Learning to ride a bike, essential skill?

[PinotAndPlaydough]

My children are 7 & 5, neither can rise a bike. In the past we simply could not afford to buy them. We also live in a first floor flat and have nowhere to store bikes. They would have to learn on the pavement as the nearest parks that would be suitable for learning are a bus ride away (I can’t drive) and I don’t think I could safely carry two bikes plus manage the kids all the way to the bus stop and on the bus.

Once we could afford bikes we got second hand one for them, eldest has some sen which makes learning harder and when we last tried to teacher her the bike ended being literally picked up thrown and thrown in the road (by her not me!).
They would now need new bikes as theirs are a bit small now and weren’t the best quality to begin with.
We could afford to buy new but it would mean sacrifices else where (days out during the holidays). Im so torn on this, I loved going out on my bike when I was a kid but my situation and opportunities to ride were very different. I really want them to learn but don’t know if the money and the general hassle of it all is worth it when they’ll have so little opportunity to actually use them.

So what would you do? Get the bikes or just leave it?

I'm still gonna cycle everywhere every day, but I have to admit I'm down on cycling for other people.

All you get is hate. Hate for being on the roads. Hate for being on the trains. Hate for commuting. Hate for being on the cycle path. Hate for wearing lycra in public. Hate for being part of a mass event or daring to ride 2 abreast on a road not wide enough to overtake on, anyway. Hate for existing.

So I completely understand the folk baffled at it being called essential. It's just another way to attract hate from your perspective.

My dd learned how to ride a bike one easter holiday, she must of been about 5/6 our garden is all grass and very undulating ground, our front is all gravel so I was mighty impressed when she started riding around the garden.

My ds on the other hand is 19 and has special needs but he never got to grips with cycling, but he is however a fantastic swimmer so if I had to pick a life skill he was good at it would most definitely be swimming.

I mean, you arrange your life so it works with what you've got. Some people can afford the time to walk everywhere or can get work very close to home. Some can afford to drive. Bike is a very cheap and convenient way to get around, cheaper than buses if you travel at all regularly.

As I say, OP's kids will learn when they're adults if they haven't and need to. In the shorter term, how will they get to secondary school? Bus passes even for students round here will set you back a good chunk compared to a second hand bike.

It's a useful skill. Society assumes that you can. Access to a nearly free (after initial purchase), flexible form of personal transport for local journeys is a handy option.

I didn't learn until I was 19. My parents weren't encouraging and I didn't have access to decently maintained, modern bikes. I have little sporting prowess and my attempts on other's bikes were always spectacularly pathetic. But at 19, empowered by learning to swim at 16. I bought myself a bike and went out on a quiet estate until I found my balance. I'm so glad I did. Cycling is sociable and a great low cost day out with mates, something I've done with several social groups. It's great being able to hire bikes on holiday.

It hasn't come easily to DS1 (dyspraxia) but sibling rivalry and a forthcoming Beaver badge were great motivators in the face of anxiety and fear of faliure. He forgets he can do it and fear overwhelms him, but that badge is the reminder and proof that he can.

My council does various courses in the holidays which are ideal if owning your own isn't particularly practical.

Scooters are great (I love mine for local journeys) and finding his balance on his was supportive for DS learing to balance on the bike.

My DS learnt last week, he will be 13 in September.

He took 10 minutes to learn, because the time was right. He wasn't ready before.

I think it is not worth spending money you would have to struggle to find, if opportunities to ride are few and far between!

With regards to a bike rack for storage we rent and I don’t think we would be aloud to put one up but I guess I could ask.

As for getting to secondary school, we live in London, the furthest secondary schools in catchment are about a half hour walk or a short bus ride the nearest is 5 minutes down the road (being London public transport is pretty good). They have zip cards so free buses.

I think if I can find the right bikes second hand I am going to give it one more attempt and maybe learn to live with the fact my bedroom might become a place for bike storage.
I think my youngest will probably be fairly easy to teach as they are very determined and have have good coordination, my asd, hypermobile child with proprioception difficulties is going to be a whole other story but out of the two of them I think she would benefit most from learning.

For the world that your children are going to grow up in, it might be more useful to be able ride a bike than it is now. Cities and towns may be less dominated by cars, and electric bikes are already growing in popularity.

Our local council has bike riding sessions at various parks where you can hire bikes and they'll help teach your child too. Might be worth looking into.

DD has only just learned to ride at 10yo (wasn't interested before). I got her a secondhand bike and took the pedals off to turn it into a huge balance bike. Once she'd done that for a bit, she rode with pedals unassisted very quickly (5mins in the park and she was off). It's never too late and we had teenagers learn in order to participate in our summer camp (had a mountain biking option).

Do you have family/friends with old bikes you could borrow or maybe they live somewhere better suited? You might be able to teach them in a weekend or they might be happy to come to yours and take you somewhere suitable?

Here's some TfL cycling info including basic cycle skills but you need to pop your borough in to see what's available near you... tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/cycling-in-london/cycle-skills#on-this-page-4

Scroll up to the top and look for 'basic cycle skills'

I can't ride a bike-tried many times but my balance is shot. It's never hindered me.

For us personally it's an essential skill. Both kids learnt at home (we live in a quiet flat close) and could ride to school with no stabilisers by the time they started Year R. We regularly go to the park with them and often take them out on the bike rack in to the new forest for the day. At our school all children do a cycling course in year 6 which covers proper highway code / road rules etc.

However, if you have no opportunity or desire or real need for them to learn or ride their bikes, it's hardly the end of the world is it? Do they actually want to learn? If so do you have any friends with bikes you could spend the day with and they could borrow and learn then? Once they've got the hang of it, supposedly you never forget how to ride a bike!