Looking into glider bikes. Anyone have one? Recommend them or not? My son is 3 and daughter 4.5. Are they too old? THANKS!
We have a skuut (sp?) and I really like it. Kiddo is 3.5 and very tall (about 42"), and he's starting to get the hang of it. I wish the seat went up a bit higher - we're maxed out.
Just take the pedals off a regular bike.
My son's now 3.5 yrs old, I got him the Strider at 3 and he still rides it. In fact, he loves it. He is on the lower end in terms of his height, but his older cousins (5 & 7) still ask if they can use 'his' bike. I don't think your daughters are too old, especially the 3 year old. You can also save your money and just take the pedals off a standard bike, but the weight difference from my son's Strider and a regular bike is very noticeable!!
Good luck, BTW my son was able to ride a standard 2 wheeler (sans training wheels of course) about a month or two after riding the glider bike, even so he still prefers the strider over the 2 wheeler!
We got my son a Strider when he was 3 and it has been perfect. He loves it! He just turned four and still uses it. He learned how to use it immediately and now has great balance and control.
No they are not too old. That is the perfect age. They are so great for your kids to learn balance and a perfect stepping stone to real bikes. My son LOVED his glider bike and he went straight from that to a bike w no training wheels bc he already could balance a bike so well. I highly recommend them! I can't remember the kind we had - it was a hand me down from a friend.
You can do the same thing with a regular 2 wheel bike. Take them to a small grassy hill and let them go down holding their feet out to the sides-gliding down the hill. They will soon learn how to balance on a bike and then be able to pedal. Both my boys learned in a couple of hours this way. A glider bike would have been a collossal waste of money.
We have a Giant for our 2.5 year old son (seat is adjustable). It's the best way to go for teaching them balance to prepare for big kid bike.
Find a true bike shop in town and go pay them a visit. They'll go over everything with you .
Good luck!
Our local bike shop sells them and they are pretty tiny. I think a toddler would be much more comfortable on them instead of preschool and kindergarten age kids. Just take one training wheel off the bike and see how it goes. I didn't do that but my friends did. I left the training wheels on until she wasn't using them to balance at all. Then she started BMX the next few weeks later. The boy still uses the training wheels but I think the defining action is learning to stand up to pedal. Once they are standing up they have the balance thing down.
