# Tips for getting rid of stabilisers?



## Leccy (19 Oct 2012)

My son is 4 and has a little first bike (must be 10 or 12") with stabilisers on. When he first got it we went to our local tennis courts, when they were shut in the evening, and he got the hang of it in about 10minutes.
Unfortunately we live at the top of a fairly steep hill and his school is also on top of another hill and he is nowhere near as confident here as he is in the nice flat tennis courts. His general nature is quite reserved, he's not a confident rough and tough sort of boy, he's quite cautious.
He's now nearly too big for this bike and can comfortably hold up, with feet down, a 16" he was eyeing up in Halfords. Do I persevere with the stabilisers on uneven terrain or try to go straight to no stabilisers in the tennis courts then stick with that? A lot of his friends are riding without stabilisers and the idea of picking a new bike is making him want to try harder. Part of me thinks the stabilisers are putting him off to a certain extent when on uneven ground and they suddenly jerk from one wheel to the other!


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## compo (19 Oct 2012)

I posted this back in March but don't know how to link to it so here it is again:

My daughter's first proper bike was a Raleigh Chipper, a scaled down Chopper. She had stabilisers on it. Behind our house was a large paved area where the local kiddies played in safety. My daughter came in for lunch one day and I decided she was big enough to learn to ride without stabilisers so I whipped them off quickly whilst she was eating. Poor little kid took one look and burst into tears, and still sobbing her little heart out pushed her bike down the garden path and through the gate to the play area. I admit I had tears in my eyes and nearly relented and called her back to refit them. Even her mum had the hump with me, but I was used to that. Anyway after a frosty hour watching TV my daughter came running up the path shouting "Daddy, Daddy, I can ride my bike". A short time with all the other kids and she had taught herself to ride, just like that. I asked if I was forgiven and she told me she would think about it. I am still waiting for an answer 35 years later.


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## Leccy (19 Oct 2012)

Lol brilliant! I wish we had a nice flat bit near us where he could play with his friends but unfortunately he is an only child and we have to drive to the tennis courts with the bike in the boot for now so can't really drop him off and leave him to it!


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## Andy_R (19 Oct 2012)

Stabilisers off, pedals off, seat right down. Get him to "run" whilst sitting on the bike, each time taking bigger "strides". Once he's got his balance, pedals back on. Make sure he understands how to stop the bike with the brakes, and how to steer before putting pedals back on. It is possible to teach a non rider how to ride in less than an hour.


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## Leccy (19 Oct 2012)

I see that as a challenge Andy! As soon as he's better (asleep, home sick from school at the moment) and the weather dries up I'll get down there with my toolkit!
Do I leave the seat low when I put the pedals back on or put it back up? At the moment the handlebars and seat are both near the extreme of their extension


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## Graham (19 Oct 2012)

Sounds like your Son has a similar character to mine. For my son, I raised the stabilisers up a bit so that the bike wobbled a bit. This (I think!) got him used to balancing the bike without the stabilisers touching the ground - I'd ask him if he could "make it go quiet" i.e. no stabiliser noise. After a while, I took the stabilisers off and he freewheeled down a slight slope with me running next to him. Took him about a day to ride/pedal/steer at the same time - Massive confidence boost for him too!

We didn't bother with riding on unven paths etc with stabilisers - Think that made him less confident - The stabilisers caught on tree roots and jolted him around a lot, so agree with you on that point. No stabilisers on the tennis court sounds best!


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## Leccy (19 Oct 2012)

thanks, will give it a go, might be a half term challenge!


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## Arjimlad (19 Oct 2012)

I have a playing field opposite my house, so when my sons were ready and asked me to do so, I took the stabilisers off their bikes & did the "running along behind holding on to back of saddle" trick around the playing field.

Then I let go, without saying anything and they carried on nicely, only realising they had been going under own steam once they were on the other side of the field.

They would have had a soft landing if they had fallen off. But they did not. They were each about 4-5 when I did this and peer pressure was a big thing.

Do you have a flat grassy space nearby ?


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (19 Oct 2012)

The older of my 2 brothers learnt to ride a bike with only 1 stabiliser on at first (primarily becuase the other one broke, and was never repaired - one of those (now ex) step fathers who was a roundtuit person... It was positioned slightly off the ground so that if it was 'in use' you were leaning to one side. After a while, he asked for it to be removed and never looked back. 
My other brother, I taught to ride by simply running alongside him holding him less and less - it took about 30 mins, I was exhausted and he had it sussed. There was only 1 or 2 occasions where I was left holding him, and the bike was on the ground. removing the fear of being hurt in a fall, (i.e. trust in you) worked great. It was just teaching him the to carry on holding onto the brakes when he stopped and after he had stopped that took a while - he had never riden before.
(Ironically my sister on the other hand, like myself took straight to bikes and was riding from the age of 3 without stabilisers at all, much to the neighbours horror).

If you goggle 'balance bikes' you will see the sort of thing that Andy_R is referring to. We saw them extensively through Scandinavia last year, and from what I could tell younger kids take to them really easily. the idea being that they walk whilst sitting on the bike rather than feet off the ground (hence the no pedals bit). this sort of thing.... there is a picture of the kids on them http://www.kettler.co.uk/toys/balance-bikes/


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## ianrauk (19 Oct 2012)

Kids get used to balancing on a bike very quickly.
Once they have learnt there is no stopping them.

This is my little boy at 2&qtr years old on his balance bike....
He now scoots around like nobody's business. And he is already going on about wanting a bike with pedals like daddies.


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## Leccy (19 Oct 2012)

that looks really good, unfortunately the only big flat bit of grass I can think of is quite long and will be boggy for a long time after this weather stops, if it does!
Might have to go for a weekend drive in search of suitable learning sites, I think if he comes off on the tennis courts its going to hurt, they're tarmac ones


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## mrandmrspoves (19 Oct 2012)

Tarmac is best....because it's easiest and the bike will roll better. Totally agree with the advice above re saddle down and pedals and stabilisers off. After a while the saddle can go up bit by bit until balance is achieved.


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## summerdays (19 Oct 2012)

I agree with the advice, though if he is outgrowing the bike you probably don't need to put the saddle down very much - he just needs to be able to put his feet flat on the ground easily. A little slope will help but not a huge one at first.


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## atbman (22 Oct 2012)

I agree with the standard advice about taking the pedals off and making sure he can reach the ground comfortably. We teach 40 odd kids a year to ride by this method.

Stabilisers should be banned - they are the instruments of the


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## Davidc (22 Oct 2012)

It's a shame he's had stabilisers, but the damage is done. Take the advice about converting the bike to a balance bike (stabilisers off, pedals off, saddle down etc.) and use it on a hard reasonably level surface.

It'll take time after stabilisers but he'll still get there in a few days.

atbman's description of stabilisers can't be bettered.


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## I like Skol (28 Oct 2012)

Leccy said:


> unfortunately the only big flat bit of grass I can think of is quite long and will be boggy for a long time after this weather stops....... I think if he comes off on the tennis courts its going to hurt, they're tarmac ones


 


mrandmrspoves said:


> Tarmac is best....because it's easiest and the bike will roll better.


 
X2, forget teaching them on grass. It's bl**dy hard work for little legs to pedal small wheels on grass at the best of times, never mind while trying to learn how to balance. Tarmac is best because it is sooooo much easier to move at a speed where the balance becomes easier.

Both my boys learned to ride without stabilisers at the local Sainsbury's because they have a large, level christmas overflow carpark that is blocked to cars for most of the year. It's great because it is a huge open expanse with just a few lamp posts and trolley bays but there are the road markings that allow some teaching about road sense and junction etiquette once they passed the struggling to balance stage.

To help with the falling off on hard tarmac thing I always dressed my two up like eskimos when they were learning to ride without stabilisers. A jumper and thick winter coat, long trousers and (dare I say it?) a helmet to prevent any grazes to the head. It worked well for me and my boys but I have to admit, son#2 learned a lot sooner than #1 but this has been the same in most of the development milestones as the younger one is always chasing hard on the heels of his 3yr older brother!


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## NotAnotherHill (29 Oct 2012)

Ideal scenario is to start them off on a balance bike at 2yr old or even a Toddlebike 18months to get used to the balancing side of business. IN your case I would follow the advice to take the pedals off and let those little legs go...the balance is the key once they have that the pedal rotation should come quickly.


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## Leccy (3 Nov 2012)

Little update: Thanks all for your advice. I've removed the stabilisers and pedals and he's getting the hang of scooting it around, few more sessions of this and hopefully we'll pick up a bit more speed and rolling in between pushes. He's not a fearless type and the weathers not been kind so we've had very little opportunity to give it a go but fingers crossed I'll be able to come back soon and say we've mastered it!


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## ianrauk (3 Nov 2012)

Leccy said:


> Little update: Thanks all for your advice. I've removed the stabilisers and pedals and he's getting the hang of scooting it around, few more sessions of this and hopefully we'll pick up a bit more speed and rolling in between pushes. He's not a fearless type and the weathers not been kind so we've had very little opportunity to give it a go but fingers crossed I'll be able to come back soon and say we've mastered it!


 

Nice one. As said previous, kids pick up the balance thing pretty quick.
There's no stopping him now


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## Andy_R (3 Nov 2012)

Leccy said:


> Little update: Thanks all for your advice. I've removed the stabilisers and pedals and he's getting the hang of scooting it around, few more sessions of this and hopefully we'll pick up a bit more speed and rolling in between pushes. He's not a fearless type and the weathers not been kind so we've had very little opportunity to give it a go but fingers crossed I'll be able to come back soon and say we've mastered it!


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## xpc316e (4 Nov 2012)

I agree with the advice on stabilisers: they actually hold children back and bikes with them behave in a totally different way to without them. I have found that it helps if the parent is not present when the rider learns. The teacher needs to be someone the rider does not know, so that they don't have any idea of which buttons to push as they do with mums and dads. They are just told that today their stabilisers are coming off and they are going to ride a bike. With parents there would lots of 'I can't do it', tears, etc., but with an unknown tutor they just get on with it. They are usually zooming around inside of an hour.


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## SpareSprocket (10 Nov 2012)

My son was very reluctant to come off stabilisers so I adopted the approach suggested by someone else earlier - namely raising them very slightly so that his bike could tip from side to side so that he got the hang of balancing it on the wheels.

Although he got the hang of it he was still very reluctant to ride his bike as it required putting in some effort so we took them off completely and tried to get him to ride slightly downhill in the park but on small wheels even the smoothest of grass can seem bumpy so we moved to a tarmaced area.

He found this easier to ride on but still wasn't really motivated. Riding along behind him on my bike trying (but not too hard) to catch him up meant that the competitive element kicked in and he showed himself what he could do whilst leaving poor old slow dad behind !

Now there's no holding him back - earlier in the summer he rode 20 miles along the cycle path network in Swansea. In fact, we got back to the car having done 19 miles and he insisted on riding another mile so that he had the satisfaction of doing 20 miles.


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