Oct 12, 2026 · 14 min · 8 segments
Have you ever seen a tiny child cruising around on a bike with no pedals and wondered what on earth is happening? In this episode, I'm talking about balance bikes, why they are fantastic, and why…
Devon ClementHost
The thing today that we're gonna talk about that I hate is training wheels, training wheels on a bicycle, and you're like, "But Devon, I learned to ride with training wheels." No, you didn't.
You rode a bike with training wheels, and then you learned how to ride a bike without them.
In fact, all they really teach you is the wrong way to ride a bicycle, so that then when your training wheels come off and you need to be taught the proper way to balance on a bicycle, to lean into the turns, to brake, all those things, it's going to be much harder for you to learn that.
So I'm sure everyone remembers, you know, everyone who knows how to ride a bike.
I know several adults that don't know how to ride bikes for some inexplicable reason, but here we are.
I also know several adults who have learned to ride a bike as an adult, which I just think...
When we first met, she was taking lessons in Central Park for how to, how to ride a bicycle, and now she lives in Italy, and she bikes everywhere.
Riding a bicycle is a great tool, and I think it's a pretty common, I wouldn't say universal, but a pretty common childhood experience to learn how to ride a bicycle.
So what is the alternative to training wheels? Do you just put your three-year-old on a full-size pedal bike and say, "Go," and that's it? You know, with you running behind them, holding onto the seat and them saying, "Don't let go, don't let go," and you're like, "I'm not gonna let go," but then you let go, and they start riding, and you're...
they're like, "I'm doing it." I have also helped several children learn how to ride their bikes alongside their parents as their nanny or babysitter, and it's a really wonderful experience.
But what's even better is when a kid just learns how to ride a bike the natural way with a balance bike.
Balance bikes are fantastic, and if you are not a parent or not somebody who works with kids, you may not even be aware that they exist.
Have you ever seen a child, usually a pretty small child, like three, maybe even two and a half, two, four, like riding a bike with no pedals, and you're like, "What is that? How is that a bicycle with no pedals? What are they doing?" And what they're actually doing is running along with their feet like Fred Flintstone, and then they start to get up speed, and they pick their feet up, and they're just going because they're balancing, because they're learning to balance.
When you have a bike with training wheels, literally the only thing you're learning how to do is push pedals, and you're not learning how to balance, and you're not learning how to do it while balancing.
You're not really learning how to brake because training wheels kind of stop you pretty easily.
And please, for the love of God, put them in a helmet on any wheeled thing, a scooter, a bicycle, a balance bike, anything.
The thing today that we're gonna talk about that I hate is training wheels, training wheels on a bicycle, and you're like, "But Devon, I learned to ride with training wheels." No, you didn't.
You rode a bike with training wheels, and then you learned how to ride a bike without them.
In fact, all they really teach you is the wrong way to ride a bicycle, so that then when your training wheels come off and you need to be taught the proper way to balance on a bicycle, to lean into the turns, to brake, all those things, it's going to be much harder for you to learn that.
So I'm sure everyone remembers, you know, everyone who knows how to ride a bike.
I know several adults that don't know how to ride bikes for some inexplicable reason, but here we are.
I also know several adults who have learned to ride a bike as an adult, which I just think...
When we first met, she was taking lessons in Central Park for how to, how to ride a bicycle, and now she lives in Italy, and she bikes everywhere.
Riding a bicycle is a great tool, and I think it's a pretty common, I wouldn't say universal, but a pretty common childhood experience to learn how to ride a bicycle.
So what is the alternative to training wheels? Do you just put your three-year-old on a full-size pedal bike and say, "Go," and that's it? You know, with you running behind them, holding onto the seat and them saying, "Don't let go, don't let go," and you're like, "I'm not gonna let go," but then you let go, and they start riding, and you're...
they're like, "I'm doing it." I have also helped several children learn how to ride their bikes alongside their parents as their nanny or babysitter, and it's a really wonderful experience.
But what's even better is when a kid just learns how to ride a bike the natural way with a balance bike.
Balance bikes are fantastic, and if you are not a parent or not somebody who works with kids, you may not even be aware that they exist.
Have you ever seen a child, usually a pretty small child, like three, maybe even two and a half, two, four, like riding a bike with no pedals, and you're like, "What is that? How is that a bicycle with no pedals? What are they doing?" And what they're actually doing is running along with their feet like Fred Flintstone, and then they start to get up speed, and they pick their feet up, and they're just going because they're balancing, because they're learning to balance.
When you have a bike with training wheels, literally the only thing you're learning how to do is push pedals, and you're not learning how to balance, and you're not learning how to do it while balancing.
You're not really learning how to brake because training wheels kind of stop you pretty easily.
And please, for the love of God, put them in a helmet on any wheeled thing, a scooter, a bicycle, a balance bike, anything.
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