Teaching a child to cycle

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OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
summerdays said:
That's not too young (depends on the child of course - one of mine had co-ordination problems so couldn't jump at 4).

Seriously forget the hand under the saddle - just go straight to the scooting option. It gives them the chance for them to learn the skills of braking, balancing and turning. They can still get up good speeds on it once they have got it and then it is just a case of introducing the pedals. If you do the hand under the saddle they have to go faster to balance so it seems to me and they don't cope with the brakes as well. Plus you have to be available to do it - scooting they can do by themselves with a bit of supervision.
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Thanks, I'll give that a go - on the grass to start with. How long between scooting and putting the pedals back on?
 
summerdays

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
Scooting in its own right can be enjoyable so there isn't the pressure to put the pedals straight back on the minute they can scoot, I would let them enjoy being able to control the bike and not put the pedals on until you are sure they have got the balance and braking/turning completely mastered. Once they have that putting the pedals back on is a very short step really.
 
A

Angelfishsolo

A Velocipedian
Location
Cwmbach, South Wales
benb said:
There are two schools of thought:

- Bike with stabilisers, remove when the child is old enough
- Balance bike. No stabiliser, no pedals (you can remove the pedals from a "normal" bike for this). They will learn to balance first (by scooting along with their feet) and learn to pedal when they are older

Is there any evidence as to which method is easiest/quickest for the child to learn? My son is 3½ and has a normal bike with stabilisers at the moment. He's good at pedalling, but obviously is nowhere near getting the balance yet.
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To me stabilisers to not teach balance or counter steering which are the most important aspects of riding a bike. Once these have been achieved then a bike with pedals can be introduced. Yes it costs more but it eliminates the need to learn twice. There seems to be a lack of evidence either way and Sheldon of the beard Brown recommended taking the pedals off a regular bike.
 
pshore

pshore

Well-Known Member
Location
Last contour N of Cambridge
summerdays said:
Scooting in its own right can be enjoyable so there isn't the pressure to put the pedals straight back on the minute they can scoot, I would let them enjoy being able to control the bike and not put the pedals on until you are sure they have got the balance and braking/turning completely mastered. Once they have that putting the pedals back on is a very short step really.
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+1 to that.

My son was still using his balance bike in parallel with a normal bike until he grew out of it (at 5). I could see he was getting a lot out of just carving down the pavement and trying to see how sharply he could turn on the balance bike.


When you take the pedals off, just make sure they can get their feet flat to the floor and with a little bend in the knee. They then have complete confidence that they can stop with their feet, or stand up if they fail to steer correctly.
 
OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Thanks for all the advice. I'm just going to give it a go and see how he gets on.

The thing is, he quite likes pedalling his bike (currently with stabilisers), and my wife is a little bit of the opinion "well stabilisers were good enough for me"
I have also got a trailer bike, so he can go on that and practice pedalling, and use his bike for practising balance, steering, braking.
 
Cyclopathic

Cyclopathic

Veteran
Location
Leicester.
My only experience of this is when my Grandad taught me to ride a two wheeler. To the best of my recollection I didn't have stabalizers I just had my Grandad running along beside me keeping me upright until I started to pedal. All the time he would be instructing me to pedal to gain all important forward momentum until one time I looked around and Grnadad was several yards behind me. Such was my surprise that I promptly fell off but that was it really, from then on I knew that I could do it and what was involved and the rest was practice.

Things got a little more complicated when my Grandad taught me some bmx flatlanding and a couple of the more flambouyant tricks like a sumersault and the superman. He was an absolute demon on that shopper bike of his.
 
A

Angelfishsolo

A Velocipedian
Location
Cwmbach, South Wales
Cyclopathic said:
My only experience of this is when my Grandad taught me to ride a two wheeler. To the best of my recollection I didn't have stabalizers I just had my Grandad running along beside me keeping me upright until I started to pedal. All the time he would be instructing me to pedal to gain all important forward momentum until one time I looked around and Grnadad was several yards behind me. Such was my surprise that I promptly fell off but that was it really, from then on I knew that I could do it and what was involved and the rest was practice.

Things got a little more complicated when my Grandad taught me some bmx flatlanding and a couple of the more flambouyant tricks like a sumersault and the superman. He was an absolute demon on that shopper bike of his.
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Really????? :biggrin:
 
OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Cyclopathic said:
Grandad taught me some bmx flatlanding and a couple of the more flambouyant tricks like a sumersault and the superman. He was an absolute demon on that shopper bike of his.
Click to expand...

Video please, I would love to see that! ;)
 
C

crumpetman

Well-Known Member
benb said:
Thanks all. I think I'll ditch the stabilisers and do the hand under the saddle, see how he gets on.
If he's not ready for that I'll lose the pedals and let him scoot.

Is 3½ too young?
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My son had a balance bike from about age 2 but also had a bike with stabilisers (and a trike, and various ride on bike/car/vehicles) and just before he turned 3 we took the stabilisers off his bike and by the end of the day he was riding without assistance. Fixed gear too!
 
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