learning to pedal.

locko75

I've just bought my almost 3 year old his first bike, a specialised hotrock 12, but he is having trouble learning to pedal. I think the problem is that he doesn't always pedal the right way and when he pedals backwards the roll back brake locks the back wheel.

My question is how can i disconnect the roll back brake?

And has anyone got any other tips to help him learn to ride?

ItsIllak

What worked for my daughter was simply putting her left foot on the pedal at 6 o'clock and pushing the ground with her right foot, starting the stroke just behind the 12 o'clock pedal. Once she got the idea how to balance, only kicking off occasionally, she had a go at pedalling.

Mind you, she was 5. Getting my son his first bike this christmas, we'll see how he gets on. I'm tempted to take the pedals off for a while, but that's only an option if you have caliper brakes, not coaster brakes.

MarvintheAndroid

I had a problem with my 7 year old not wanting to give up his trainer wheels. When I took them off he got scared of falling off and wouldn't co-operate.

In the end I lowered the seat and removed the cranks and chain. He then used it as a push-along by basically running along whilst seated. After two days he had got the hang of balancing and I put the cranks and chain back on. Presto !

Marv

obriends

Whatever I did my son would just not get the idea of riding without the stabalisers. I took the route of getting him a scooter (2 wheel bmx type one) and getting him to go out on that for a whle. Once I could see he could balance on it I stuck him back on the bike and hey presto, he didn't even think about it.