Tips on teaching kid how to ride with out stabilisers

Title pretty much explains what i'm after really

My little one is 5 and a half and i think she's ready to have a go without stabilisers.

Any advice as i'm never taught anyone to ride without stabilisers and i can't remember how i learnt because it's so long ago

the traditional 'put them on a gentle grass slope, hold fistful of jumper between shoulder blades and run alongside letting go when you think they've picked speed up and hopign to catch them when they wobble' approach worked for me.

the other way is to make a 'like-a-bike' by whipping the cranks off and lettign them scoot but my daughter wouldn;t do that 'cos her big brothers bike had pedals so she had to have them too.

Take the cranks/pedals off and drop the saddle.
Let them get the hang of skooting along, balancing etc.

Everything back on – let them get the hang of pedalling and away they go.
Make sure you have a camera ready for this bit!

CB
(Father to Thump who's been pedalling since the age of 3 1/4)

Ride to a nice big grassy area, local cricket pitch or the like, take the stabilizers off, then get them pedalling while you hold them upright by the saddle. when they are balanced let go and wait for them to realise they are riding a bike without stabilisers or fall off. Repeat until they are fed up. Say they did great. Go home. Repeat. Balance bikes help too.

mine has been on a balance bike for a year, hoping to go straight to pedals next week, going to tesco tonight to buy sticky plasters…camera on charge

Hold the back of the saddle as lightly as you can and only to prevent them falling over, be prepared to run as you want them to dictate the pace, don't push them on or slow them down, keep talking to them and don't tell them when you're letting go.

My lad made the move from balance bike to pedals without too much trouble – I took the short but often approach (every night for a week, but only for 15-20 mins at a time until he was comfortable with it) and tried not to push him into it too much.

You will be so stoked when she gets it!

You will be so stoked when she gets it!

Aye!

Definitely one of those proud parent moments 🙂

My children did not respond well to peer pressure, so I always tried to make sure it was nice and quiet when I took them out to learn.

Thanks for all the advice……it's really appreciated!

Think i may whip the cranks off tonight and let her get her balance and then put them back on and head for a nice grassy area as i'm mega protective over my little girl 😉

It's definately gonna be a proud moment in the Bowen household and i'll make sure Mrs Bowen has the camera out!

also take the BB out if it has an axle sticking out – they'll wreck their ankles on it otherwise.

If she is used to pedalling she may find there suddenly being no pedals a bit off putting. I'd recommend a try without doing that first to see how she gets on. She can get the feel of balancing with you lightly holding the saddle to help. Good luck!

I'd ban stabilisers if I could, they are dangerous and only serve to make it harder to learn to ride.

Good point ddmonkey

it also saves her watching and waiting impatiently in the garage while her old man takes forever to whip the cranks off!!

top of a big hill – boxhill lookout should be good – point them down and away they go….

I took the pedals off and put pipe insulation over the cranks. A gentle slope helps to practise on. Once they can balance by steering, put the pedals back on. Be prepared to hold the bike and give a gentle push to start. Starting is the hardest bit. Grass unless it's a cricket wicket is going to make life harder for your little one. A nice big concrete or tarmac area is best.
Stay chilled – she'll get it eventually (maybe straight away).

My little darling was pushed off down a gentle grass slope; once he realized that he was actually balancing fine, he panicked and deliberately crashed rather than continue to where the angle eased. He didn't go near the bike again for six months.
Sounds like yours is competitive enough that she will be off before you can stop her.
To the wee mans credit, he rides really well now; he's just not a risk taker.

my littlun is due in 7 weeks or so (gulp), what's the usual age for pushing a kiddie on to two wheels?

grassy slope and saddle holding work for my daughter.

make sure you dont just stop when you let go of the saddle.

my dad did that and then started shouting 'turn turn'. As i looked round to see him and find out what he was talking about i rode into a hedge. it was big and spikey. and i had to fetch my self out as my dad and brother were too busy rolling on the floor. i learnt to corner quick.

Tell the rider to "look up" – picked this up from slow speed control m/c training, and used the same idea when my daughter was transitioning to ride without stabilisers. She was looking down at the front wheel and kept folding it under – by looking up and away from the front wheel she immediately got her balance right.

Depends if they like it, but my lad was riding without stabilizers by the age of 3 1/4. He's now nearly 5 and he rips! V proud!

Edit my youngest is nearly 2 and wants to emulate his brother, so he is now waddling around with a balance bike between his legs. He is just starting to get an inlking that he can scoot, but its going to be a while before he really starts to get it.

Sui….not sure what age kiddies ride, guess it varies, but good luck for the arrival of your little un. my missus is due our new addition in 3 weeks 😀

I've called Mrs Bowen and we're all set for tonight, camera charged, plasters at the ready and a box of tissues for my teary eyes when i'm overwhelmed with pride for my little princess.

May post some pictures tomorrow if all goes well

mine was two when we got her a balance bike, now a year later we are putting her on pedals. She has been asking for a while now for pedals, she's is really fast on a trike and slightly mental on the balance bike, dropping off kerbs flying down singletrack etc. – good luck!

My three year old daughter has just learned to ride a pedal bike. The advice I was given from Islabikes was gently support you child under the arms and allow them to wobble where ever they want without actually letting them fall. Allowing them to wobble teaches them to steer to gain their balance. It worked for mine.

Stabilisers encourage kids to turn the bars to the right if they want to go right.

Take the stabilisers off and you have to turn left (a bit) to initiate a right turn.

That's why stabilisers are useless and like-a-bikes are good.

(Grandson 8 weeks old and I'm starting to think what to get him)

Another like-a-bike fan here.

I got my daughter a Ridgeback Scoot for her 2nd birthday, she's been shooting around on that until about 3 weeks ago.
She's now about 3.5, and we'd discussed getting her some stabilisers for Easter. About a week before I sat her on a "normal" bike and we had 4(ish) sessions with me lightly holding her as she went along. Seeing her progress, I said to my wife that I didn't think she would need stabilisers, but she wasn't convinced. Then on Good Friday, she just set off down the road and I seem to have been chasing after her ever since 🙂 No stabilisers needed!
She's fallen once, but after a few tears she jumped back on and raced me back to the house 🙂
The only thing she lacks confidence in is turning, but she is managing to do it sometimes.

I think it's helped that she sees me on my bike so she has known that she wanted a "bike with pedals like daddy".

As rkk01 says – looking straight ahead for smooth line and easy balance. Its the single biggest thing to work on for every rider, not just 5 year olds!

Also I'd suggest a short session of just a few minutes on consecutive days – my eldest took off on about day 4, whereas the little one took a lot longer. They can't concentrate for more than a few minutes, but they will always be better the next day.

Grass isn't so good, unless it's really well cut (imo) – you're better off with something a little harder, a dirt football pitch, carpark… Something easier to roll on.

Depends if they like it, but my lad was riding without stabilizers by the age of 3 1/4. He's now nearly 5 and he rips! V proud!

Edit my youngest is nearly 2 and wants to emulate his brother, so he is now waddling around with a balance bike between his legs. He is just starting to get an inlking that he can scoot, but its going to be a while before he really starts to get it.

Yours and mine are the same, ddmonkey!

Except the wee one has is shunning the balance bike at the moment after working out his wooden trike is faster, noisier and causes more damage to the paintwork round the house.

I had a look on the Sheldo Brown website when teaching mine at about 5-6 years old.

He recommended holding them by the shoulders this way you can give as much support as needed but they dont lean into you as they do if you hold the handle bars and you have a better mechanical advantage in keeping them upright and dont kill your back as you do when holding the saddle. Worked well for both of mine and a friend at work who I recommended it to.

I've used the scooting technique to teach a number of kids who have been medically referred for co-ordination problems to cycle succesfully.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the key points are:

Remove stabilisers and pedals (the first thing you should do with any kid's bike is throw away the stabilisers!).

Lower the saddle so the child can get both feet flat on the ground. It is critical that the bike is small enough to allow this.

Allow the child to find learn balance by scooting the bike about. Initially they will walk along with both feet, but as they gain confidence they will be able to lift their feet and glide for longer distances.

Once the child is gliding and balancing, stick the pedals back on and get them to lift their feet onto the pedals while gliding. From this point they should move on to pedalling fairly easily.

Encourage the child to keep their head up rather than fixating on the front wheel. As mentioned above, a firm, easy-rolling surface is easier to start with than grass. Avoid holding on to the bike to support it – this will just interfere with the feedback the child needs to acquire balance. However, if the child lacks the strength to start moving when introducing pedalling, a wee push behind the saddle may help to get them moving.

Like-a-bikes (or without pedals) are the best if you start them off on them early, and is also apparently the best way for adults to learn.

Both of ours had bikes with stabilisers and got used to pedalling those first.

They also had microscooters. Our youngest (4.5) had got to the point where she was whizzing about on the scooter, one leg in the air, both feet on the board, etc.

So, we just stuck her on a bike with no stabilisers, helped her to start and then just walked/jogged beside her loosely holding her hood. She was off within 100 metres, then rode the 3/4 mile along a car-free path to my parents' house in one go!

Unbelievably it is not uncommon for people to turn up for our mountain bike skills sessions who can't ride a bike at all! Usually in a youth group. Anyhow, we teach them by putting them on a bike with the saddle on the top tube and getting them to scoot along like-a-bike style.

No-one is allowed to look at their front wheel or the ground just in front of on any of our sessions, ever. Including absolute beginners! The satisfaction when your kid starts riding around and looking way ahead like a pro is immense – looks like they've been riding for years!

Best way seems to start on a balance bike and then go straight to a pedal bike with no stabilizers.

Didn't know this at the time, though, so both my girls started with stabilizers. Eldest would wobble along painfully slowly getting freaked out by any mild change in camber, so much so that we despaired of ever getting her off stabilizers.

Then, one day she went to a friend's house for a birthday party. Went to collect her later on and was told "Oh, she's playing down on the tennis court" (did I mention that this friend's house is flippin' massive?).

Wandered down to find her and lo & behold, there she is happily cycling around the tennis court on a bike a size too big and no stabilizers! Job done but sad that we weren't there to see it…

Just take them off, and give em a push – worked with my lot.

A friend had the same problem, his daughter was 8 FFS!

Isla bike fan here scoot bike for a year now riding on her own 3yr 7mths and skidding like a bad un!!
Her first ride without me starting her off

postierich,

That's exactly the same bike as my little girls. She's about the same age too.

postierich- Imogen is a natural. 🙂

Do the scoot stuff without pedals as all above suggest.

Once the pedals go back on get her to stand across the bike, pedal up, brakes on. As she lets of the brakes, push of the ground and stand on the up pedal and she'll be off. I can still remember the look on Katie's face on her first ride up the garden. She stopped and punched the air with triumph….what a moment.. She'd been hampered by stabilisers and was 5 (we didn't know any better til we borrowed a likeabike for a week). the next one was pedalling by the age of 3 as she had likeabike from the age of 2 but preffered her likeabike til into the 4s and is still very attached to it and she'll be 8 this year.

(These are the girls who are planning next years trip to SSEC11 in belgium already)

I refuse to sell a bike with stabilisers from the shop. If anybody can think of a use for them, I have a great pile of bags containing unused stabilisers.