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2.5 years old, bicycle?



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 4th 08, 02:43 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
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Posts: 1,299
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. The question: what kind? Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?

TIA

Dan
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  #2  
Old February 4th 08, 03:49 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
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Posts: 1,611
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 2:43*pm, " wrote:
My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?

TIA

Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/

I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.

My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.

Good luck!

Joseph


  #3  
Old February 4th 08, 04:24 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
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Posts: 1,299
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 9:49*am, "
wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:43*pm, " wrote:

My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/

I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.

My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.

Good luck!

Joseph


Cool link, thanks for the heads up. A pushbike hadn't even crossed my
mind, but it makes sense.

Why avoid training wheels? There's the obvious aspect of learning
balance, but it seems like if the kid is too young to balance it on
his own the training wheels would get him on the bike sooner, no? I
guess with a pushbike he can work on balance while pushing himself
along, which could be beneficial. I've just never heard a strong anti-
training wheels perspective in the past, so I'm curious on the
reasoning.

Any tips from your 3 year old you'd care to share on the learning
curve?
  #4  
Old February 4th 08, 06:09 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,611
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 4:24*pm, " wrote:
On Feb 4, 9:49*am, "



wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:43*pm, " wrote:


My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/


I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.


My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.


Good luck!


Joseph


Cool link, thanks for the heads up. *A pushbike hadn't even crossed my
mind, but it makes sense.

Why avoid training wheels? *There's the obvious aspect of learning
balance, but it seems like if the kid is too young to balance it on
his own the training wheels would get him on the bike sooner, no? *I
guess with a pushbike he can work on balance while pushing himself
along, which could be beneficial. *I've just never heard a strong anti-
training wheels perspective in the past, so I'm curious on the
reasoning.

Any tips from your 3 year old you'd care to share on the learning
curve?


My oldest learned quite quickly when he was 3. We didn't use training
wheels. He wore a jeans jacket that gave me a good grasp on the back.
I walked/jogged alongside steering him via his jacket. This meant he
had to learn to keep the bike under him. It took about 45 minutes.
Gloves makes a big difference because if the kid falls, they don't
scrape up their palms, which in addition to being painful, does not
help most kids' enthusiasm.

Here he is about 1 week after getting the bike working on his spin:

http://arbitrary.org/iagobike.mov
And 2 years later near 5th birthday, he'd moved up to 16" wheels. I
think a suitably sized bike is very important:
http://arbitrary.org/jump.JPG

My daughter took a while longer to learn. This I attibute to the
trikes she used at her pre-school. Steering a trike or a bike with
training wheels is completely different from steering a bike, and
needs to be unlearned. That takes time and makes the kid apprehensive
about the bike because it doesn't work the way they expect it to.

It has been suggested that a small bike with the cranks removed is
also a good way to get the kid scooting around, and I may do that with
my youngest who is only 1.5 now (so I have a while to decide) but I'm
pretty sure I'll hear it about "why does my bike have the pedals taken
off? Put them on!" but with one of those Easyrider bikes that won't be
an issue. I'm a softy I guess, but I also don't want there to be any
conflict around the whole bike riding concept.

Joseph
  #5  
Old February 4th 08, 06:25 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,299
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 12:09 pm, "
wrote:
On Feb 4, 4:24 pm, " wrote:





On Feb 4, 9:49 am, "


wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:43 pm, " wrote:


My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. The question: what kind? Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/


I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.


My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.


Good luck!


Joseph


Cool link, thanks for the heads up. A pushbike hadn't even crossed my
mind, but it makes sense.


Why avoid training wheels? There's the obvious aspect of learning
balance, but it seems like if the kid is too young to balance it on
his own the training wheels would get him on the bike sooner, no? I
guess with a pushbike he can work on balance while pushing himself
along, which could be beneficial. I've just never heard a strong anti-
training wheels perspective in the past, so I'm curious on the
reasoning.


Any tips from your 3 year old you'd care to share on the learning
curve?


My oldest learned quite quickly when he was 3. We didn't use training
wheels. He wore a jeans jacket that gave me a good grasp on the back.
I walked/jogged alongside steering him via his jacket. This meant he
had to learn to keep the bike under him. It took about 45 minutes.
Gloves makes a big difference because if the kid falls, they don't
scrape up their palms, which in addition to being painful, does not
help most kids' enthusiasm.

Here he is about 1 week after getting the bike working on his spin:

http://arbitrary.org/iagobike.mov
And 2 years later near 5th birthday, he'd moved up to 16" wheels. I
think a suitably sized bike is very important:http://arbitrary.org/jump.JPG

My daughter took a while longer to learn. This I attibute to the
trikes she used at her pre-school. Steering a trike or a bike with
training wheels is completely different from steering a bike, and
needs to be unlearned. That takes time and makes the kid apprehensive
about the bike because it doesn't work the way they expect it to.

It has been suggested that a small bike with the cranks removed is
also a good way to get the kid scooting around, and I may do that with
my youngest who is only 1.5 now (so I have a while to decide) but I'm
pretty sure I'll hear it about "why does my bike have the pedals taken
off? Put them on!" but with one of those Easyrider bikes that won't be
an issue. I'm a softy I guess, but I also don't want there to be any
conflict around the whole bike riding concept.

Joseph- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Very cool, and thank you for taking the time to give such a thoughtful
response. Your son is way too cute, I can only hope Wes is jumping
with such enthusiasm at such a young age. His father is a phenomenal
BMXer who has been featured in a video or two, so he's got the genes
for it. This is gonna be fun, I can feel it.

I still remember the first time I rode 2 wheels alone. I was at my
Uncle Manuel's house, and my dad was holding the seat to keep me
upright while I rode. He decided I had enough balance and let me go,
without me knowing. I made it about 100 feet (that's a guesstimate
from a childhood memory, so it's likely way off) without any issue.
The second I realized I was doing it on my own I got scared and
crashed. I had the bug, though, and got right back on it. Haven't
looked back since.

At what age would you start to consider the pedal-less bike? Wes is
a hair over 2 now, and it seems like he might already be able to
handle that, but I don't want to come in too strong too early and
spook him out of interest.
  #6  
Old February 4th 08, 06:37 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,611
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 6:25*pm, " wrote:
On Feb 4, 12:09 pm, "



wrote:
On Feb 4, 4:24 pm, " wrote:


On Feb 4, 9:49 am, "


wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:43 pm, " wrote:


My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/


I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.


My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.


Good luck!


Joseph


Cool link, thanks for the heads up. *A pushbike hadn't even crossed my
mind, but it makes sense.


Why avoid training wheels? *There's the obvious aspect of learning
balance, but it seems like if the kid is too young to balance it on
his own the training wheels would get him on the bike sooner, no? *I
guess with a pushbike he can work on balance while pushing himself
along, which could be beneficial. *I've just never heard a strong anti-
training wheels perspective in the past, so I'm curious on the
reasoning.


Any tips from your 3 year old you'd care to share on the learning
curve?


My oldest learned quite quickly when he was 3. We didn't use training
wheels. He wore a jeans jacket that gave me a good grasp on the back.
I walked/jogged alongside steering him via his jacket. This meant he
had to learn to keep the bike under him. It took about 45 minutes.
Gloves makes a big difference because if the kid falls, they don't
scrape up their palms, which in addition to being painful, does not
help most kids' enthusiasm.


Here he is about 1 week after getting the bike working on his spin:


http://arbitrary.org/iagobike.mov
And 2 years later near 5th birthday, he'd moved up to 16" wheels. I
think a suitably sized bike is very important:http://arbitrary.org/jump.JPG


My daughter took a while longer to learn. This I attibute to the
trikes she used at her pre-school. Steering a trike or a bike with
training wheels is completely different from steering a bike, and
needs to be unlearned. That takes time and makes the kid apprehensive
about the bike because it doesn't work the way they expect it to.


It has been suggested that a small bike with the cranks removed is
also a good way to get the kid scooting around, and I may do that with
my youngest who is only 1.5 now (so I have a while to decide) but I'm
pretty sure I'll hear it about "why does my bike have the pedals taken
off? Put them on!" but with one of those Easyrider bikes that won't be
an issue. I'm a softy I guess, but I also don't want there to be any
conflict around the whole bike riding concept.


Joseph- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


Very cool, and thank you for taking the time to give such a thoughtful
response. *Your son is way too cute, I can only hope Wes is jumping
with such enthusiasm at such a young age. *His father is a phenomenal
BMXer who has been featured in a video or two, so he's got the genes
for it. *This is gonna be fun, I can feel it.

I still remember the first time I rode 2 wheels alone. *I was at my
Uncle Manuel's house, and my dad was holding the seat to keep me
upright while I rode. *He decided I had enough balance and let me go,
without me knowing. *I made it about 100 feet (that's a guesstimate
from a childhood memory, so it's likely way off) without any issue.
The second I realized I was doing it on my own I got scared and
crashed. *I had the bug, though, and got right back on it. *Haven't
looked back since.

At what age would you start to consider the pedal-less bike? * Wes is
a hair over 2 now, and it seems like he might already be able to
handle that, but I don't want to come in too strong too early and
spook him out of interest.


That Earlyrider Lite bike says the seat goes down to 29cm from the
ground. So if the kid can straddle it, go for it! Non-summer is a good
time too because they can have a bit more clothes on to help reduce
scrapes.

If dad and a few other folks are riding BMX bikes around and the kid
has one of those, I'm sure it will go quickly and the kid will like
it. If others ar einvolved and it is a general goof-off session for
everyone, the kids see it as playing, not as some task.

Joseph
  #9  
Old February 4th 08, 10:01 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,299
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 12:37*pm, "
wrote:
On Feb 4, 6:25*pm, " wrote:





On Feb 4, 12:09 pm, "


wrote:
On Feb 4, 4:24 pm, " wrote:


On Feb 4, 9:49 am, "


wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:43 pm, " wrote:


My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


http://www.earlyrider.com/


I have no direct experience with them, but I might try with my number
3 in a while.


My other son learned on a 12" wheeled BMX style bike when he as 3.
Avoid training wheels at all costs. Some dept-store 12" wheeled bike
have a super high bottom bracket, which should be avoided. Some kids
bikes come with much too tall gearing, and a rear sproket change is
called for. Hand brakes are to be avoided. Adjsuting the bearings on a
new kids' bike is a good idea, as they often are WAY too tight.


Good luck!


Joseph


Cool link, thanks for the heads up. *A pushbike hadn't even crossed my
mind, but it makes sense.


Why avoid training wheels? *There's the obvious aspect of learning
balance, but it seems like if the kid is too young to balance it on
his own the training wheels would get him on the bike sooner, no? *I
guess with a pushbike he can work on balance while pushing himself
along, which could be beneficial. *I've just never heard a strong anti-
training wheels perspective in the past, so I'm curious on the
reasoning.


Any tips from your 3 year old you'd care to share on the learning
curve?


My oldest learned quite quickly when he was 3. We didn't use training
wheels. He wore a jeans jacket that gave me a good grasp on the back.
I walked/jogged alongside steering him via his jacket. This meant he
had to learn to keep the bike under him. It took about 45 minutes.
Gloves makes a big difference because if the kid falls, they don't
scrape up their palms, which in addition to being painful, does not
help most kids' enthusiasm.


Here he is about 1 week after getting the bike working on his spin:


http://arbitrary.org/iagobike.mov
And 2 years later near 5th birthday, he'd moved up to 16" wheels. I
think a suitably sized bike is very important:http://arbitrary.org/jump.JPG


My daughter took a while longer to learn. This I attibute to the
trikes she used at her pre-school. Steering a trike or a bike with
training wheels is completely different from steering a bike, and
needs to be unlearned. That takes time and makes the kid apprehensive
about the bike because it doesn't work the way they expect it to.


It has been suggested that a small bike with the cranks removed is
also a good way to get the kid scooting around, and I may do that with
my youngest who is only 1.5 now (so I have a while to decide) but I'm
pretty sure I'll hear it about "why does my bike have the pedals taken
off? Put them on!" but with one of those Easyrider bikes that won't be
an issue. I'm a softy I guess, but I also don't want there to be any
conflict around the whole bike riding concept.


Joseph- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


Very cool, and thank you for taking the time to give such a thoughtful
response. *Your son is way too cute, I can only hope Wes is jumping
with such enthusiasm at such a young age. *His father is a phenomenal
BMXer who has been featured in a video or two, so he's got the genes
for it. *This is gonna be fun, I can feel it.


I still remember the first time I rode 2 wheels alone. *I was at my
Uncle Manuel's house, and my dad was holding the seat to keep me
upright while I rode. *He decided I had enough balance and let me go,
without me knowing. *I made it about 100 feet (that's a guesstimate
from a childhood memory, so it's likely way off) without any issue.
The second I realized I was doing it on my own I got scared and
crashed. *I had the bug, though, and got right back on it. *Haven't
looked back since.


At what age would you start to consider the pedal-less bike? * Wes is
a hair over 2 now, and it seems like he might already be able to
handle that, but I don't want to come in too strong too early and
spook him out of interest.


That Earlyrider Lite bike says the seat goes down to 29cm from the
ground. So if the kid can straddle it, go for it! Non-summer is a good
time too because they can have a bit more clothes on to help reduce
scrapes.

If dad and a few other folks are riding BMX bikes around and the kid
has one of those, I'm sure it will go quickly and the kid will like
it. If others ar einvolved and it is a general goof-off session for
everyone, the kids see it as playing, not as some task.

Joseph- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


We should take him to the skatepark with our 20"s, now that you
mention it. That's a sure way to show that this is play and not work!
  #10  
Old February 4th 08, 10:03 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,299
Default 2.5 years old, bicycle?

On Feb 4, 12:43*pm, Just A User wrote:
wrote:
My best friends older son is just a hair over 2 years old. *In the
next few months I expect him to get to the point where he could enjoy
having a bicycle. *The question: *what kind? *Generally speaking I
avoid *mart bikes like the plague, but my LBS doesn't have much geared
to the 2 year old. *Any ideas, suggestions, or tips on what to look
for when purchasing a first bike for this young lad?


TIA


Dan


Dan, I would agree that a mart bike is bad, but on the other hand, if
the son is two years old, he is growing like a weed, so why spend too
much money on something that the kid is going to literally out grow very
quickly. Buy a mart bike and just make sure that you give it a good
looking over to make sure there are no obvious safety issues with it.


I have given that aspect some thought as well. At 2 he very well may
not ever notice the difference between a real bike and a BST. I know
just about nothing when it comes to raising kids, so I'm trying to get
a feel from those that have been there and done that. Thanks for your
input.
 




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