[Closed] what children's bicycle.. 3 yo girl

Second hand (if you can find one!) Early Rider Belter.

This is now on Child 2, and still awesome.

S/H is the key, they grow out of the first one very quickly, that early rider looks spot on especially if you are going to hand it onto another child before selling on.

don't rush them though, some kids take to it later than others and summer is better than winter for learning - I started my eldest (who has a November birthday) in May when she was 5 and it was pretty much instantaneous because she was a bit older and had grown enough to have the height and strength to control the bike under her. the previous summer she was all about the scooter which was a great way of getting round and learning balance. My youngest has just turned 5 and also cracked it last week 🙂

Defo start off on the balance bike, she'll be too small (and not strong enough probably) for a pedal bike. It will help her get started with balance, and used to freewheeling and steering.

The decathlon balance bikes are excellent value for money, and as well built as ones 2 or 3 times the price.

Then at 4 - 4 1/2 I'd say get something decent with 16" wheels. The early rider Belter as mentioned above is excellent, if quite pricey. Nice and light too, which is really important.

If she's never ridden before, I'd get her a second hand balance bike first. Mine have all used Islabike Rothans which appear to be perfect.

If she's just turning 3, most pedal bikes are too big. My eldest daughter was three in June & was already whizzing around on her Rothan, pulling skids and deliberately crashing into things (she's bonkers)  I was hoping she could go with a hand-me-down Cnoc 14 (Large) from her brother, but it was huge on her & completely lost all her riding confidence. So I begrudgingly replaced it with a Cnoc 14 (Small). She was up and pedalling in about 20 minutes.

My eldest is,  I think, soon to be of an age (3 in November) where she might enjoy her first two wheeled experience. Too early? if not where should I start? I’ve looked briefly at the balance bike thing but not hundred percent sold on their longevity. Naturally some children just may not be into bikes, but assuming for a moment she might, what sort of machinery should I be looking at as a kick off?

Balance bikes are great, there's always some generic alu ones on CRC or the like for £40. My daughter kept hers for 18 months, I gave it to someone in work for their Son. Built quality is erm, well, crap - plastic headset that just rattles whatever you do with it, but it really doesn't matter.

She's progressed onto a pedal bike now, took about 30 seconds for her to learn to pedal and ride it around, not quiet mastered the starting bit yet, but it'll come.

Compared to trying to teach our Son to ride after a trike, what a nightmare that was!

Daughter started at about the same age your Son is now, but she's quite small, if you can't get a suitable sized balance bike, a lot of people buy the smallest Frog / Islabike and remove the crank till they're used to it.

Great, thanks for the tips there guys. I'll have to revisit the balance bike idea i think! I should have mentioned budget, probably £50-£100 new if I'm looking at anything other than second hand. Money a little tighter than a tight thing with a second child (girl again) who arrived in the Spring.

ps PJay- my child in question is a girl 😉 However that tip of removing the cranks is a great one, ill bear that in mind as an option.

ps PJay- my child in question is a girl However that tip of removing the cranks is a great one, ill bear that in mind as an option.

Sorry, I got all confused in my old age.

Hang on OP, I've got a balance bike in need of a new owner, are you anywhere near Manchester ???

Cannot recommend getting a balance bike highly enough at that age. Get the best you can afford in the interests of lightness, durability and ease of selling on. At 3, something with a back brake would be handy to get them used to that before progressing to a pedal bike.

My 3yr old is still on his strider and enjoying it, he has recently started asking about pedals, so I'm thinking about getting the new one they are releasing soon.  I thought that was alot of money till I just looked up those early belters!

Still I have 2 boys so it'll get used...

Id have to echo the balance bike first recommendation based on my experience.  It's not exactly scientific but:

Child 1 no balance bike. Proper bike with stabilisers and took ages for her to get the hang of "balance" once we took them off. Quite a lot of tears too.

Child 2 balance bike from 3 ish. Day one (actually more like 30 seconds) on proper bike and he's off. No problems.

They rode on two wheels on the same day about 1 minute apart.  Child one had a nearly 2 year advantage.

Balance is much harder to master than pedalling.

Get a nice light balance bike, the lighter the better. We just sold our (pink) Islabike Rothan for £75, so maybe look at something similar? Our daughter loved it from age two until just before her fourth birthday, she got good enough on it so I could go out for a jog with her 😂 she then moved seamlessly onto a Cnoc 16, which lasted a year and is now on a Vitus 20 scaring the living daylights out of me with her lack of fear and love of going fast. She even points out steep trails we need to push our bikes up so she can “zoom” down. All her bike skills come from her balance bike, probably one of the best things I have ever spent money on considering the smiles per miles. If your little girl is as fearless as ours, then IXS do a brilliant range of kids pads once she gets on a pedal bike (basically adult MTB pads for children), that fit well from an early age and are comfortable enough so they forget them.

At 3, I’d be going for either the ER above or a Cnoc 14 with stabilisers.

They need to learn 2 things, balance and pedalling.  Remove the cranks and the6 get the balance add the cranks and the stabilisers and they’ll get pedalling within a few weeks at which point you can remove the stabilisers.

This worked perfectly for mine.