Encouraging my toddler to cycle

supermurph09

Hi

I've had lots of advice along the way but thought I'd get the opinion of this forum.

My little boy is 4 in november, active, likes being outdoors etc so I'm keen to encourage him to learn to ride a bike. Last summer we bought a balance bike but he never took to it, as with many kids if they can't do something first time they will often divert attention to something else (thomas trains, mud pies etc), keen not to discourage him we didn't push him but I think it's time he did begin to learn. We don't live in an ideal spot as we live on a big hill and don't have a drive way etc but have no problem going places to help him develop.

My partner thinks he'd be better off with something with pedals and stabilisers but I'm not so sure, I think balancing is better to master first then pedal rather than the other way around?

If you could share your experiences that might help me progress.

Much appreciated.

StillGoing

My 3 year old mastered her balance bike just before she was 2.5 years. When she first got it, she couldn't figure out what to do and it took me cramming myself on it and showing her. Eventually, she got the hang of it and was zipping around the house and in the garage feet up and making tight turns. We enrolled her in a balance class to ensure she was doing things correctly and to give her the run in a bigger area of a community hall. She bossed the class with her ability against children much older, but didn't like queuing for her turn and would just go doing her own thing.

We bought her a 43 Frog bike with pedals last Christmas, but now turned 3, she's too short for it still. With the seat at a height for her, the pedals are too high at the top of the rotation making it difficult for her to turn them. We've resorted to stabilisers with the saddle set higher up just to give her the experience of turning pedals, but still get her to take turns on her balance bike.

If I were you, i'd persevere with the balance bike. It will make the eventual transition to pedals far easier.

fat daddy

my kid took immediately to the balance bike ... but that's where the love affair ended she is now 6 ... doesn't ride the balance bike, doesn't ride the bike with stabilisers, doesn't want to go on a bike without stabilisers.

Then I realised, what does it matter if she can ride a bike or not ... am I pushing it for her ? .. or for me ? .... she just wants to have fun and the bike isn't fun for her.

BUT ..... I wanted tp get out at the weekend, so bought a tagalong ... turns out she loves that, we do everything from lontg hill climbs to the MTB trails in Bristol ... the only negative is when she pust the power down in the wet and you are trying to hold a line on wet single track

basically every kid is different, there is no right or wrong and your kid will ride when HE is ready and HE wants to learn

alan_sherman

Don't stress it to much. But you'll find peer pressure is a strong driver. if all his friends are using bikes then he will want to. My son has been a bit slow with the balance bike and first bike, but that is OK. Now he doesn't want to let go of the balance bike even though it is too small for him!

supermurph09

Thanks and yes I agree he will learn when he is ready, that was my reasoning for not being overbearing last year. The balance bike is in the shed so what I will do is leave it in the house so he can see it and maybe his own inquisitiveness will just take over.

slowbike

it took about 8 months for our son to "get it" - although he was a bit young (15 months) when we got him his balance bike ... initially he loved it - then realised it wasn't easy (as in, not like his little trike where he can just sit on it) - and just ignored it ... yes - it was in the house.

I used it to chase him around the garden and he loved that. We tried all sorts on there - bell, basket and just encouraging him to ride without much success. What we've always done though, is allow him to see us ride and take him on his bike seat - which he loves.
A few weeks ago, we bought a horn and I put it on his bike - this was a great addition and I don't know if it was that or just general curiosity - he started to want to get on it....
It does help that we live in a quiet estate where he can ride without worrying too much about traffic/hills.

Oh - give the bike a name - it always helps to give them a name!

alan_sherman

And it is summer - you can leave the bike in the garden (when not raining). My son used to like "fixing" and cleaning it.

bbrap

When my grandson was little (about 3 1/2) we got him a bike (single speed kids bike). Took off the pedals so they were not in the way and got him to scoot up and down the road (a la balance bike). Then put one pedal on and got him to push the pedal (he soon wanted the other pedal on as well). He was fine going, stopping properly without using inanimate objects to stop rather than the brakes took a little longer. Now as a 10 YO he can keep up with me.

mamba80

With my daughter, it was a bike with stabilisers, they soon learn and then its the trad way of running alongside your child, letting go, whilst telling em that you are still holding them up........ probably just as you learnt?

Little an often, no more than a few minutes at a time though.

but the most important thing is to make all activities fun.

davesnothere

I've got 5 kids (3 my own and 2 stepkids) - every one learnt at a different pace and in a different way so I think it's difficult to have a hard and fast rule.

The most important factor is they have to want to do it. Daughter No. 1 used to play with the neighbour's kids outside and as soon as they were riding bikes she wanted to, she was riding without stabilisers at about 3 yrs old.

Stepson was very happy leaving the stabilisers on and probably would still have them if i hadn't removed them one night and told him like it or lump it. He was just turned 8 when he finally cracked it. The other 3 were varying degrees between.

navrig2

My son (now 22) took ages to get the hang of his bike. We lived almost in the city centre so safe space was an issue. I reckon a balance bike would have made all the difference.

One we moved my daughter picked up cycling no problem - there was loads of safe space.

As others have said make it fun and leave the bike lying around so he can try it when he wants.

hopkinb

Bought an Isla cnoc 16 bike when she was 4.5. She would only ride it with stabilisers, big tantrums etc (and that was just me...). We let her do that for 6 months to get used to pedaling and braking etc, then took the stabilisers off, pushed her along a bit, let go, and she's not looked back since. Bought a Frog 55 with thumb shift gears to replace the Isla bike this spring. She'll ride 25 km with us now, and rides to and from school daily, plus with me to walk the dog at weekends. She's 6.5 now. She wasn't ready at 4.5, but was ready 6 months or so later.

slowbike

yup - it's very much a "When they want to" - and there's a lot to be said about not pushing them - but it's a fine line between pushing them and encouraging them.

For me/us - being able to ride will open up the range of where we can get to without having to take the car or having him sit idle on his bike seat or in a pushchair. It's also another bit of fun and games we can all enjoy.
LSB took a tumble off his balance bike on holiday (25% descent isn't easy apparently ) and that knocked his confidence - we didn't push it too hard but we did encourage interaction with his bike after that and then found a flat spot for him to chase me and generally have fun/games - he still wasn't totally sure and got off on the slight descent back to "home". Then this morning as I was getting my bike out to ride to work - he asked to ride his - so I was a little later leaving than intended ...

seanoconn

My son tried his balance bike when he was 3 but he didn't take to it. We'd go to the park and end up carrying the bloody thing home. We went on holiday a year later and stayed at a house with a lovely long gated drive with a small slope. He used a borrowed balance bike and in no time had mastered no feet balanced turns and rides down the slope. After two weeks of intensive balancing, we got home, got him on a bike and the first assisted push on the grass he was away and peddling.

Regular stints on the balance bike will do the trick.

g00se

My little one didn't like the balance bike so we went with stabilisers - which did make it more difficult to wean her off later. She's very much of the "if I can't do it first time, it's not happening". In the end, had her bike with the stabilisers and pedals off playing at freewheeling down a slope - starting higher and higher each time. Doing that got her her sense of balance and braking - and it was fairly straightforward after that.

Anonymous

Stabilisers are a big no no for me.

Daughter had a BMW balance bike that you could add crank/chain/pedals to.
Worked perfectly as its the same bike you have learnt to balance on, that you then ride on.

Learning to balance on one bike with no brakes, then being given a bigger one with pedals and brakes on seems silly to me.

If kids don't want to balance or ride a bike, then get them a go kart.

dstev55

Got my daughter a balance bike for her 3rd birthday. 2 months down the line she's done nothing more than push herself around the house on it and a couple of small goes in the garden. It's hard work as she's a bit of a wimp and she's also a small 3 year old so she's only just big enough for the bike.

She does make me laugh though, every time she gets on it she asks me to put the pedals on