My Goddaughter has been “learning” with my Mate ( her Dad ) and hes not ridden a Bike in years so its been passed over to me.

Ive not a clue where to start 😳

We went onto the Park earlier and her dad has let her go without stabilisers and hes got her moving but shes really wobbly.

Im scared of her toppling over. Ive told her to look straight ahead because she was looking at her feet when moving off, and thats improved things, but shes still really wobbly.

Any tips for what to say to her to keep her straight ?

I have a 5 and 6 year old, both of whom are accomplished cyclists on 20″ wheelers, so guess i’m qualified to give my experience!

First, kids like to be doing what other kids can do. So borrow one or more who can cycle for her to learn with and from.

Second, i’m assuming she can ride comfortably with stabilisers (i.e. can stop, start, use brakes, etc…). If so, are they at their highest position, where the bike is wobbling all over the place as she pedals? If not adjust them and get her riding on it for 15 minutes to get the feel and balance.

Now just take the stabilisers off. She doesn’t need them, kids are great at balancing, she just needs to get the feel of what balance means. Now get her pedalling and you hold the underside of the rear of the saddle and walk as she pedals. It’s enough to keep the bike upright without getting in the way, and critically she cannot see you.

Let her ride around (corners will be awful) and when you feel she’s ready just let go and be there to catch. It’s that simple.

Then you’re onto starting and stopping. Starting is easy, it’s just learning to put her best foot (ask her which she prefers) on the pedal at the right angle, and pushing hard to get moving. Takes some practice that one.

Stopping tends to be a little precarious. If she can use brakes properly (i.e. modulate them, rather than on/off) then it’s easier, else it tends to result in grazed chins and knees for a while!

For both starting and stopping just be there to catch when she fails.

By the way, only last month I had my 5 year old nephew for the weekend and he was on “level” stabilisers (i.e. level with the rear wheel, no wobble). I took him out with my kids and within 10 minutes he was off stabilisers and starting by himself. He is now learning corners, which is really hard for most!

HTH

Stabilisers! Spawn of the Cycling Hating Devil. Bin the stabilisers, take the pedals off, cranks as well if possible but don’t worry if not. DEFINITELY take the pedals off. Get the seat down and have the youngster scooting along, pushing with her feet. Faster and longer and within minutes she’ll be going for yards before she’s putting a foot dowm to scoot along again. Give it half an hour of that and she’ll be doing it without thinking about it. Then put the pedals back on and give her a little push. Look! No Scooting! No feet on the ground!! Now do it again and push the pedals round with your feet! Oh my very word, you can ride a two wheeler! Let’s have an ice cream and send hugs and kisses to monksie.

I took the stabilisers off and started by holding the saddle, then pushed him off down a (gentle) grassy slope while he was focused ahead. By the time he’d spotted the betrayal he’d also realised he could ride the thing without them.

Perhaps not for everyone.

take the stabilisers off, and find a slight incline off road prefersably on short grass, and let her free wheel down the slope a few tiomes then try with her pedaling, and put a helmet on her so she gets used to wearing one.

just keep trying. You can’t push a youngster into riding without stabilisers (which are a fine way to learn to ride, despite what the new trend is for those stupid balance bikes).
My boy got it on the 3rd or 4th time and the day he got it, it was instant. Just whizzed across the park and never looked back.

Thanks for the tips

Yeah I make her wear an helmet 😆 some of her School friends came along and took the mick a bit about her helmet but thats kids.

She has not used stabilisers on this bike – only on her smaller one – but she is just really wobbly.

Im rubbish at telling people what to do when im so used to doing it myself !! Im a Driving Instructor and it took me ages when I first started to get it over to my pupils what I did to move the car so all the tips are really helpful.

Thanks again everyone 😀

IMHO I don’t think balance bike are stupid, daughter started on one and has never had stabilisers

This her at 3 years old

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh6qzgxLEjg[/video]

by 4 and half she was cycling 10 miles in a day

martinhutch – Member
I took the stabilisers off and started by holding the saddle, then pushed him off down a (gentle) grassy slope while he was focused ahead. By the time he’d spotted the betrayal he’d also realised he could ride the thing without them.
Perhaps not for everyone.
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

^^^this

Yup, can’t beat a mildly sloping grass area with somewhere safe at the bottom to stop/fall over.

Novice to proficient in no time at all.

Taught many children to ride, including some older than six. By this age the child is (acutely) aware that they can’t ride whilst their friends can. Fear not! Age is a blessing too, because by this age they are old enough to understand HOW to ride.

First question; can the child ride a two-wheeled scooter such as a Micro? If they can then they are about 30min away from riding a bike without stabilizers. If they can’t, don’t fret. The technique is the same.

Step one; find a long kerb, and have the child scoot along with one foot on the offside pedal (down) and the other on the kerb. This gets them used to the bike moving underneath them. Repeat in both directions, about 10min each way.

Step two; explain that to balance a bike, you must steer the way the bike is falling! This basic Physics fact is usually lost on adults, but a six year old will take it as gospel. Start them off down a clear flat road, walk behind, and adjust the steering as the bike falls. This gets the child used to the necessary feedback needed to balance the bike. About another 20min.

Step three; ready for going solo. Walk behind holding saddle gently and release, a gentle downhill can help, but isn’t essential.

This technique cost my (desparate) friend an X-box after other bribes had failed 🙂 . Stabilizers are not the spawn of the devil or whatever. They have their purpose; pedaling, breaking etc. But they can be a tough habit to break. My technique is simply to remove them and state that they are never going back on. I tend to do this at about three. Balance bikes serve their purpose, but I think that they are unnecessary. I have never failed to teach a child with the above technique and the N is greater than 20.

…Two next-level skills; ride along and touch your nose. And cycle in figure of eights. Cones or coats, it doesn’t matter. Both ways.

For stability the above exercises and a nice long run somewhere traffic-free will see very fast imprivements.

tips to teach a child how to ride? How utterly depressing 🙁

Seriously on the grand scale of ‘Things I need to teach my kids’ this doesn’t even register. Just get on with it.

Christ on a two wheeled bicycle! It’s learning to ride a soddin’ bike not planning an invasion of North Wales!
Get the pedals off. It’s like riding a bike but she can get her feet down when she needs to. When she doesn’t much need to get her feet down she can essentially ride a bike.
Put the pedals back on.
She’ll be riding a bike.
Buy ice creams. Send me kisses and hugs.

DO NOT take her along to one of your local trails down a hill in the woods where she picks up loads of speed, has a look of blind panic before tank slapping sets in and she then face plants into the floor and receives a mouthful of dirt and you start wondering how your gonna explain it to the parents. Just trust me on this.

Take her to the Jedi….

I don’t really think balance bikes are stupid 🙂 just dislike the anti-stabiliser rubbish that gets spouted whenever someone asks about kid’s bikes. I wonder how many
on here learned to ride on a balance bike…

Practice, getting used to moving at a decent speed and looking ahead. After getting my daughter to ride without stabilisers it took awhile for her to lose the wobble, she was going too slowly, looking at the front wheel and making jerking movements with the bars. It just took time and reassurance for her to buikd up confidence.

So. Stabilisers. What exactly do they teach a child to do?
Lean predominantly to one side? Mint! That’s really going to help.
Rock one side to the other? Even more mint! As above but double.
Who actually here learnt to ride a two wheeler without stabilisers by using stabilisers?
I’m struggling with the concept.
Take the stabilisers off and a youngster is about as good at it as a child who hasn’t been near a bike before.
Just have a think about it. Sitting on a bike. Pushing along with your feet, instinctively putting your feet down when it’s unstable and lifting them up when it’s not and balancing the bike all by yourself.
Toddlers on balance bikes are everywhere, having a top time learning to balance and not very often landing in a bawling tangle of arms, legs, bike and Spawn of the Anti Cycling Devil stabilisers.

http://www.whycycle.co.uk/learning_to_ride_a_bike/

http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/teaching-your-child-to-ride-a-bike/

and crucially: from Asbergers Support:
“Stabilisers do not help teach a kid how to ride a bike. If anything they hinder the learning process and could even create a dependency that has to be unlearnt. A kid who has been riding a bike with stabilisers for 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 years is in no better position when it comes to learning to ride without stabilisers than a kid who has never ridden a bike with stabilisers. Quite often the attitude held by most parents is that if their kid’s first bike is supplied with stabilisers then their kid should start riding it with the stabilisers fitted. Stabilisers are also dangerous as they give the kid a false sense of security. If a stabiliser catches on something or overhangs the edge of a kerb then their bike can overturn without warning. Therefore, if your kid’s bike has stabilisers, take them off and throw them in the bin. “

http://www.aspergersupport.org.uk/articles/bikeride.html

Stabilizers teach propulsion, balance bikes balance. Stabilizers allow a correct saddle height to pedal on a 12″ wheeled bike. They allow the use of brakes and can help teach the correct starting and stopping routine. All that said, by the time a child is ready for a 16″ wheeled bike, it’s time to dispense with them. I’ve never had stabilizers on a bike with wheels larger than 12″, which is really balance bike territory. And I’ve never had a pupil fail to learn with the above technique.

Nothing wrong with balance bikes, but I think bikes with stabilizers offer a lot too.

Stabilisers teach propulsion? Pardon? Feet on pedals and feet on the ground teach propulsion.
Balance bikes teach balance. Mint! No arguement there. Stabilisers don’t teach balance. At all. Ever. They’re worse than that. Ask some of the above organisations.
Correct saddle height? Aged 4? You what? Checked the effective top tube of that Barbie tassled mean machine? Crank length correct for the natural cadence of the rider? Jesus wept! It’s getting worse. They’re kids. Do you actually think they give a frig?
Help teach the correct start and stopping routine? You can do that in minutes once riding in a straight line has occured.
It’s riding a bloody bike. Not learning how to drive an artic. It’s simple and fun. Please bin your over educating nonsense and let it be simple and fun.
I was an adult before I learnt to ride a bike. By myself, in the park. I’d have not bothered even then if I had to scoot up and down a kerb and put my finger on my nose…..

+1 for the anti stabilizer brigade. I relied on them for too long and consequently didn’t learn to ride a bike properly until after my 7th birthday…

My 6 y.o. daughter really struggled to progress on her bike with stabilizers and too big for most balance bikes. I took off the pedals and within 3 weeks she was confidently ‘paddling’ along on the bike balancing for longer between strides. As soon as I put the pedals back on with the first push she was off and biking. Couldn’t believe the transformation.

My 4 y.o. now has a proper balance bike and is almost there after just over 2 months on it. Will be for sale soon so watch the classifieds as mint condition.

And I don’t teach adults the same way as I teach children, but thanks for the patronizing diatribe anyway 😉

As I said, both have their merits. I’ve seen kids with blance bikes get frustrated at not being able to keep up on the flat. I’ve seen kids with stablizers really worry when they are removed. Bikes larger than 12″ wheels shouldn’t really have stablizers. Below that, anyone is free to choose.

You teach adults and children to ride bikes (in a ‘not great’ way)?
Cool job bro’. Got a website?

I’m off now. Your stabiliser methods are rubbish fella. Have a look, see sense and stop doing it.

monksie – how many kids or adults have you taught to ride?

stabilizers are fine.
my youngest learned to ride a bike without them at 2 1/2 but after a few days I actually put them back on along with a balance buddy (handle) as it’s easier to push her up hills with them. a few months later she was way stronger at pedalling, this would not have happened without re-fitting them.