Jon Etheredge
07-19-2007, 09:42 PM
Rather than hijack the "My boy riding his two-wheeler" thread, I thought I start a new thread.
This quote came from the other thread...
Do you guys have those as well?
http://www.heos-ostbevern.de/bilder/angebote/laufrad.jpg
We gave one of those to my girlfriend's nephew in the UK. It proofed to be a very good idea, since the boy learned to keep his balance even before riding a "real" bike. He didn't have the typical problem of pushing the pedals and at the same time keeping his balance when he started with a bicycle. Much better than the training-wheel method of learning bike riding.
Yes, the pedal-less bikes for children are available in the US. The first time I saw one was in a mail order catalog a couple of years ago. That was a German made bike marketed under the name "Like-a-Bike". The Like-a-Bike is made of wood. It looked like a terrific idea but the price tag was a bit steep at about $250.00. So I built one for my son and gave it to him for Christmas when he was 3 years old.
This is the bike that I built for my son...
http://www.intergate.com/~jethered/images/wood_bike.jpg
The first couple of rides he wanted me to hold the bike up and push him. After that he wanted to push himself. Within 2 weeks he was zooming down the slight incline on our driveway at top speed, balancing and steering very well.
After riding the push bike countless miles in our driveway and at parks, my son got a pedal bike (without training wheels) for his 4th birthday. I helped him get going exactly one time. He wanted to do it himself after that (he gets his stubborn nature from both parents :)). He was able to balance, steer, and pedal without any problems from the beginning but it was a day or so until he was really comfortable getting started. He is almost 5 years old now and regularly rides his pedal bike alongside me on the 2 mile round trip up the dirt road to our mailbox.
Now the push bike gets handed down to our younger daughter.
In my experience, the push bike (pedal-less bike or whatever they are called) is a fantastic way to introduce children to bicycle riding. No trauma and no headaches for the child or the parents. Just the fun and sense of accomplishment for everybody.
In the past year, these bikes have become much more available here in the US. I have seen one in an Ace Hardware store that is sold under the Western Flyer name. A month or so ago, I saw at Target one for only $49.00. It is a Chinese knockoff but it looked pretty good. Both of those are wood versions similar to the Like-a-Bike. I noticed a steel one at a local bike shop that is being sold by Trek at around $150.00 I think.
It probably isn't economical to make one yourself anymore but if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to post or email info on how to make one yourself. The wheels cost about $10-15 each so if you can get the rest of materials out of your offcut pile you may be able to build one for less than it costs to buy one from Target. It's a fun project.
This quote came from the other thread...
Do you guys have those as well?
http://www.heos-ostbevern.de/bilder/angebote/laufrad.jpg
We gave one of those to my girlfriend's nephew in the UK. It proofed to be a very good idea, since the boy learned to keep his balance even before riding a "real" bike. He didn't have the typical problem of pushing the pedals and at the same time keeping his balance when he started with a bicycle. Much better than the training-wheel method of learning bike riding.
Yes, the pedal-less bikes for children are available in the US. The first time I saw one was in a mail order catalog a couple of years ago. That was a German made bike marketed under the name "Like-a-Bike". The Like-a-Bike is made of wood. It looked like a terrific idea but the price tag was a bit steep at about $250.00. So I built one for my son and gave it to him for Christmas when he was 3 years old.
This is the bike that I built for my son...
http://www.intergate.com/~jethered/images/wood_bike.jpg
The first couple of rides he wanted me to hold the bike up and push him. After that he wanted to push himself. Within 2 weeks he was zooming down the slight incline on our driveway at top speed, balancing and steering very well.
After riding the push bike countless miles in our driveway and at parks, my son got a pedal bike (without training wheels) for his 4th birthday. I helped him get going exactly one time. He wanted to do it himself after that (he gets his stubborn nature from both parents :)). He was able to balance, steer, and pedal without any problems from the beginning but it was a day or so until he was really comfortable getting started. He is almost 5 years old now and regularly rides his pedal bike alongside me on the 2 mile round trip up the dirt road to our mailbox.
Now the push bike gets handed down to our younger daughter.
In my experience, the push bike (pedal-less bike or whatever they are called) is a fantastic way to introduce children to bicycle riding. No trauma and no headaches for the child or the parents. Just the fun and sense of accomplishment for everybody.
In the past year, these bikes have become much more available here in the US. I have seen one in an Ace Hardware store that is sold under the Western Flyer name. A month or so ago, I saw at Target one for only $49.00. It is a Chinese knockoff but it looked pretty good. Both of those are wood versions similar to the Like-a-Bike. I noticed a steel one at a local bike shop that is being sold by Trek at around $150.00 I think.
It probably isn't economical to make one yourself anymore but if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to post or email info on how to make one yourself. The wheels cost about $10-15 each so if you can get the rest of materials out of your offcut pile you may be able to build one for less than it costs to buy one from Target. It's a fun project.