teaching kids to ride

[Davidc]

I don't remember it well, but my first 2 wheel bike was secondhand and had no stabilisers. I was told it took me 2 hours at age 4 to learn to ride it (but brakes took longer).

With both of my children I took the stabilisers (fitted before delivery) off. To learn my son at 3 1/2 took a couple of falls on grass and about an hour, my daughter aged 4 took 3 or 4 tries and was off. She inherited the brakes problem though.

A couple of times I have seen children hurt themselves as a direct result of stabilisers being fitted. It happens when turning. They lean, the bike gets into a state where the front wheel and one of the stabiliser wheels is in contact with the ground, the back wheel then lifts off. The whole thing then just flips over with the child under the bike, and for some reason it's nastier than a normal fall.

 

[summerdays]

My funniest recollection about stabilizers was recently helping out at a bike breakfast at school. One of the organisers saw a girl (about age 7/8?) with one stabilizer and was trying to persuade her to get the Dr Bike to remove the stabilizer. She wouldn't but replied that "she had now learnt to cycle on that side so she would get her Dad to swop it to the other side when she got home, so that she could learn the other side"

 

[Mr Pig]

Plus one for getting rid of stabilisers and pedals.

Plus two. Works very well. I would go further, I'd say to start with a bike with no pedals and miss the stabilisers all together. I don't like them as they only really work well on flat ground and don't help learning to balance at all.

Our two youngest learned on a small BMX with no pedals, they called it the scooty bike, and they learned faster and had more fun than our eldest who learned with stabilisers then a bike with pedals. No way I'd buy a bike like that Isla bike! what a waste of money. They learn in about a week!

 

[bonj2]

The biggest problem with teaching kids to ride is getting them to have enough confidence to go fast enough. Once they're going fast, they can actually balance easier than when they're going really slowly - but it's getting enough confidence to get them up to this speed. For this reason what you should do is to find a little hill or incline ideally with a grassy knoll at the bottom, and get a mate or spouse to set the kid on the bike at the top of the hill and set them off going down it towards you. disconnect the brakes so they don't try to slow down and cause themselves to fall off. When they've got used to that, you can move them onto steeper and longer hills, and once they've mastered that then steve peat will be quaking in his boots.

 

[Bollo]

What everyone else has said + PATIENCE!

Bolletta has just learned to ride her bike and she's just turned 7. If they've not mastered the basics by 3 or 4, there seems to be a shift in the way they approach riding a bike. Whereas before they'll balance and steer instinctively, as they get older they start to view it as a concious learning exercise and that makes it more difficult.

 

[Over The Hill]

With my two girls I:

Raised the stabilisers up off the ground a bit so they were then not using them most of the time (you can do this without them knowing).

When it came for no stabiliser moment I taped a broom handle to the back of the bike (upwards behind the saddle) and then you can run along a bit with them until they get the hang of it without breaking your back.

Both times were on camping holidays where there was lots of space on the camp site to ride and you can keep at it a little each day rather than for ages all at once.

 

[cyclenic]

i'm note sure i can presude other half to take the stabalizers and peddals off. but i might though raise the stabilizers. I will have to have a word, and possibly show him this thread. we'll see, and i'll let you know how she gets on.

 

[Arch]

i'm note sure i can presude other half to take the stabalizers and peddals off. but i might though raise the stabilizers. I will have to have a word, and possibly show him this thread. we'll see, and i'll let you know how she gets on.

Show him the thread. I don't know how many other children, if any, you have, and how many children, if any, he has ever taught to ride, but unless he has a bonj level of cussedness, he can't deny there's a huge amount of experience on here, and all saying pretty much the same thing...

From what I've seen, raising the stabilizers a little bit just ends up with the kid riding at a severe angle, and raising them a lot, well, they might as well come off altogether.

 

[Alan Biles]

With my two girls I:

When it came for no stabiliser moment I taped a broom handle to the back of the bike (upwards behind the saddle) and then you can run along a bit with them until they get the hang of it without breaking your back.

Did that with my two boys. Called it "the magic stick" and it worked a treat. The bonus being that they don't know when you've let go.

 

[bonj2]

No it isn't.

but it is right though that if they are going too slow they are more likely to wobble and fall off? and if they haven't got pedals they need some method of propulsion, so surely downhill is a suitable alternative?

 

[Arch]

Our youngest got his Rothan when he was two. He was big enough to ride it at 2.5, and waas balancing in a week. It's a long while from that stage to being big enough for the smallest pedal bike. So it's well earned its money.

Plus, it's built specifically for little hands to operate the brakes and stuff, and is relatively lightweight compared with the average tiny kids' bike..

(Still hoping to get one for Oli, if I have to live on mouldy bread to afford it....)

 

[Arch]

but it is right though that if they are going too slow they are more likely to wobble and fall off? and if they haven't got pedals they need some method of propulsion, so surely downhill is a suitable alternative?

They have it, it's called 'their feet'. Most children can walk without falling over, they don't have to run to stay upright.

 

[bonj2]

They have it, it's called 'their feet'. Most children can walk without falling over, they don't have to run to stay upright.

yeah but if they're going to have their feet on the floor they might aswell just not bother having the bike there. They would be technically walking, in the same way that someone doing so with a bike in a pedestrianised area would be technically walking./

 

[Bollo]

yeah but if they're going to have their feet on the floor they might aswell just not bother having the bike there. They would be technically walking, in the same way that someone doing so with a bike in a pedestrianised area would be technically walking./

I skiing just walking with very slippy shoes?

 

[Bollo]

Or,

Just watch a kid who's mastered one of those bikes. Its nothing like walking.