Bikes for poor balance

[waverly]

I've mentioned before that DS has strength, balance, and motor planning issues.  A lot has been addressed in PT and OT.

I don't feel like he needs an adaptive bike.  He is 80% there, and 15% is balance and 5% is fear.  Just looking for a regular kids bike that has better balance or balancing elements.  Maybe higher handles, lower base, longer base, fatter tires? 

He is 8, so aging out of the balance bike market.  

[waverly]

I could get something like this www.amazon.com/dp/B01LDX0BTM/ref=twister_B01LXKP1US?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

[pipsqueak]

One I saw advertised, but have no experience with is the Guardian Bike. What I saw/read did interest me enough to keep them in mind for when Pip gets to that point.

[miranda]

I never tried it myself, but I once saw a kid in my neighborhood riding his bike around with a bike trailer attached to it. The bike was still wobbly, but the trailer provided stability. Less stigmatizing than training wheels at that age. I thought we were going to have to take DS to a SN bike riding school, but a week with Grandma and Grandpa is what did it for him when he turned 8.

[af1212]

Feb 6, 2019 15:55:18 GMT -5 waverly said:

I've mentioned before that DS has strength, balance, and motor planning issues.  A lot has been addressed in PT and OT.

I don't feel like he needs an adaptive bike.  He is 80% there, and 15% is balance and 5% is fear.  Just looking for a regular kids bike that has better balance or balancing elements.  Maybe higher handles, lower base, longer base, fatter tires? 

He is 8, so aging out of the balance bike market.  

My kid took a bike riding class and although she was 4 at the time the class was Mostly made up of people in the 8-14 age range. They took the pedals off of all of their bikes to make them into balance bikes for the first step. It took them less than 5 min to get the pedals off of all of the bikes.

They had them walk the bikes, then glide. When they could glide on flat surface for 10 seconds without touching feet, they out pedals back on (also super fast).

The class was about 1.5 hours and by the end everyone was riding.

[waverly]

af1212 , we've done the bike riding class. Only not everyone was riding at the end, and he was one of them. We can try again, but I don't know what to do at home. He is too heavy for me to stabilize myself, and he resists me. I think DH needs to get more involved. I mean he would resist DH too, but I've been trying for 2 years, so I think DH needs to try but I don't know what he needs to do or what to use equipment wise.  

[af1212]

Feb 19, 2019 10:36:39 GMT -5 waverly said:

af1212 , we've done the bike riding class. Only not everyone was riding at the end, and he was one of them. We can try again, but I don't know what to do at home. He is too heavy for me to stabilize myself, and he resists me. I think DH needs to get more involved. I mean he would resist DH too, but I've been trying for 2 years, so I think DH needs to try but I don't know what he needs to do or what to use equipment wise.  

Sorry I wasn’t meaning that you should try a bike riding class, just that you could take the pedals off to create a balance bike.

[af1212]

Feb 19, 2019 10:36:39 GMT -5 waverly said:

af1212 , we've done the bike riding class. Only not everyone was riding at the end, and he was one of them. We can try again, but I don't know what to do at home. He is too heavy for me to stabilize myself, and he resists me. I think DH needs to get more involved. I mean he would resist DH too, but I've been trying for 2 years, so I think DH needs to try but I don't know what he needs to do or what to use equipment wise.  

Sorry I wasn’t meaning that you should try a bike riding class, just that you could take the pedals off to create a balance bike.

Also I realize I quoted the wrong post haha! I’m a mess