My daughter is about to turn six years old soon and has been lobbying us to remove the training wheels on her bike so that she can try riding by herself. My wife and I think that she needs some more practice before she’s ready to ride without her training wheels. But now I see on CNN.com that a group of engineers has designed a new “trike” that helps children learn to ride on two wheels more easily. As the picture here shows and the article describes,

The design features a single front wheel and two slim rear wheels that are initially splayed outward to stabilize and prevent the rider from toppling over. As the rider accelerates and leans forward, the rear wheels shift inward, narrowing into a single wheel surface that essentially makes it a two-wheel venture. As the bike slows, the rear wheels tilt back to the tricycle formation. . . The key to their bike, which resembles a trike with crooked wheels while at rest, is a belt with a spring mechanism that pulls the rear wheels inward.

That’s pretty cool! I’m not sure if it will be available for purchase before my daughter eventually learns to ride without her training wheels but it’s a neat invention nonetheless.