to ride a bike.

My daughter picked up riding a bike like er… riding a bike. It took her a few goes and she was off at the ripe old age of 3.5. I have been entrusted with the task of teaching the GF’s son. Let just say he is not going to be naturally sporty. He is 4.5 and has not got any sense of balance what so ever.

Would removing the pedals to let him get used to scooting along and get a feel for the bike be a good idea.?

get him a scooter to learn balance on. My daughter spent ages struggling, but after a single afternoon with a scooter she learned the trick and was able to ride her bike too :o)

yeah good idea to remove the pedals, he’ll have it in no time..

big hill & no brakes

Same boat here – getting a bike that fits my lad better this weekend and the pedals will be off straight away to see if it works.

Balance bikes are great (similar to bike with no pedals). Make sure the bike isn’t too big and also that the saddle isn’t too low – both will cause balance issues.

Getting them to learn to use a scooter is a good suggestion too.

With my boy it just clicked one day. Lots of encouragement etc etc

I was exactly the same as a little’un.

My dad was teaching me to ride my bike (I think I was about 4 or 5) took the stabilizers off I stood back and looked a bit worried (apparently) and my littel sister – who’s 19 months younger than me – ditched her trike and buggered off down the road on my bike never having ridden one like it before!!

I do think that girls tend to be better balanced than boys at that age, but it all goes out of the window once teenage years kick in.

He’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry. As for the non-sporting future, i did pretty well, HIgh School colours for Rugby, Football, Cricket & athletics, county school of excellence @ footy, & always well placed in county XC as a kid

There all different, they learn at different ages. He will ride when he is ready.

BTW, mine was nearly six before her stabilizers were off.

Agree that taking the pedals off is a good idea. Take him to a gentle hill and let him ride down slowly & repeat. This will allow him to get used to balancing on the bike without him having to worry about pedalling at the same time. Worked for both of mine.

Have a look at http://www.bikeability.org.uk and the Level 1 manual. Or ring your council and get their pro trainer to do it FOC. Failing either – get in touch via email.
BTW I wouldn’t remove the pedals. No need.

Balance bike / no pedals / easily get feet onto the floor / slight downhill slope.. and make sure you can run alongside !!
My daughter also benfitted from a tag along to get the idea of pedalling – she did pedal backwards for the first mile but did evntually get the hang of it.

“level 1 manual”…!

Steady on. I’m 30 and cant manual. 😉

You’re an old git! I’m only 35 so what do I know?

Is he clever? Maybe he can sit behind a computer and surf the forums and act like he rides a bike. He can pretend he’s tops. It’s what I do.

Tell him he’s a girl as your daughter rides by.

Then watch the news in 20yrs time as she shoots everyone in site at the local Uni…

Everyone learns differently and at a diffent pace. Give him time then use the whip.

Maybe it’s you… “He’s not going to be naturally sporty” well you pretty much labelled him…

He is 4.5 and has not got any sense of balance what so ever.

I’d suggest that’s the more fundamental issue than him not being able to ride a bike. he needs to get out on a scooter, do walking along planks (ie Tumble Tots or something similar) etc. I’m not convinced that any relatively normal child can’t learn to have half decent balance (enough to pick up riding a bike), but they won’t get it unless they practice it.

I have really good balance (do a lot of balance sports – chicken/egg?), but wasn’t what you’d call naturally sporty at school – that’s more down to ability to kick a ball which I don’t have!

3.5 is pretty early so may not be a good starting place
our oldest rode without stabilisers at that age but she also qualified for the city gymnastics squad
youngest at 6 can ski, skateboard and walk a gym beam with hands in pockets but has refused to consistently ride a bike without stabilisers – on sunday as i was riding home from the peak got a message from her to say i owed her a BMX as she’d just rode her mates jump bike round the park!

Oh, I should point out that I wouldn’t worry too much about him not doing it yet at 4.5. Little boy a few doors down is getting on for 5 and really sporty, yet still has the stabilisers on – don’t think that’s particularly abnormal for kids without cycling parents. Meanwhile little girl next door who’s just 4 had her pedals and stabilisers taken off today having had a few goes on mini-aracer’s Rothan and pestering Mum and Dad that she wanted a balance bike too (they were planning on it anyway, but it’s got brought forward a bit – peer pressure from a 2 year old!) She’s looking pretty good already, despite not being the most obviously sporty child, and I reckon she’ll be riding within weeks.