Tricycle morphs to Bicycle
I just got back from Germany and the like a bike is the new craze for little kids. The like a bike teaches the balance needed for riding a bike and several people I spoke to told me how their children were able skip training wheels and jump on a bike and ride much earlier with the like a bike.
see http://www.likeabikeusa.com/#
"This is a good tool for learning the rudiments of balance but after a few rides it would hold a child back because it just wouldn't perform like a bike. Nice concept but at what cost for something that would be used 3 or 4 times?
The scooter method is still best - take off the pedals and push the saddle down far enough for the kid to ""scooter"" the bike and get used to balancing it with both feet close to the ground, then put the pedals back on so the kid can ride with feet still close to the ground. My son had it figured out in less than 10 minutes, including time spent reinstalling the pedals.
Once that's mastered raise the saddle a little bit every now and then - every 15 minutes for the first hour worked for us, then a little every ride until he was high enough that his knees stopped hitting his chest ;^/"
