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i’ve been getting a lot of hits from people looking for “DIY balance bike” so i figured i’d post a follow-up on the DIY balance bike posts. (diy stands for “do it yourself”- i know, you feel like a huge idiot for not being able to figure that out, but shake it off, let’s move forward)

the results were in on the balance bike a few months ago, but i have not posted them until now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… if you don’t know what i’m talking about, click HERE to read the previous posts

Sam, jaya’s friend, who we gave the converted Dora bike to has not really been in to it so far, but Jaya has TOTALLY LOVED HER BALANCE BIKE. the best part is, it worked just as it was supposed to. she learned to balance well, and then when we got her a regular pedal bike (ok, actually we found it on the side of the road by the Pink House) she took off on it immediately. it was amazing. i expected her to be sort of scared or whatever, but she sat down, took a few push-steps, and just started riding down the alley. this was so great. it was the same day she did the monkey bars all by her self, so we were so proud of her.

now she’s a total speed racer on her new pedal bike (betty’s the name). the other day we were chasing each other around the playground- jaya on Betty, and me on the Viaduct (my tall bike).

again, i’d like to post some pictures, but our internet still completely sucks. thanks comcast!

keeping it brief: i converted the “dora bike” (see previous post) in to something that i figured would be more attractive to jaya’s friend Sam, by painting it black and swapping the “bmx” bars for some shorter ones. i also cut off the rear wheel bolts so they wouldn’t scratch his legs up.

we gave it to him the other day, and have not yet heard what he thinks of it.here is what the new version looks like.

now on to a new, non-bike related post…

first off, we got a new camera (finally) so that’s good news for all. Photographer extraordinaire Mr. Corey Hau (see blogroll)encouraged me to check out the new point and shoots on the market, and i did… thanks corey.

second off (why don’t we say “second off” if we say “first off”?) this is a post about how to make a sweet balance bike. in case you’re uninformed, here is an explanation and a quote from wikipedia

“With a balance bicycle, the rider learns balance first, pedal last. In contrast, with a normal bicycle fitted with training wheels, the rider learns pedal first, balance last. Although opinions differ regarding which learning sequence is easier for most riders, it is generally agreed that a bicycle with pedals is too difficult for most very young children and that training wheels may encourage the rider to learn some behaviors which later must be unlearned.”

the story: our daughter jaya received a sweet Dora kid’s bike from her uncle Funky. she loved it. it had training wheels. she fell over a lot, which was not helping her learn to ride. we started hearing bike-shop people talk about “balance bikes”. we looked at some and were like “hey that seems pretty easy to DIY, and a lot less expensive too…” thus, the dora balance bike was born.

here’s how to make your own-

tools: crescent wrench, screwdriver(s), some basic bike mechanic knowledge, a chain tool, hacksaw (optional) and possibly a hammer. it never hurts to have a hammer.

supplies: kid’s bike (or any other bike, i suppose. i bet a full-size one of these would be pretty fun. hmmm…) i suggest recycled cycles if you are in the u-district for a free kid’s bike. they have a rack out front where people leave bikes they don’t want any more. also, garage sales are great for kid bikes, you know ten bucks is a WAY better deal than $200 for a new one…

instructions: basically, you just need to remove a bunch of stuff. start with the pedals (don’t forget, they may be reverse-threaded), followed by the training wheels, chain guard, cranks, bottom bracket and chain. You will probably need a chain tool to remove the chain with, but bike tools rule, so buy one. there will probably be a coaster brake that needs to come off of there too, but those are easy. cranks can be difficult, but if you need help, ask. also, try doing a search online- there’s a lot of good info out there.

**handy trick section**

one handy trick i learned from the fancy-shmancy balance bikes is that the bolts on the back wheel can scrape your kids leg/foot if they are sticking out, so you should shorten them if you can, or cover them with something… use that hacksaw!

another helpful hint is that the nice ones have low bars to go with the low saddle. you want your kids’ feet to sit flat on the ground when in the saddle, but if they have to reach way up high for the bars then balancing will be difficult. the dora bike has high bars, which i would replace if Jaya hadn’t been given a SUPER NICE fancy balance bike by her friend from school/hero Eli Porter.Here they are, for comparison reasons.

obviously, jaya is a bit more comfortable on the German-made bike than the dora bike, but both work well. we certainly wouldn’t have sprung for that nice of a balance bike, so if Eli hadn’t come thru we would have kept dora, put lower bars on, and cut the bolts shorter.

another idea i had which made dora more rideable was to remove the seat post and attach the saddle to the seat tube itself. this got her about 1.5 inches closer to the ground, which was handy.

so- Jaya was pretty happy on the dora bike, but it would have needed shorter bars, or an mtb bar to make it work well.

happy building, and happy Christmas!