Comment by oleganza

We did it with our kids 7-8 years ago and it worked perfectly. They were riding bikes with pedals within a week or so.

The article does not mention the important difference in the steering wheel behavior: when you ride with trainer wheels (or a tricycle) you learn to steer by turning the front wheel; but when you balance on a bicycle you steer by rotating your body and turn the wheel only afterwards to "catch" the bike. These two modes of riding are almost opposite and if you learn the first one, you'd have to unlearn it the hard way.