Any tips on teaching how to ride a bike?

samkenpah
samkenpah Posts: 2
edited February 2016 in Family & kids cycling forum
I just bought a new bicycle for my children yesterday. I am planning to teach them how to ride a bike. So, is there any tips on teaching how to ride a bike? I am trying to teach my child to ride without stabilisers. I wanted to know if anyone has some tips on how to teach them to ride a bike.

Thanks

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Comments

  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    I just made a longer post on another thread....
    You don't give ages or bikes but ...
    To summarise:
    1) Motivate .. you and I know they need to make and effort and get a huge reward..... they don't really....
    2) Make sure they have developed good balance and I honestly don't think it matters HOW....
    Scooters, balance bikes or walking along the log things at playgrounds..... balance is balance which is why I think a balance bike for that purpose alone is a waste of money....
    3)Take the pedals off for a while if they haven't previously ridden a bike so they can push with feet and get used to the feel
    4) My kid and others had stabilisers .. he also had a really rubbish first bike.... heavy .... and for 3 years was not really interested and more interested in his scooters ... then one day he said he wanted to ride and I told him if he learned to ride without stabilisers I'd buy him a "proper" bike....
    5) I don't think it took longer than 2 minutes .... he already had the feel from with stabilisers and balance from his scooters, I took off the stabilisers and balanced him for 5 secs then let go...caught him and tried again and that was more or less it.... obviously a bit wobbly.... but 2 minutes later he had got it.

    In retrospect and reading I think the pedals off phase is a really good one to help them get the "feel" part.
  • 964cup
    964cup Posts: 1,362
    I did two things:

    1. Get them to practice static balance - just sit on the bike, either next to a wall or railing, or with me to catch them, and get the feel for finding the balance point. Otherwise I found they'd sit crooked on the bike, and make their lives much harder as a result.

    2. Ran along next to them while they rode without stabilisers; first holding them up, then helping them balance, then just being there to catch them when it went wrong. Kept me fit...

    It took most of a summer with my daughter because she learned late (age 9) - that also meant using quite a large bike, so further to fall. I think it took less than a day with my son, who took to it at age 4 (he'd also used a balance bike beforehand).

    Stabilisers are a complete waste of time, in my view - they promote poor balance and cause traction problems on all but the smoothest surfaces. Balance bikes, on the other hand, are great.
  • PBNinja
    PBNinja Posts: 44
    Got my lad a balance bike which he liked, then a bike with stabilisers and when it came the time i literally took him to a large grassy park and gave him a shove. Off he went, never looked back. Of course he has had the odd fall but it hasn't put him off in the long term.

    The daughter went on the same day, different mentality. Very physically capable child but no confidence and almost afraid to try things. She fell off, handlebar caught her under the armpit and to be fair it was quite painful but she refused to get on again for months.
  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    oxoman wrote:
    Biggest help I can think off is to start them off on hard ground and not grass. I made the mistake of thinking get them on grass and it won't hurt if they fall off. All that happens Is the grass makes it harder to get going, hard ground allows the bike to roll easier. Don't scream at them when they fall off, pick them up brush them down and off they go again. Plenty of encouragement is the way forward, not bumpy ground either.

    Good point ... our local playground has the soft surface ... looks like asphalt but its much softer when you fall but it's firm enough not to mess stuff up like grass.

    Obviously you don't want the place heaving so they are scarred more of falling in front of other kids but a quiet time would be best of both worlds.

    I still think the removing pedals thing has merit (If I had another I'd put that stage in retrospectively).... but its something to do for 1/2hr to an hour perhaps until they are confident with how it feels.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Take the pedals off (and cranks preferably, or cable tie one to the chainstay)and drop the saddle so they can use it as a balance bike for a while. Gets them used to steering, leaning and braking. Stabilisers are counter-productive. Once they are confident scooting around, steering and stopping, reintroduce the pedals.
  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    keef66 wrote:
    Take the pedals off (and cranks preferably, or cable tie one to the chainstay)and drop the saddle so they can use it as a balance bike for a while. Gets them used to steering, leaning and braking. Stabilisers are counter-productive. Once they are confident scooting around, steering and stopping, reintroduce the pedals.


    I agree on stabilisers being useless and crap..... however in my case they were productive in terms of motivation to not have them.

    I honestly believe any kid that doesn't have a balance problem and has developed good balance can learn to ride in a day.
    All they need once they have balance is motivation.
  • norvernrob
    norvernrob Posts: 1,448
    We got our 4 year old a balance bike late last year after him having a stabiliser bike for a while. He was useless....couldn't glide or lift his feet at all. We took him out New Year's Day and he suddenly seemed to 'get it' a bit more, so we kept taking him out a few times a week. By last weekend he was flying up and down the bumps at the local park course so I ordered him a Frog Team Sky bike. Within 2 minutes he was off and pedalling!

    So in my experience, the balance bike was excellent for him, but only when he was ready. Once he was ready he went from nothing to riding a proper bike in less than a month.
  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    NorvernRob wrote:
    We got our 4 year old a balance bike late last year after him having a stabiliser bike for a while. He was useless....couldn't glide or lift his feet at all. We took him out New Year's Day and he suddenly seemed to 'get it' a bit more, so we kept taking him out a few times a week. By last weekend he was flying up and down the bumps at the local park course so I ordered him a Frog Team Sky bike. Within 2 minutes he was off and pedalling!

    So in my experience, the balance bike was excellent for him, but only when he was ready. Once he was ready he went from nothing to riding a proper bike in less than a month.

    I get that ... my kid wasn't interested until he was 5 (perhaps because he had a rubbish Halfords bike and a decent scooter)
    At 5 (nearly 6) my nipper went from "nothing" (Halfords bike) to riding in 2 minutes... when I told him he could have a proper bike if he learned without stabilisers. (and I really mean 2 minutes....)

    Obviously I can't say what would have happened had he been 4 (a year is a long time at that age) .... but my observation/guess was that the scooter contributed far more to him being ready balance wise than a balance bike would have because he used the scooter all the time....

    My other observation is scooters are easier to "get use from" than balance bikes... because you can more easily carry them (in our case from the school gate back home) or in town etc. whereas balance bikes are more unwieldy ....

    I'm not against balance bikes if you can work them into your/their day.... I'm just questioning the necessity of buying one which in our came would have got an hour or so's use ....

    In retrospect I decent smaller bike and a time with the pedals or even cranks off would have been a better investment???

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