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2.5 years old, bicycle?
On Feb 4, 2:23*pm, mark 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 2 or 2.5 years old sounds early, how about age 3 or 4? some friends had their child on a tricycle for quite a while when his legs were so short he needed wooden blocks on the pedals, sometime after his 3rd birthday he was on a bicycle without training wheels. The training wheels caused more problems than they solved, BTW, he became a bit psychologically dependent on them. I like the thought of starting him early as reasonable. Why do you feel 2 or 2.5 is too early? Thanks for the tidbit on the training wheels. That is a discussion I will certainly have with his dad. |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
On Feb 4, 10:01*pm, " wrote:
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! That would be a perfect place. Provided of course it isn't too crowded. Little kids like to emulate, and if they can see what they are supposed to be doing watching everyone else play on their bikes, instead of sitting alone on one with a grown up saying all sorts of confusing things, I think that will work well. As for the age, as long as the kid is big enough to be able to scoot around, age doesn't matter. I know some kids who have been ice skating since 2. Joseph |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
On Feb 4, 10:24*pm, mark wrote:
wrote: I like the thought of starting him early as reasonable. *Why do you feel 2 or 2.5 is too early? Thanks for the tidbit on the training wheels. *That is a discussion I will certainly have with his dad. I spent quite a few years teaching children to ski, and "starting him as early as reasonable" was all too frequently a recipe for disaster. The two and three year olds that I encountered simply did not have the balance motor skills, muscle development and attention span that I associate with cycling. Young children are quite top-heavy, which makes balancing on 2 wheels (or on skis, etc.) more difficult than it is for an older child. I would suggest getting a 2 year old a tricycle that fits well, letting him play with it as much as he wants to, when he wants to, and sometime around age 3 1/2 to 4 he or she should be ready for a bicycle. mark Cross country skiing and general goofing off with cross country skis works fine for small kids. My kids' pre-school even had a reserved space for parking all the kids' skis. Playing around is a great way to teach balance. But like anyting with small kids, they have to want to do it. Downhill skiing is too structured IMO. You are supposed to go in one direction, the gear is super heavy and cumbersome, and it is difficult for the adults to move around to be available to help when necessary. I agree 2 might be too young for a bike, but I think a trike might spoil things later on. That's why I kind of like the idea of the Earlyriders. Also it separates learning to balance and steer from pedalling. And in th ebeginning, it is just walking with the bike between the kids legs. Joseph |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
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. The sensible solution would be a program where one could buy a used but high quality bicycle, with a trade-in credit for the next largest size. -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
On Feb 5, 3:51*am, Tom Sherman
wrote: aka Joseph Santaniello wrote: On Feb 4, 10:24 pm, mark wrote: wrote: I like the thought of starting him early as reasonable. *Why do you feel 2 or 2.5 is too early? Thanks for the tidbit on the training wheels. *That is a discussion I will certainly have with his dad. I spent quite a few years teaching children to ski, and "starting him as early as reasonable" was all too frequently a recipe for disaster. The two and three year olds that I encountered simply did not have the balance motor skills, muscle development and attention span that I associate with cycling. Young children are quite top-heavy, which makes balancing on 2 wheels (or on skis, etc.) more difficult than it is for an older child. I would suggest getting a 2 year old a tricycle that fits well, letting him play with it as much as he wants to, when he wants to, and sometime around age 3 1/2 to 4 he or she should be ready for a bicycle. mark Cross country skiing and general goofing off with cross country skis works fine for small kids. My kids' pre-school even had a reserved space for parking all the kids' skis. Playing around is a great way to teach balance. But like anyting with small kids, they have to want to do it. Downhill skiing is too structured IMO. You are supposed to go in one direction, the gear is super heavy and cumbersome, and it is difficult for the adults to move around to be available to help when necessary. I agree 2 might be too young for a bike, but I think a trike might spoil things later on. That's why I kind of like the idea of the Earlyriders. Also it separates learning to balance and steer from pedalling. And in th ebeginning, it is just walking with the bike between the kids legs. How about the smallest size of Razor type scooter to teach balance? -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia Those are a face-plant waiting to happen IMO. They are twitchy compared to even a small bike too, but if the kids thinks it is fun, I'm sure it would work. Joseph |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
On Feb 5, 3:50*am, Tom Sherman
wrote: 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. * The sensible solution would be a program where one could buy a used but high quality bicycle, with a trade-in credit for the next largest size. -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia Or just have lots of kids to get your money's worth! ;-) My bike club has a similar loan program for road bikes for older kids. Joseph |
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2.5 years old, bicycle?
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