon! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hmmm it looks quite interesting.
The idea is great because children will learn easily & they will have fun too.
Loved this!
We love balance bikes, Emmy sadly never took to one but Harry loved it
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