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My boy is 3 and has a wooden balance bike which he's starting to get the hang of, however he's quite tall (due to lanky parents!) and it's now getting too small for him, which I think is making it a little tricky as it's harder for him to lift his feet up, should we get him a bigger balance bike or go straight to a proper bike and remove the pedals until he's ready for them? Thanks
Why not just use a proper bike now?
My youngest is 3 and on a 14" frog, picked it up even easier than his big brother who waited until 4 for pedals.
Ime he's not ready to go to pedals unless he's confident gliding with his feet up and can clearly make balance adjustments both with body adjustment and steering input.
If he ticks these boxes, have at her and get him pedalling.
Early Rider do a 14" balance bike in a variety of flavours. This is the phattezt, and therefore most orsumz.
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However, if he's confident enough, and tall enough, get him on a Belter 16 instead. Little Miss CFH is a little older, so perhaps around the same height, and was on her Belter from around three and a half. If he's not confident enough, get the pedals off and get him having fun, then build up to it.
If he's really tall, no point buying him a 14" or a balance bike right now, as he'll grow out of it too soon. Get the largest bike he can safely scoot along on.
For info, Belter 16 Urban;
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and the Trail version;
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(Ritchey bar and stem on a kids bike. ORSUMNEZZ!)
Why not just use a proper bike now?
I don't think he's ready yet as he's only just starting out with trying to balance (as opposed to just walking the bike), and is no where near what BearBack described.
Buy a Cnoc 14 or 16 and remove the pedals, he'll be balancing in no time and braking properly a little after that.
Re-attache the pedals and do couple a couple of sessions on stabilisers to build up his pedaling strength and you'll be away...all on one bike.
I don't recall either of mine lifting their feet up for any great length of "scoot" and both of them got the balance of a pedal bike on their very first ride on one. Both were 3 years old when they first tried a pedal bike.
I'd get a small bike with pedals, and try them with pedals or remove them. But you might be surprised. I had more trouble explaining to mine that brakes don't have to be on/off, than getting them away and pedalling!
My 3 1/2 year old is at the max saddle height on his Ridgeback Scoot (which he loves and is in the process of learning to ride a Islabike CNOC 14) but Ridgeback make an XL version too that should be ideal.
what about a tall bike for a balanced 3 yo?
.....a balanced 3 yo
I don't think such a thing exists
My daughter was the same at 3 so I did what Daffy and mtbtomo suggested and bought a pedal bike, an Islabikes Cnoc 14, and removed the pedals. It worked a treat, but by the time she was pedalling at 3 ½ she was already getting too big for the 14 so with hindsight the Cnoc16 might’ve been the better choice, although I see Islabikes do a Cnoc14 large now which might be a good option.
The Cnoc 'large' is the same as before I think, it's the Cnoc small that's recently introduced with lower saddle and bars.
My lad is quite small, just gone for the Cnoc small at 3 3/4. Tend to ride pumptrack so wanted him to be able to get both feet down.
I rang Islabike, they were very helpful on sizing. Their size chart is good too.
We left the pedals off and he rode it all day the day it arrived, 2 days later he asked for pedals and was off.
He had a Rothan and also rides pedal bikes at nursery a lot, so put the two together quite well.