I thought a balance would be great, but neither of my kids liked the balance bike we bought. They rode with training wheels for quite a while.
What got them riding without training wheels was learning to ride Razor scooters. One afternoon when I saw them both riding sweeping S curves on their scooters, I took their training wheels off. At 6 and 7 1/2 yrs, they when from total terror on their bikes to riding comfortably in a few hours. It only took a few rides with me running alongside holding on (continually holding on less each time).
What got them riding without training wheels was learning to ride Razor scooters. One afternoon when I saw them both riding sweeping S curves on their scooters, I took their training wheels off. At 6 and 7 1/2 yrs, they when from total terror on their bikes to riding comfortably in a few hours. It only took a few rides with me running alongside holding on (continually holding on less each time).
It was amazing.