Want a balance bike? Let me save you $89.

Last fall we took Lydia's training wheels off her bike and tried to teach her how to ride it without them. A lot of "I'm scared! OK, I'm going to do it. No! Wait! I'm scared!" ensued. There was a lot of me promising I absolutely was not going to let go. And then letting go. We made some progress, but she didn't get the hang of it, and so far this spring, she hasn't either.

I have several friends who swear by balance bikes and I decided I for sure wanted to try it for Audrey and Charlie. For those who don't know -- a balance bike is just like a regular bike but it has no pedals or chain. Kids just scoot around using their feet to propel them and eventually they're able to go faster and start picking up their feet and before you know it, they can balance and are ready for a big bike with pedals. I looked on Craigslist and found nothing.

Today we went to the Wheel and Sprocket Bike Expo at State Fair Park and I was pretty set on buying one there even though I knew it would probably be a bit more than I really wanted to spend. When we got there at about noon today, the girls had to go to the bathroom immediately, and I was excited when I spotted a pink balance bike on our way back to the restrooms. When we got out, we went to go look at it, and somebody had already taken it. It was the last one. I love Wheel and Sprocket. Their customer service has always been great. Jayson and I both bought our road bikes from them. They told me to just go to their store next week and tell them I wanted to buy a balance bike at the expo price of $89, and they would set me up.

I'm not patient. I wanted the balance bike TODAY. So, when I got home, I decided I was going to just take the pedals off of Lydia's old bike and turn it into a balance bike. After some research on the internet, I found some good tutorials and got to work. It took a matter of minutes. So, now I'm going to explain to YOU how to do it!

The one thing that you might need to buy is a chain tool. It pushes the pin out of a link of the bike chain so you can completely remove it from the bike. We bought one for $15. However, I would be willing to bet that your friend neighborhood bike shop would do it for you for free. However, I'm not patient and I thought the tool might come in handy in the future, so we bought one.

I also think you might want to go a size down. You have to remember their feet need to not only touch the ground, but touch the ground with room to bend and run. The bike we used was Lydia's old one that she's too big for now, but as a balance bike, it was just the right size. Audrey is just barely big enough to fit on it and there's no way it would work for Charlie. I'm planning on finding a smaller bike for Audrey and/or Charlie to transform. Then I can rationalize the chain tool purchase even better.

So, here it goes.

These are the tools you'll need. That's a 15 mm wrench in the middle. Also, you don't need a hammer. I don't know why I put that in there. The tool next to the hammer is the chain too.

First, you want to take the pedal off of the side that does not have the chain. I accidentally did this later on in the process, so the picture shows the other part taken apart too.  You'll want to use the 15 mm wrench because the adjustable one is too bulky. Also, for everything you unscrew, it's opposite what you would think. So, left tighty righty loosey. That black nut where the pedal attaches to the crank thingy (it's technical) is what you want to loosen. If it's an old bike, it's going to take some muscle.

Next, you want to remove that bolt you see further down the crank thingy. Behind that is a washer and behind that is another thing you need to loosen, but a wrench won't fit around it. It has slats on it, so you kind of use the screw driver to push it around. Both those things are clockwise again, not your usual counter-clockwise.

Now the crank is loose and the pedal is off, so you kind of wiggle it through the other way. (Oh, you might have had a plastic piece that went over the chain that you would have had to unscrew too). Now the only thing left is the chain, which is still connected through the frame of the bike. Use the chain tool to get it off.

Finally, clean the bike up. Especially the little gear where the chain used to be and the hole where the crank used to be. Get all that grease out of there. And.... voila!

Here are the leftover parts. You can always put them back on again later when they're ready for pedals. The big pink plastic thing is that chain protector I was talking about.

Lydia loved it and was able to coast immediately.

Audrey needs a couple more inches until it's more comfortable for her, but she did like trying it out and kept yelling, "THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!"

Charlie stuck with her little bike.

Seriously you guys, this was so easy and so cheap. If you have questions, let me know. Or, just bring your bike to my house and I'll do it for you. Then I can really rationalize that chain tool purchase.