When Do Children Start Riding Bicycles?

My 4 year old has ZERO interest in riding her bike. We tried repeatedly all summer, but no-go. The only down-side to buying a bike now would be that your kids may not be interested until the bikes are too small.

I always disliked the idea of bikes for Christmas....unless you live where it's warm and never snows, it's a gift that the poor kids have to just LOOK at for months! :)

2 moms found this helpful

A friend of mine got the balance bike for her son when he was 2 1/2. He was riding a regular bike with no training wheels when he was 3 1/2. I think it just depends on the kid.

My son didn't get the hang of pedaling on a tricycle until after he was 3. I know it's going to take him a lot longer to learn to ride without training wheels, but he loves his bike - with pedals and training wheels. He got it for his 4th birthday.

one of mine started at 5 and the other at 4.

My son rode a bike right after he turned 3. He rode on a wooden balance bike for about a month and then switched to a regular two-wheeler. That said, he IS very coordinated and always have been.

If they're interested, go ahead and get them the bikes. Given my experience with the balance bike, I'd say it was fantastic, but in hindsight I would have just gone straight to a little bike. Keep the seat low and they can push around with their feet on the real thing :)

Now that he's almost 5 more kids are riding bikes without trainers, so I think probably 4.5-6 is pretty normal for a two-wheeler.

HTH
T.

Not sure what a balance bike is, but a regular two wheeler with training wheels sounds great for your kids. Everyone I know had their kids riding those kind by 3, my 5 year old still has training wheels(he is to scared to try without) and my 3 1/2 year old wants his off but is not ready at all. They also loved the big wheels a lot.

We started with tricycles at 2. Training wheels and 4 and you are on your own at 6. This is going to be different for each kid though. Really it take some longer to figure out the balance and coordination of it all.

My son was 4 when he started with training wheels, then at 5 we took them off. He's great on it after a summer of riding.

3.5 seems young to me. My second was 3 all summer (he'll be four next month), and had no interest in the two wheel bike (with training wheels), but rode a trike and by the end of the summer, he's really good on it.

J.

I'm... err... Santa is bringing a bike for Christmas which coincides with her 4th b-day. She's asking for one so that indicates to me, its time. And, its warm and never snows: ) This is an opportunity for my dtr and I to start riding together. I figure w/ training wheels and practice we'll get on some good paths soon. Interested in what mum4ever wrote about the cerebellum!
Best,
J.

I would personally wait. My oldest was 5, my next child wouldn't try until sh was 7(!) and my thirld child was 4. That was without pedals. If you're getting bikes with training wheels then definitely go for it!

Both of my kids loved riding trikes and their bikes with training wheels from really early ages. My son was riding with training wheels at 3 and riding like a maniac (down hills, and stairs) by 4. My daughter at 6 went easily from training wheels to none because she was competing with her brother (otherwise she didn't have that much interest in learning to riding without training wheels.) It so depends on their interest and environment for practicing.

. My 3.5 y.o. daughter got her bike when she was 2.5. It has training wheels, and she loves to ride it. This year she rides about 2 miles at a time, and when the weather was a little warmer, she would like to do that once or twice a week. She has a Specialized bike that was purchased at a local bike shop. It was not cheap, but seeing her friends with cheaper bikes from Walmart or Target who are not interested in biking, makes me think it was worth it. She has tried some of her friends bikes, and they are much harder to pedal. She is able to ride more smoothly on her bike, and as a result enjoys biking. The bike shop allows us to trade it in for 50% toward a larger model when the time comes.

My son was 3 when he learned to ride a 2 wheeler, later that same summer we took of his training wheels and he did great. My older son had a harder time, he was 4 when he started riding and 5 before we took off his trainers. It really depends on the kids and how much practice time you can provide for them.

Well.... both my kids at about 2 years old.... were riding their tricycles.
My son is now 4... and he can ride his sister's 2-wheel bike, if we lower the seat for him. He can reach the pedals.
My daughter who is 8... rides with no training-wheels now... so when my son is on her bike... we just help him by holding onto the back of the bike.

We got my oldest son his first bicycle for his 4th birthday this past March. It has training wheels, and he loves it. He isn't into the training wheels being removed yet, and I figure that will come with time and getting a little older. He had lots of pedal toys before that too -tricycle, Big Wheel, etc. They make bicycles smaller than the one we got him, so they would fit a 3.5 year old.

between 2 and 3 - my son is large for his age so he was riding his at about 2 1/2. it is a regular bike (small, like 18" i think?) with training wheels.

My son turns three mid January and he will be receiving his first two wheeler (with training wheels) this Christmas. He comments on bikes all of the time so I really think he will love it.

We just bought our son a Strider blance bike for his 2nd birthday. He sees the neighborhood kids with bikes so he knew what to do right away, but he didn't start "biking" for a few days. Because we live in Michigan too, we wanted a bike that would last through winters of non-use, so we decided on the Strider. It's safety rated for kids up to 50lbs or 5yrs and looks like a mini mountain bike, so he feels like one of the "big kids". We couldn't be happier! Stridersports.com is the Strider website, but we ordered from kidsbalancebikes.com and fantastic service. Good luck!

They are the perfect age for balance bikes, but those are pricy. You could get regular bikes and take the pedals off, works the same as a balance bike but when they're ready you can put pedals on them.

DD rode her bike at 4, 5 without training wheels. Ds rode his at 6, 7 without training wheels - he's stubborn, fell off one when he was 4 and refused to get back on for 2 years. It was only when his little sister could ride & he couldn't that he tried again.

we just got our five year old twin boys independently riding their two wheeled bikes about a week ago...not sure if that's average or below but they did it in their own time :-)

Typically kids start riding bikes/tricycles with pedals between 2-3 years old.. My daughter just turned 2 and she started catching on last month

I would say 3 1/2 is plenty big to ride a small bike with training wheels. My 3 1/2 year old had a tricycle at 2 1/2 that she outgrew last summer and we got her a little bike over the summer. She still uses the training wheels but she rides it around in the garage and driveway almost every day.

Personally though, unless you have a basement that they can ride in, I'd wait and have it be either Easter or Birthday presents so they don't have to sit & stare at their presents all winter. Get them something they can use in the house or in the snow for Christmas. :)

My son received his first 12" bike at his 2 year old bday party in May (with training wheels). I thought that was too early...but he received it from my MIL. He started on it that summer. He started without training wheels just before his 4th bday. I say start sooner than later b/c it's great for their gross motor development. As a side note, his three year old preschool class had a "bicycle day" at the end of the year when everyone brought in their bikes to ride. 90% of those kids had a bike of some sort (most with training wheels). Only 1 or 2 kids were riding a tricycle or big wheel. Hope that helps!!

My son got a bike for his third birthday which is in the middle of summer. He had no intrest in it and would just get frustrated because he wasnt really strong enough to get the pedals going by himself. But this summer he would take his bike out and he taught himself how to ride it. So we could of waited until he was four.
I think they all do it at different times though, my brother was bmx racing when he was three.

the age child start varys depending on the childs intrest and exposure and motor skills .i know in the preschool my son went to the 2yrs, 3yrs & 4yrs old all used the the tricycles

Get them now and you can use them in your basement thru the winter - that's what we did with our twins and it worked wonders to relieve cabin fever! We started them around age 3...

The cerebellum, your balance center, is primed and ready to go normally by the age of 5...So there will be some kids who can balance well enough by 5 and others who won't get the knack of it until 6 or 7. I totally depends upon brain development.

My kids rode trikes and scooters first. Child #1 rode a 2 wheeler in the 1st grade, about age 6. Same with child #2 rode, but child #3 taught herself at 4 yrs. old, to keep up with older sibs. Then the neighbor girl insisted on getting a 2 wheeler like my kids, and by golly, she did it too at the age of 4. So brain development plus competition, eh?

Happy riding!

kids should learn to use pedals it's a great skill for alternating diff sides of the body- an O.T could explain it better

My 2 year old and 4 year old both ride 12 inch bikes with training wheels. My 4 year old will most likely grow out of the 12 inch when she turns 5 but I knew she would be uncomfortable on the 16 in and it's impossible to find 14 inch. My 2 year old was able to pedal the day after he got his bike so your kids at 3.5 will be fine. Take them to wal-mart and let them try out the bikes to see which would make them feel the most comfortable. The jump is pretty big between 12 in and 16 in.