I don't remember how I learned to ride, but I helped my kids learn. The biggest obstacle wasn't balance or coordination, but rather wanting to look at the front wheel. Once they learned to ignore that and to look ahead instead of down, it was a piece of cake.
Posts: 1513 | Location: NV | Registered: July 01, 2006
Originally posted by Oregon: Balance bikes. My youngest rode one for five days and then took off on a pedal bike on his own.
Balance bikes are awesome.
We tried these when he was younger, it went nowhere fast. He's a big kid but wasn't mature/coordinated/motivated enough to make it work then and when we started seriously trying last year he was way too big for them.
Posts: 2516 | Location: Iowa by way of Missouri | Registered: July 18, 2002
Originally posted by skonie: I don't remember how I learned to ride, but I helped my kids learn. The biggest obstacle wasn't balance or coordination, but rather wanting to look at the front wheel. Once they learned to ignore that and to look ahead instead of down, it was a piece of cake.
Yes, this is a problem. I was having him stare and aim at a tree on the other end of the parking lot that had a slight slope to it.
Posts: 2516 | Location: Iowa by way of Missouri | Registered: July 18, 2002
I couldn't learn on level ground. I don't know how I got there but I found myself on top of an incline. started to bike then gravity took over. I couldn't do anything but hold on. That's how I learned.
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Posts: 19663 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
My son we took to the hs football field. It is artificial turf so it was easy to ride on. He could follow the lines and as he got better I could call out yardage.
My daughter I took off the training wheels and to about 10 steps with her and she was off.
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Posts: 7353 | Location: Between the Moon and New York City. | Registered: November 27, 2011
If a kid looks down at their feet or watches the front wheel they will crash. They have to keep their eyes forward. Eyes on horizon + your inner ear sense of balance keeps you up. We went to a park. Kids rode on hard packed jogging path. Dirt or grass is softer than asphalt.
Less is more.
Posts: 3995 | Location: Florida | Registered: March 04, 2007
It took me much longer than most kids to learn how to ride a bike. My father made a few half-hearted attempts to work with me while riding, but I never made any progress that way. One day in my early teens we were visiting friends and there was a large, nonmotorized two-wheeled scooter. I started playing around with that, and I suddenly learned that turning the front wheel was the secret to staying upright—something that had never been explained to me. When we got home that evening I got on the bike that had been lying around unused and away I rode. It literally took me about 15 minutes on the scooter to learn how bicycles worked.
If I had the job of teaching a child today, I’d definitely try a balance bike as described above, and I’d demonstrate how staying upright when riding it worked. A scooter might work as well as it did for me, but a balance bike would probably be better for young children for several reasons.
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Posts: 47410 | Location: 10,150 Feet Above Sea Level in Colorado | Registered: April 04, 2002
I was 4 or 5, and had a bike with training wheels. One day one fell off and didn't know it. When I finally noticed it, I realized I could ride without them, so I got my dad to take them both off and rode ever since. We became daredevels on bikes growing up, mostly building jumps and riding off road and jumping dirt jumps.
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Posts: 7841 | Location: South Florida | Registered: January 09, 2011
I fought this battle for 4 months with my kids, they just couldn't get the courage to pull up the feet and pedal. I fixed it in a day using my driveway which has a small but usable decline. Down the driveway, they only needed one pedal push to get enough speed to get the other foot in action. Worked like a charm. The hold the seat and run doesn't work very well because you are constantly knocking them off balance, find a small paved decline and use that.
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Posts: 5132 | Location: Boca Raton, FL The Gunshine State | Registered: July 30, 2002
If you'll forgive a little pedantry, bicycles and motorcycles don't steer by leaning alone. They need a steering input first, by turning the handlebars the opposite direction of the desired turn, and the leaning is the result of that.
Posts: 27956 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012
Must have been over 60 years ago. I had an old clunky bike that had belonged to an uncle. I used training wheels for a while and I think I can remember the day my dad took them off.
Posts: 5620 | Location: Central Illinois | Registered: March 04, 2001
I got the run along behind lessons. In the end the neighborhood kids taught me.
I ran with my girls, comedy gold I've been told. At least my kids had the full rollerblade pad and helmet set up. I forgot about the skinned knees and hands.
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I learned the hard way just like swimming. Dad pushed me down a grass hill. I did real well until I hit the rosebush at the bottom. Ouch. As to swimming my dear little brother taught me when he pushed me into the deep end of the pool at 4 years of age. It was sink or swim at that point and I did make it to the other side. I still owe him for that one.
We tried training wheels with our girls but had limited success. We started both out originally on a balance bike so I think trying the training wheels after that actually made it worse. In the end we went to a parking lot and got them going by pushing them gently behind the seat. I think we used the training wheels twice and they were fed up.
Once they get the balance and realize they have to pedal to stay upright it's a lot easier. Both girls had it mastered by 4.5 yrs old.
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