# Stabilisers or not? (5 year old)



## CanucksTraveller (18 Nov 2016)

My daughter is a tall 5 year old and hasn't ridden a bike before really. I've previously bought her a tot bike with stabilisers when she was 3, and she never really took to it. She kept her head down and kept riding head first into hedges. 
Now she's over 5, and she's been using a scooter for a good while so now knows how to look where she's steering. She now really wants a bike and I've got her this Apollo Woodland with 18 inch wheels. She tried it in the shop and it's a good size for her:







My question is, what's the easiest and most enjoyable way to learn now? Should I put stabilisers on and let her get used to pedalling first, or should I remove the cranks for a while and get her to balancing? 

Thank you!


----------



## r04DiE (18 Nov 2016)

Well, the way I did it was to put my daughter on a slight, 20 yard long, slope. She rolled down it and each time tried to put her feet up. Soon enough, she got it and had her feet on the pedals. From there on, she just pedalled.

Hope that helps you and good luck to your little one.


----------



## S-Express (18 Nov 2016)

If she can stand feet-up on a moving scooter, then she doesn't need stabilisers. Find a gentle grassy slope, put her on the bike, give her a push and watch her go.


----------



## mr messy (19 Nov 2016)

Ask her, find out how she wants to try it


----------



## slowmotion (19 Nov 2016)

My five year old daughter (now 22) wobbled off into the distance after discarding stabilisers. Balance bikes were pretty rare back then. Whatever you do, savour the moment when she makes it. It's one of those milestones.


----------



## steve50 (19 Nov 2016)

No stabilisers, they give kids a false sense of confidence then when you take them away lots of falls and skinned knees. i would take the advice of roadie.


----------



## flake99please (19 Nov 2016)

Remove pedals until she is confident using as a balance bike. Introduce pedals again without stabilisers.


----------



## Broadside (19 Nov 2016)

I think balance bikes are the way forward. I've tried removing cranks etc but they end up catching their feet on the frame as it was not designed for the purpose. 

Once they get the hang of a balance bike the transition on to a proper bike is pretty quick. I did the removing cranks thing for my eldest child and then balance bike route for my other two, it was much easier.


----------



## Broadside (19 Nov 2016)

Oh and to echo @slowmotion make a big song and dance when she gets it, they just need confidence they are doing the right thing and being animated when they get it right is quite powerful to make them do more.


----------



## Cycleops (19 Nov 2016)

Most children will askfor stabilisers but probably don't need them. My children used them and soon disgarded them. I didn't learn to ride until I was eleven. I picked up my first bike from the shop and took it the mile or so home. By the time I reached I could ride.


----------



## summerdays (19 Nov 2016)

Definitely no stabilisers, they don't need much to learn to pedal whereas they do need to get the concepts of balancing and steering. Chances are she has had a go on a pedal along toy at some point and will know what to do.


----------



## Vantage (19 Nov 2016)

Stabilisers are the work of the devil. My youngest was 9 before they came off and I fully believe that they hampered her progress in cycling while they were there. The day they came off saw her take to cycling like never before and I had trouble removing her from the bike!
Skinned knees and elbows will heal soon enough but give her a push and a shove and after a few attempts, she'll be riding away smiling proudly


----------



## CanucksTraveller (19 Nov 2016)

Thank you everyone, that's given me some good food for thought.


----------



## atbman (23 Nov 2016)

[QUOTE 4562553, member: 45"]There's a place for stabilisers in learning to ride. Learning to balance is tiring stuff and it can be useful to pop them on during a longer ride if the child is getting weary to give them a rest. This isn't detrimental to their learning but in fact will make it more enjoyable.[/QUOTE]

Learning to balance isn't really tiring, it's the pedalling that does that. None of the kids we teach to ride virtually every week ever go back on them. If they need the stabilisers during a longer ride, the ride is probably too long for them anyway.. the key to not getting so tired is to ride more often and give them plenty of rest stops and fun activities during a longer ride.


----------



## Andy_R (24 Nov 2016)

The only place for stabilisers when learning to ride, is in the bin. They do nothing to encourage bilateral balancing, if anything they encourage bad posture - I'm sure've all seen kids on bikes with stabilisers slumped over to one side with no effort to move their torsos to help balance.


----------



## Custom24 (24 Nov 2016)

Check out the 'balance buddy' handle.


----------



## Andy_R (24 Nov 2016)

Custom24 said:


> Check out the 'balance buddy' handle.


ermmm...if you're holding the handle and keeping the bike upright with it, who's doing any balancing?


----------



## Custom24 (24 Nov 2016)

Andy_R said:


> ermmm...if you're holding the handle and keeping the bike upright with it, who's doing any balancing?


The rider is to a variable extent, depending on how tightly you grip the handle, or whether you are indeed holding it at all.


----------



## atbman (1 Dec 2016)

Custom24 said:


> Check out the 'balance buddy' handle.


Never hold the bike, even using this. If you're not pushing the child in exactly the same direction s/he is going, you interfere with the learning process. We teach our parents to lightly place a hand on the upper back to help them get moving if they're having difficulty doing so. In most cases we only use the fingertips between the shoulderblades.
Average age of our new riders in the last few months? From 3 to 5 Average number taught per year? 50+. Only on three occasions in the last 18 years have we taught particularly stubborn kids to ride using their pedals from the start - and they were older than the average learner.


----------



## the stupid one (1 Jun 2017)

First post on the forum, and I'm reviving a six-month-old thread . . . Sorry!

Our 8 y.o. daughter decided she wanted to learn to ride a bike not long ago. All previous attempts to learn with stabilisers had failed. Her best friend had taken to cycling very quickly using the pedals-off method, so that's what we did. That's what we did when I'd worked out how to get them off, anyway. 

First time after fifteen minutes on a rather uneven pavement she was scooting along reasonably happily. Second time on a smoother carpark surface she scooted around for a while then had a short attempt with pedals on - after a few minutes of gently supporting her shoulders I was only providing comforting fingertips on the collar. I let go completely and she did that thing where she cycled on for a few metres before realising she was on her own and slamming her feet down, but the shock/pride on her face was special.

Third time she did a few minutes without pedals then we put them on and let her go, happily pedalling laps of the (empty half of the) carpark before demanding to ride the adjacent cycle/footpath. The narrowness spooked her a little bit, especially when pushing off, but she finally rode off into the distance until encountering a lamppost that she fixated on and cycled straight into. Of course she did. Oh dear.

I encouraged her to get back on the bike and do another carpark lap, then put four plasters on her back home and she was satisfied with the whole adventure.

So we had good results with the pedals-off method, and if her big brother hadn't broken his femur falling off his bike on her next trip she'd probably be a very keen cyclist by now.


----------



## simongt (3 Jun 2017)

flake99please said:


> Remove pedals until she is confident using as a balance bike. Introduce pedals again without stabilisers.


Agree. Let her propel the bike 'hobbyhorse style' 'til she's used to the handling and balance, then put the pedals back on and progress from there. You may need to raise the saddle a bit when the pedals go back on though.


----------



## ufkacbln (3 Jun 2017)

It is a method that was perhaps not invented, but certainly pioneered, promoted and made popular by the Cycling Guru Richard Ballantyne in his bicycle books


Remove pedals, lower seat so both feet are flat on the ground. 
Use as a balance bike
When kid id scooting around and taking their feet off the ground and coasting, refit pedals
Use the pedals as a foot rest when coasting
Pedalling comes naturally

I


----------



## keithmac (3 Jun 2017)

My lad cracked it at 5 years old, took him to nice flat field and spent a good 3 hours pedalling and ballancing!.

My daughter had just turned 5 and she's too lazy to put the effort in to pedal (or the gearing is not suiting her..). 

She's very good on her 2 wheeled scooter so I'll bide my time until she's tall enough to use my son's old 7 speed mtb (in 1st!).

You can't rush it and if you push them they'll just resent it..


----------



## hatler (4 Jun 2017)

Andy_R said:


> The only place for stabilisers when learning to ride, is in the bin. They do nothing to encourage bilateral balancing, if anything they encourage bad posture - I'm sure've all seen kids on bikes with stabilisers slumped over to one side with no effort to move their torsos to help balance.


^ ^ This ^ ^


----------



## hatler (4 Jun 2017)

I am of the view that the perfect combo is a balance bike combined with spells on either a kiddie tandem or a trailer bike. They get to learn balance and pedalling independently of each activity. Once they understand pedalling and can confidently ride a balance bike, the transition to pedalling their own bike takes only a matter of seconds.

Grassy slight slopes are perfect for getting the hang of balancing.


----------

