Balance Bike

Have you seen those cool balance bikes for young children?  They are two-wheel bikes with no pedals, so children use their feet for balance and for propulsion.  The idea is that they will learn to balance without training wheels, and thus be prepared to ride regular bikes earlier.  They're also tres chers.  For us, anyway.

So, I saw a tiny, very used bike at a garage sale and bought it for 2 bucks.  Yes, 2 dollars!  The chain was rusty, and one of the pedals was broken, but I didn't care since I was going to remove those anyway.

We stopped at walmart on the way home and my little girl picked out purple and yellow spray paint.  She said she wanted it to look like an Easter egg.  Okay. Sure.  Whatever you want, dear. :)

I forgot to take a picture of the bike before I started taking it apart, but you get the idea.

The before:

I took it apart as much as I could.  I removed the seat, the crank shaft, the chain, the wheels.  I then taped off everything else I couldn't take apart, including the spokes on the wheels.  I sanded it down, wiped it clean, and spray painted several coats of each color.

I used model car enamel paint to put some silver and yellow stars on the bike per my daughter's request.  I think they make it look a little more homemade, but possibly not in a bad way.

Then I stuck it all back together (well, except for the pedals...) and hurray! A Balance bike! Total cost: abt 10 bucks.  Go me!