Make 9 year old learn to ride a bike?

Its definitely something worth teaching your child even if cycling isn't something you do in your family because he might very well want to be able to bike places when he's older (especially useful for getting around at university). Is it possible to borrow a bike to teach him?

As for the life skills debate, in my country's version of the red book there's a chart to tick off when your baby/toddler/preschooler reaches each milestone and one of those milestones is riding a bike so its considered an expected skill here at least (also skiing and skating were milestones ) and depending where you live it can be a very very important skill. It absolutely is an essential skill in my town because the children need to bike between school sites in upper school (can walk between two of the sites but you will be late to the next lesson and there's no chance of walking the 7km to the PE site in time for your lesson!)

OP I wouldnt suggest a roof rack at all. We had one for a while and it involved us needing a step stool to carry round in the car to get up on the roof, enough room in the car park to be able to get by the side of the car and swing round to put the bike down, and same in reverse

We got tow balls fitted in the end and now have rear racks, much better all round.

We have non ebikes and ebikes too. Even the non ebikes became too difficult in the end to remove from the roof. Fine if you're some strong young man with a carbon skinny bike

Not so good for a couple of sturdy hybrid trekking bikes!!

Get yourself a bike too and a roof rack and go on bike rides together !
im a mum of 3 boys. It’s a great thing we can do together. (I’m no good at football)

It does enrich your life. It is easier to learn when young although another poster above has given me a different perspecgtive on this concept that you cant learn as an adult or its difficult to learn as an adult, I think I was wrong about that and its not really any different to learning as a child now that I think about it.

People are not disagreeing its a skill or that its useful or helpful or enriching and good for exercise. No one has said is not important at all. But under no definition can it be deemed as essential. Ie you cannot function without it.

Just an aside about folding bikes in case its relevant to OP, we have worked our way through a number of these, some quite expensive, some cheapy, we find them very hard to operate all the levers and things (cant think of the word for the things that fold over and put the bike in place), you need stronger hands than we have and good fine motor control which I dont have.

I mean make is a strong word but I’d say take him to a couple of days out where he gets to have a go. I couldn’t ride a bike till I was 20 and I’m not going to lie it was a bit awkward at uni when I had to tell my new mates actually “no I can’t go on the lime bikes unfortunately they don’t have stabilisers”.

Sport England wants to increase how much people walk & cycle for travel due to its potential to improve the nation’s health & fitness.

No-one has to cycle if they don’t want to - but at a policy level it’s good for health & managing transport. It’s also really useful - I live where we have good public transport & I can walk & drive, but there are still journeys that are easier to do by bike for example where there are are gaps in the bus network. Sustrans Scotland did research years ago that equated cycling to work with a pay rise (I think it was 8%). That’s definitely worth having.

I think we also need to recognise that many children today lack the freedom that those of us who grew up in the 80s / 70s / 60s / 50s etc took for granted. Unless a child lives in a LTN (aka a cul-de-sac) it’s hard to them to play out / ride bikes / walk & cycle around because of the way that adults drive. This is what is at the root of the OP’s dilemma. Children are castigated for this - criticised for not knowing the green cross code, spending too much time online etc. - but it’s really a problem that adults created & could solve fairly easily, and given the current dire headlines re obesity & child mental health there are really good reasons for doing so.

I'd definitely teach him. We lived in a city ans have since moved to somewhere with much more space. Its a life skill thats been amazing for him!

Not exclusively, but it may be a contributing factor. It's no secret that the UK is absolutely car-daft, and has been since the 1960s.

My cousin never rode one. There has been nothing noticeably unusual about how her life has proceeded.

And I’m fairly certain it’s not because some people don’t ride bikes.

I'm fairly certain the obesity epidemic is not confined to younger generations.

It’s a skill that enriches your life and is easier to learn when young, irrespective of people agreeing that it’s a life skill.
People not being able to do something isn’t proof a skill isn’t important. Some people can’t swim, drive or read, after all.
I‘d get a secondhand bike and teach him over easter. Then I‘d let him decide whether he wanted to keep the bike or not, or consider getting a folding bike for the family.

Can we stop having the 'essential life skill' debate back and forth. Obviously everybody is going to have a different opinion on this.

If he's agreeable to learning I recommend doing this. Being able to ride a bike is a useful skill to have and cannot be picked up at short notice later in life. Who knows when he might meet friends who want to go out on bikes or get a job where commuting by bike is the best option.

It's actually a really useful skill for meeting people when you're older. It's been the most social things I've done as an adult and there's lots of different types of riding. Lots of pump tracks popping up and that's an entirely different skill.

Now I don't walk well, it's really helpful to be able to ride a bike.

That poster clearly not recognising that we're a nation of couch potatoes due to an obesity epidemic in the younger generations in any case

Bikeability is great for late starting riding

My youngest sister was never taught, we'd moved from a more urban area to a farm when she was a toddler so we weren't out on bikes as much and it sort of just got missed. We didn't realize until she was a teenager. Her now husband taught her in her 20s. It's pretty appalling I think that she was never taught and I think probably reflects how my parents were as parents albeit they were very stretched with 5 of us.

All you need is a carpark out of hours, a playpark, a large field. My son learnt at 7 and that felt pretty late tbh

I think he should learn, there are second hand bikes on gumtree

It's a skill everyone should learn. It's now or never, learning as an adult is so much more difficult.
If he's had a balance bike it won't take long for him to learn.

What makes you think that not riding a bike = "couch potato". I am a size 10, eat healthy and have a physically demanding job. I see no appeal in riding a bike.

All of ours can ride bikes, we have spent £100's on bikes, helmets etc.

None of them have ever wanted to go for bikes rides as an activity. All sporty, healthy boys but they'd rather walk / run / play a sport / go for a hike than ride a bike. We have done rides as a family but all much prefer a hike.

None of them have ever used them for essentials travel. Oldest 2 are independent and get themselves around perfectly well.

There are other forms of exercise, you know. I haven't owned a bike for 30 years but I can run 10k without stopping.

Cycling is not an essential life skill. What can't you do if you can't ride a bike? People can still walk, get buses and drive cars, right? Unlike swimming, not being able to ride a bike is not going to potentially kill you either.

Track down a second hand bike OP and see how he gets on, but if the kid hates it then I wouldn't push it.

We walk. How far do you walk and how often?

Nobody’s “proudly announcing”, by the way. Just disputing that riding a bike is an essential life skill when it patently isn’t. Unless the meaning of essential has changed without me noticing.

None of mine were overly bothered til around age 8 or 9 and then taught themselves in an hour or two. If you can get to a very quiet, flat place and take the pedals off so he can practice like a balance bike for a while, then when they can glide for 10 seconds without needing to put feet down for balance, pop the pedals on again.

Round here there's free or very cheap bikes up on marketplace all the time. Might not be what he would choose if getting brand new but at least wouldn't have pressure of "we paid x for this and need to get out money worth!"