Our kids are a month shy of 6 and 4. We started biking with training wheels last year, but held off taking training wheels off so we didn't have any regression. Today I took both kids out to a large empty parking lot and let them tool around for awhile on 4 wheels getting used to things. Then I approached our almost 6 year old son, who is the size of a 7+ year old and said lets try it a bit without the training wheels. He was nervous about it but finally came along with the idea. I did a couple runs of running along next to him, right hand on the seat and left hand on the handlebars with him peddling. Only thing that came of that was me being winded.

I remember my dad's attempts at teaching me, when I was older, on a bigger and clunkier bike with clunkier training wheels. When they came off and he did the running thing I never trusted him or cowboyed up to go without the wheels and I don't think he ever actually let go.

I eventually taught myself probably when I was pushing 10 years old by going to the top of the street that is on a long hill in front of our house, a constant hill 3 blocks long and rode down it and that was it, I figured it out. (I didn't even have a helmet, I don't know how I lived this long).

I'm thinking the only successful way for our son to get this figured out is setting a new LEGO box at the bottom of a grassy hill and saying go down this hill 5 times and its yours.

Question:
How did you learn / teach to ride a bike?

Choices:
You/dad run behind
Fly solo on flat pavement
Fly solo down paved hill
Fly solo down grass hill

 

My dad used a different approach. He put training wheels on my bike, then over time he started bending them up. As I got better and started relying less on the training wheels, he bent them a little more. Eventually, I got to the point where I didn't need them so he took them off. I was fine after that.

Training wheels? Helmets?

If you had showed up with that get up when I got my bike, ~1950 or so, you wouldn’t have been able to hear your own screams for the sound of the other older kids slapping their thighs and laughing their assses off.

My dad might have tried running alongside at first, but I had to try it, fall over, bawl, try again, fall over, bawl some more, lather, rinse, repeat until I got the hang of it. The scrapes and bruises eventually healed. Skills built up real fast with constant riding. Back then traffic was not a particular danger anyway. We had the run of the town, be back by supper.

I never thought training wheels helped at all. IMO, you don’t learn to balance the bike as long as they’re on there. I learned on a very small bike, in our basement, during the winter. It was essentially like a tricycle in that it had solid tires and no brakes, but I could put my feet on the ground easily. Later, when I took it outside, it was dangerous as dynamite, not having brakes. It served until I got a full-sized bike later.

I followed a similar route with our kids. We got them bikes that were small enough that they could put their feet down. Seems like I had to help our both our daughter and son a bit, because they struggled to get it going fast enough to learn to balance, but I think one afternoon pretty well did it.

First half Dad running behind. Second half me by myself. Maybe 30% Dad, 70% me. Definitely early on a lot of crashing, crying about the pain, and Dad telling me to shut up, suck up the pain, and power through.

My dad put training wheels on my bike and by the end of the day, they were off.

You may find it easier to start off on a small enough bike that the kids can move their feet to push themselves along. They make "balance bikes" like this now with no pedals. Children learn to steer and keep their feet up for longer and longer times until they get balance too. Then pedal bikes.

As stated above...Moving training wheels higher off the ground a little at a time can work well too.

No training wheels. Take the pedals off. Let them push with their feet. They learn to balance very quickly pushing and coasting. They also are not afraid because they can always put their feet down if they get off balance. Once they are comfortable, put the pedals back on.

We tried training wheels with my daughter, 2 weeks later still afraid. 1 day doing the no pedal trick and she was riding.

The challenge with learning to ride a bike is that most begin with training wheels, and most learn to lean on the wheels and turn with the handle bars.

In reality, turning a bike is all about leaning the bike--which you cannot learn with training wheels. This sets up a problem for kids used to using trianing wheels. The best aid we have found for teaching kids how to ride a bike without drama is by using a "Balance Bike". The most popular one is made by Strider. Others are out there and some are sold at the big box stores. Using one of these, our 2 year old son taught himself to ride. The good news is that you can acomplish most of the same thing by simply removing the pedals and training wheels from the bikes you have, lower the seat so they can easily kick along the sidewalk and let them go to it. After they master kicking, they'll move to coasting with feet up and turning by leaning. Once comfortable, add pedals back into the mix. You'll be amazed at how fast they progress.

Balance bikes. My youngest rode one for five days and then took off on a pedal bike on his own.

Balance bikes are awesome.

It took a long time. I fell a lot. I am not well coordinated. When I was finally successful it was a great boost to my self esteem. The number of accidents that I had on my bike, dissuaded me from riding motorcycles except as a passenger.

Learning to ice skate was another self esteem builder for me. Like most Midwest kids I learned on frozen ponds. The tried and true method of testing to see if the ice was okay was sending the fat kid out. If he did not fall through it was good to go. That sort of thing would probably be frowned upon now as some sort of discrimination.

No training wheels. I learned by perseverance...and quite a few skinned knees and elbows with no help from my father. As I recall, it was at about age 4 or 5. Definitely before 6 because I rode my bike to school in the first grade.

Taught my kids the same way, except I helped.

Like JALLEN, I learned by trial and error.

I don't remember training wheels at all with my oldest son. I DO remember that he couldn't get the hang of it with any amount of my holding on and running alongside. One day we were out and an older neighbor was watching. He told Chris (my son), "If you ride that bike across the top of the park, I'll give you all the money I have in my pocket!" Chris ended up about $9.00 richer. As I recall, he taught his younger (by 15 months) brother to ride. (He previously taught his brother to walk in a 1-1/2 body cast!)

Dad running behind is almost all I remember.
I say almost because the one thing I do remember is a bird crapped on me.

Learned by a push from Dad, me riding on the lawn. Fall down on the grass. Much softer.

Also learned, a little later (weeks, maybe months) to tie my shoe laces. They would wrap around the pedal shaft and with coaster brakes I couldn’t pedal forwards, couldn’t take my feet off the pedals, I’d coast to a stop and fall over sideways. Yes, happened once (last time ever I expect) that BOTH feet got tangled that way. Couldn’t put either foot down. Pretty silly picture, but I learned.

I live at the end of a cul-de-sac with a very slight downhill grade. I taught my son by starting off in the neighbor's yard a few houses up hill. He rode through the grassy yards toward our house and eventually passed our house. Next, he rode around in big circles in the cul-de-sac. I told him that he has to fall down about twenty times before he learns. That was the same thing I told him when I taught him how to ski.

I was on my Roadmaster and shoved down the hill. Only took me a few times. Got sick of wiping out.

Take the pedals off, put the kid on the bike, push kid and bike down a grassy hill.

Once he gets the hang of coasting down the hill, put the pedals back on and tell the kid to put his feet on the pedals as he's coasting down the hill.

Once he gets the hand of that, tell him to start pedaling while going down the hill.

I'm three for three with this method. It took my oldest 30 minutes to go from pedals off coasting downhill to pedaling around the neighborhood.

4 Years Old in Atlanta in 1957; 2 days w training wheels begged Dad to take them off, which he did. The next day hit a little red wagon going downhill, Broke arm. 3 days later broke cast, next day broke new cast, so they double it up. Broke that double cast within a week.
Training wheels and the cast never got replaced.
I do wear a helmet these days. Kinda makes sense.

When I was 15 years old my dad bought me a full-sized bicycle w/o training wheels. Although I lived in a town with a super bus system (Detroit, Michigan) and didn't really need to learn to ride a bike, he insisted on it. He'd push me a short distance on it on our sidewalk and then I was on my own. Lots of spills and crying. When we'd come back inside my mom said she didn't know who to feel sorriest for. I did eventually get the hang of it and actually enjoyed riding. I was not, however, an "adventurous" rider and never tried any stunts. I found the skill useful later on when I decided to get a motorcycle. That's a different story for another time.

flashguy

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