The eldest was 7. He'd heard from someone whose view he took to be correct that that was the rule, so on his 7th birthday decided he was no longer allowed on pavements. At 8 we were riding quiet roads with him ahead and me following a little further out and we built up to tackling right turns and roundabouts, then a few months before his 9th birthday did an almost coast-to-coast. We did some cycle touring and a couple of 50km audaxes and from about 9 or 10 I'd have been happy to let him ride anything I would, in company and he moved on to a road bike at 10, I think. He's been riding unsupervised on familiar roads round town since he was about 12. The youngest (now 10) didn't have the luxury of all the one to one time learning how to ride roads and didn't have the same instinctive grasp of cycling but has been stoking the tandem since he was 7. I need to get him out on his solo over the summer so see if he can master riding one handed for signalling purposes before bikeability next school year.
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