Kiddies and pedal bicycles, what age?

[Big H*]

My Grandson turns 3 in June. Will he be old enough to upgrade to a pedal cycle. When he goes downhill on his push bikes (y-bike or pneumatic tyre steel frame) he balances perfectly. He also has a John Deere tractor with pedals, which he pedals quite well.

 

What type of chain driven bike and where??

[Big H*]

Nobody has kids???? Al sterile due to too much saddle time I guess????

[timM]

My kids both started on pedal bikes at 3 - both on 12 inch avalanche bikes (R600 or so). Go for it!

[TNT1]

Three sounds fine, sling some fairy wheels on it to start, and take em off when he's good to go.

[Heckflosse]

Nobody has kids???? Al sterile due to too much saddle time I guess????

:w00t:

[Tumbleweed]

My kids both started on pedal bikes at 3 - both on 12 inch avalanche bikes (R600 or so). Go for it!

 

Agreed. Young kids sometimes struggle with the back-pedal brake when they first start. They often seem to do a kinda half-pedal thing then stop. Get him used to it by starting him off on a slight downward slope, to help him get used to the momentum and full pedal stroke.

[SeaBee]

Yeah, mine was also around 3 when she started off on pedal bike. I got her used to going without wheels a bit later with the slight downward slope balance idea, where she could just put her foot down. But that's another bridge on another day...

[RudoJ]

Good to see I'm not the only one doing what I do.

Bought a little bmx type bike for my son for Xmas. He turned 3 in Feb this year. He didnt want to have anything to do with it for a while. Then we dusted off his old trike, and we started going for a "ride" each day of the week since beginning of this month. In the complex where we stay there is a slight downward slope and he pedals all the way down to our house. After a while he said he wants to try out the BMX'ie.

 

Like Tumbleweed said, he also does that half pedal kinda thing now. But thats a nice improvement from where we started and he enjoys it so much. Dont think it would be long before we can take those side wheels off...

[Headshot]

At 2.5 my son was on a jd bug at 4 or so on a 16" plus training wheels and eventually without the training wheels. At 5 he went to a 20" Merida kids 7spd mtb and rides singeltrack quite well. Kids bikes seem to suffer from poor gearing. Kids hate hills and even with 7speed gears there isnt one low enough. Am thinking of trying to get a small front ring for the merida to help him on the hills.

 

The other trick I use which works well is to get a cheap piece of ski rope to tow with. I attach it to my sons steerer tube and my seat tube and pull him up the steep jeep track at Tokai - works well, mostly quite safe and opens up new places to ride for kiddo and a good if harsh workout for Dad.