Teaching a child to cycle

[Angelfishsolo]

Alas none exist. He was a very modest and shy man. Besides it would have been super 8 back then.

Yer, yer I believe you. Is he the same man who used to lift the car with one hand and undo the wheel nuts with another?

 

[Wankelschrauben]

A neighbour taught me how to ride, I got a red BMX one year for a birthday present, I think I must have been about 7.

I had a space hopper before that, I was always jealous of how fast the kids on bikes were.

 

[twobiker]

I taught my wife to ride by letting her roll down a very slight incline with her feet down until she got enough confidence to put first one and then the other foot on the pedals,but sadly does not like riding , so that was that.

 

[MickL]

We got my son one of these http://www.toddlebike.co.uk/ to try out, he is only 18mths old and really starting to love it, he likes to help me out when Im working on my bikes (Wife doesn't like it, little grubby hands to wash every 5 min ) then he starts working on his toddler bike but he just bimbles about on his bike round our garden and last night on the sofa

 

[benb]

We got my son one of these http://www.toddlebike.co.uk/ to try out, he is only 18mths old and really starting to love it, he likes to help me out when Im working on my bikes (Wife doesn't like it, little grubby hands to wash every 5 min ) then he starts working on his toddler bike but he just bimbles about on his bike round our garden and last night on the sofa

At the risk of inducing uncontrollable vomiting amongst the childless members of our community, that sounds adorable.

 

[MickL]

Yes its great fun he even sat with me watching the tdf highlights with me this year. Even shouting yes when Cav won his stages born rider me thinks.

 

[xpc316e]

I have taught a few children to ride and I reckon that stabilisers are a waste of time unless a rider just cannot get the action of pedalling. A bike with stabilsers behaves in a totally different way to a normal bike, and it holds back the progress.

Being tall, I have not used the hand under the saddle method: I just use a hand between the shoulder blades and a quick grab of the clothing if they wobble. I did try the scooting method with my daughter, but it didn't work well for her. I reckon one of the most important things is to get them to look up.

 

[Seigi]

I learnt straight without stabilisers with my grandfather, he would hold the seat while I peddled until I built up my confidence where he then let go of the seat without telling me and away I went, as soon as I knew he wasn't holding on I'd panic though, I got there eventually though, with only a small amount of bumps

 

[lukesdad]

I taught Luke to ride solo on his 4th birthday. After 3 months on stabelisers. Took 45 mins with hand under the saddle for him to get his balance right. I got him to focus on a point in the distance. I think also it depends on how much the child wants to do it,as opposed to the teacher wanting the child to do it. Picking the place and moment may save a lot of time and effort. The benefit of stabelisers IMO is to get the pedalling going.