first time rideing a bike! need advice!!!
sal613
Posts: 31
i am 15 and am gonig to learn to ride a bike myself. none of my family can ride apart from my uncle but he lives to far away so i am going to teach myself how to ride. i am going to get a cheap bike first of all about £70 or so but i need advice on how to learn? any tips would be greatful. i know i am a late learner but better late then never. thanks 
0
Comments
-
Depending on what area you live in, there may be cycling classes that you can take, which i think is probably the safest option!
I've found the following sites that might help:-
http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/cycle_training_adults.php
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3529
I'm not sure how pricey they are, but there might be some free schemes running in your area.
Best of luck!0 -
I'd start with a mountain bike as they are a bit more stable and upright. The best way to learn is to take the pedals off and scoot round for a bit to get the hang of balancing then stick them back on and pedal off. Once you've got the hang of it whack the saddle up to a suitable height and robert is your mothers brother.0
-
ride_whenever wrote:I'd start with a mountain bike as they are a bit more stable and upright. The best way to learn is to take the pedals off and scoot round for a bit to get the hang of balancing then stick them back on and pedal off. Once you've got the hang of it whack the saddle up to a suitable height and robert is your mothers brother.
Ditto this.....
As a go-ride coach...this is one of the things that is proven to work. And is used with youngsters learning to ride.....they pick it up riding much faster than stabilisers...�3 grand bike...30 Bob legs....Slowing with style0 -
get some stabiliazers or get your daddy to hold the sadlle and run along holding it'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'0
-
Good luck getting a bike for £70. Don't end up with one of those full suspension things from Halfords or JJB sports. You'll be put off the idea of riding after a while because its heavy and rubbish. Try and get a second hand mountain bike or something. Brand new for £70 is going to be made out of old pie cases soldered together. You might even get something better from the local tip!
Good luck with it though. Never too late to learn.0 -
I would absolutely agree with Heavymental. I had the misfortune to borrow a bike like that on holiday and it was guff.
I would also suggest NOT getting gripshift gears as I had no idea what gear I was in [yep, they were on the same bike...] which made it even guffer.
But your 15, so probably got the fitness of a potential Olympic champ. Have you thought of looking at noticeboards in local supermarket or shop or asking some mates - there's ALWAYS someone got a bike hiding in the shed that never gets used. It's how I got my first proper bike [aged 28! - ancient!].
Good luck.0 -
well this is the bike im getting http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3321195/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSports%2Band%2Bleisure%7C10199392/c_2/2%7Ccat_10199392%7CBikes%2Band%2Bcycling%7C10199440.htm hope it will do the job ok seems ok. a friend told me the best way to learn was to just keep trying to peddle etc and eventualy ill get it. i hope i do!0
-
It'll do the job, but twist grip gears aren't the best....
I'd go down to your local independent shop, explain what you want, if he tries to sell you a realy expensive bike, walk away.....
If they suggest starting wioth a 2nd hand bike they have, then that's a good start, they may even know a 'coach' that will help too
At 15 you're still growing, so it is probably the wrong time to spend loads.
See what they say, let us know 8)Richard
Giving it Large0 -
fast as fupp wrote:get some stabiliazers or get your daddy to hold the sadlle and run along holding it
DO NOT TRUST HIM!
He will let go of it.0 -
-
Rich Hcp wrote:I'd go down to your local independent shop, explain what you want, if he tries to sell you a realy expensive bike, walk away.....
If they suggest starting wioth a 2nd hand bike they have, then that's a good start, they may even know a 'coach' that will help too
Yep. They may have a bike out back or one of the staff might have something they want to get rid of but haven't got around to advertising it. Always worth asking before you go for the Argos bike.0 -
I'd get 2nd hand - that bike needs assembly and if you haven't had a bike before you might struggle to get it set up right.
I'd forget about the pedals off stuff too - as an adult you should be able to sit on a bike and pedal having never ridden one before - my partner can pedal a bike having never ridden, she wouldn't be safe on the road but the basic balance is easy.
Cycling classes might be useful for what to do on the road but you need to do some cycling off road or on very quiet roads first to get your bike control up to speed.
As an aside I don't even think stabilisers are bad for kids - all mine used stabilisers when they needed them and then had no problems riding when they had developed their sense of balance enough - as far as young kids go I think you have to wait until they have the natural balance to ride and whether they have used stabilisers or not before that is irrelevant. I ran a kids cycle club at a local school and found the same thing.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0 -
Agree with all said so far ('cept it was my mum who let go...). All I would add is be really secure on your chosen bike before you ever go out on a road. Use a cycle track/ old railway track (like near me) or something easy off-road and practice doing everything over and over until you can do it without thinking.
Apart form the basics this means holding on with one hand; looking back over your shoulders (both sides); changing gears IN ADVANCE of a problem/stop - those little things which could upset your balance and lead to unwanted wobbles at the wrong time..
When you do go out and play with the cars and trucks, be with someone who knows what to do.
Have fun!
Spring!
Singlespeeds in town rule.0 -
Depending on what you want to do with bike riding will determine how tro learn it.If you want to learn bike riding just for the fun of it you can just be doing it on your own but if it is for competitions then you will have to enroll in a schoolthat does that.spammer0
-
well i went to a independent bike shop and they tried to sell me a £250 bike but they said its my best option! lol what a con . anyway bike should be coming tommrow but am a bit worried about the setting up but hopefully shoudent be to hard.0
-
Excitement tomorrow for putting the new thing together then - and if it goes wonky, take it to the nice shop and they might be kind and put it right for you.
Have fun!0 -
sl613
Good Luck / Enjoy
please keep up posted on your progress0 -
ride_whenever wrote:The best way to learn is to take the pedals off and scoot round for a bit to get the hang of balancing then stick them back on and pedal off. Once you've got the hang of it whack the saddle up to a suitable height .
If you are nervous about balancing this is good advice, also a grassy slope to freewheel down can inspire a bit of confidence. Once you are confident practice circles, figures of eight, starting and stopping and read the highway code. Any bike will do IMO. Good luck.We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.0 -
well the bike came 3 hours late! but at least it came dam argos delivery is bad. anyway was quite hard to put together but am quite proud i put the whole thing together and it looks quite good and everything seems fine. tommrow i will wake up really early and am hopeing that no one will be outside and try just pushing myself off and peddling away but if that dont work i wil try a grassy slope and theres a park close by so i will try that but am hopeing to learn quickly. thanks everyone for the advice. hopefully tommorow i will be rideing!0
-
dudes not posted for a couple of days-hope he hasnt ridden under a bus!
sal613 are you out there-hows it going?'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'0 -
lol i posted yesterday... anyway today i woke up early and got out there and it hasent gone that well i tried to just try and ride and that dident work so i tried gonig down a hill and not peddling but all that happened is me falling off lol. but i am gonig to try taking of my peddels and going around like that to get my balence. im not gonna give up yet!0
-
ok well what i am doing now is that my garden is not very big at al but it has a small incline down and at the end theres a really big tree so what i am doing is just pushing myself off and see if i can get to the tree while peddling and not falling off and i hope once i can do that naturally then it is time for me to go back to the park to try that again. i tried for about a hour and have progressed a little bit. i have a few times pedlded a bit but have also experienced my first fall. lol i bet i looked a prat but my bike is so heavy! it fell on me! but i just need a little advice about the gears. on the left side theres the number 1 with little dashes then further up is the number 3 and more dashes and on the right is the number 6 at bottem and 5,4,3,2, and 1 at the top. now i know there gears and it is automaticly set at the left one at 1 and the right one at 6. but i am confused? is one side on a higher gear then the other? is that making it harder for me? or am i reading it all wrong?? sorry for the long post. am quite excited for when the moment happens and everything just clicks!.
sal0 -
Sal, sounds like you are heading in the right direction.
I will try to explain the gears for you
Left Lever (1 - 3)
This lever controls which ring you are on at the front. Look by the pedals and you will see someting like this
you will see that there are 3 sets on toothed rings.
The lever controls which one the chain is on. If in position 1 then it will be either on the smallest ring the largest ring.
Moving the lever (on the handle bars) whilst pedalling (yet more skills required here) will move the chain to another ring.
For this ring it could be simply described as-
the big ring is quite hard to push around
the middle ring is easier to push around
the smallest ring is very easy to push around
Id suggest putting the chain on the middle ring whilst trying to get going.
You can do this without having to ride the bike.
Simply move the left lever to the middle of the 1 or 2 (it may click), then lift the back wheel off the ground and move the pedal round with your hand, you should see the chain move to the middle ring
Right Lever (1 - 6)
This controls the gears at the back of the bike, on the back wheel
looks something like this
If you look you will see that the chain is looped around one the sets of cogs just as it is at the front
try changing gear (without riding the bike to see what happens
Move the right lever 1 notch, then lift the back wheel off the ground and pedal with you hand, you will see the chain move to another ring, do this until the chain is on one of the 2 middle rings.
The rings on the back could be described as:-
super easy - biggest ring
very easy
easy
normal
hard
hardest - smallest ring
back to practising
now the gears are in the middle front and middle back, you should hopefully be in a fairly neutral position to carry on with your sterling work, and you'll soon be riding
I've tried to make this simple but it's damn difficult to write down.
good luck
MG0 -
sal613 wrote:lol i posted yesterday... anyway today i woke up early and got out there and it hasent gone that well i tried to just try and ride and that dident work so i tried gonig down a hill and not peddling but all that happened is me falling off lol. but i am gonig to try taking of my peddels and going around like that to get my balence. im not gonna give up yet!
Taking off the pedals allows you to get your feet on the ground much easier and so coupled with a lowering your seat you should be able to avoid the falling off thing
If you have a have a slope to practice on it can really help you learn to balance. Be aware though that the left pedal has to be unscrewed the opposite way to normal.
Let us know how you get on.We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.0 -
good luck on the learning - sorry i can't give any better advice :oops:0
-
Sal, keep going - it'll come.:D
Are you wearing a helmet??? :?
I hope so....Spring!
Singlespeeds in town rule.0 -
well today went bad. first of all i tried to get my front brake working properly and well lets just say its broken and i have brought a new one of ebay lol. and after that i went outside and kept going ith my go to the tree theroy and ended up on the ground bike on top of me and a big graze on my leg.. then it rained lol so not the perfect day but am hopeing to wake up early tommrow and just keep trying to balance and peddel to the tree. hope i do get it eventaully. thanks for the support everyone and adivce is apprectiated any at all. thanks0
-
i just went out and tried again for about 25 mins and i think i am starting to improve! i can sorta balance sometimes and am starting to get the peddling i think some more practise and maybe just maybe i might be starting to get it. i know to most it may sem a small/no improvment but for me i feel i have a bit so am bit happy but my leg still kills!0
-
practice makes perfect - so keep at it.
A lot of people learn to balance on scooters, might be worth giving it a go if you've got access to one.
let's hear that you've reached that tree.We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.0
