How do you teach older kids to ride bikes?

[EarlofShrewsbury]

I'm ashamed to admit it but my kids can't ride bikes.

They are 8 and 10. The youngest has additional needs and it hasn't really been safe to let her learn up until now due to a lack of danger awareness and impulse control. The eldest has never learnt as a consequence of this. Life just got in the way. I feel like I've let her down.

They did get bikes when they were preschoolers but they haven't been used and are now way too small. I've bought them new bikes for Christmas but they are too big for ones with stabilisers.

How do I get them to learn? I've booked a holiday where a massive draw is the cycle hire and bike trails and I'd love to be able to do that. I'm aware I probably won't get hire bikes big enough that have stabilisers so I'm determined to teach them. We go in June, is it even possible to teach before then?

Please help.

Would it be worth booking them a lesson? Might feel a bit less daunting/embarrassing for them than you trying to teach them?

you can book private lessons and from what I’ve seen they promise to teach them to ride in only a few lessons.

Have you found the Cyclesprog website yet? It has lots of advice on what bikes to and has articles on teaching older kids to ride a bike.

I'd suggest taking the pedals off and getting them to use them as balance bikes to start, once they've mastered the balance it's easy. I did this when transitioning my daughter from her balance bike to a standard bike so she could get used to the weight and size etc of the new bike.x

My daughter is the same, got a bike age 9 , 24" frame.She has ASD so balance is an issue. I found stabilisers online in Halfords for older children/ adults. 20-26" frame £70! Brilliant for her.

It can take as little as a weekend, especially if they already use a scooter or a skateboard. I was pregnant with my second when it was time for the first to learn, so he was 10 when he learned. By that time he was embarrassed to be the only one and highly motivated to learn.

I told mine to start with their dominant foot at the 2 o’clock position so they have a good long start to get onto the saddle and then push with the other foot. Keep the saddle low so they can easily touch the ground when they lose momentum. Maybe 10 minutes of scooting before you talk about pedalling.

Steering is going to be over compensated but that takes practice. Make sure they brake first on the back wheel not the front and see that the brake pads grip well.
Helmet obviously and strong trousers and/or knee pads. Many parks have soft rubbery surfaces or pretend cycle paths with signs etc.
I did a cycling proficiency course at school in the late 70s (!) to learn about traffic laws etc. Wait until you’re confident they can travel safely before you let them loose!
I’d start now if you’re planning a holiday as they’ll need to develop certain muscles in time for a full day’s cycling.

My DC learnt when they were 7 ish. I just took the pedals off a normal bike and got them to scoot along with their feet. Once they could scoot/glide/balance, the pedals went back on and they were away!

Don't worry about it. Ours do their cycling proficiency in Y5 and there are always some who are new to it.

Taking the pedals off and having them use it as a balance bike is much preferred these days. Taking the pedals off can be a bit tough (if I remember correctly one twists the wrong way, and both can be tricky to get started) but it is so worth doing. Then have them scoot along. As they get the sense of balance they will be able to glide further and further between scoots. Once they have got their balance they are pretty safe and can stop themselves falling. It becomes a relatively small step to put the pedals back on and switch to pedalling. Whereas trying to learn to pedal when you haven't internalised the balance and how to stop is much harder.

Agree with @N3wUs3rNam3Again : you need a pedal wrench (get it from Amazon) and just whisk the pedals off a normal bike; get them to stick their legs out and glide, preferably up and down a safe bit of off-road tarmac if there's one nearby. Make sure they're wearing thick trousers (jeans) in case of falling off; I might be tempted to wait until slightly nicer weather. I taught my reluctant 8 year old last summer; took a bit of coaxing but was pretty quick once he'd understood the concept.

Stabilisers are useful in some situations but they don't help with the main issue, which is balance; pedalling is the easy bit.

One thing, though: you might find they don't have the stamina / skill for a bike-based holiday by June, even if they can balance okay! You'll have to make sure they practice quite a lot in the meantime if that's what you're aiming for.

Balance is the first thing to master. Take the pedals off the bikes they already have, lots of videos on Youtube showing you how to do this. Lower the seat so that the can put the soles of their feet flat on the floor. Ride it like a balance bike, again lots of videos on youtube. Build up a teeny bit of speed and lift their legs.

Once they can balance, pedals back on, hold the bike by the handlebars and get them to find the pedals without looking down, feet off, feet on until they can find them. Find a small hill, push them down it and they then find the pedals whilst in motion. They then move onto pedalling, then the hardest one is starting to move off with the pedal in the position to push it down.

Did this with Ds1 because he was tall and the next bike didn't have stabilisers. Bike shop told us to do the above, worked really well. Not everyone learns to ride a bike very young. Good luck.

You just get on and try. Stabilisers.

If you want to outsource it if you think they'll do better with an objective adult teaching them, google 'learn to ride a bike class' and you'll find something locally. There are plenty of classes that teach adults who've never ridden a bike, let alone children! A 1-2-1 or sibling lesson would probably be best to avoid the embarrassment factor.

Our council run a fantastic day course for children 6 and over, and when we went with my eldest, every single child was cycling by lunch time.
They made sure that everyone could touch the ground properly so that they felt safe. The place was a nice flat, smooth surface with no obstacles and plenty of space. Then they went through a series of confidence boosting exercises:

1. Ride like a balance bike, both feet powering forwards.
2. Dominant foot on pedal (bottom position) and power forwards with only the other one like a scooter.
3. Dominant foot on pedal (top position), push down and glide. Other foot does nothing but aide balance.
4. Bring the second foot onto the pedal and go!

I just thought that it worked really well for slightly more nervous older kids.

Exactly this.
I'm a coach at a kids' cycling club and we don't recommend stabilisers for any age to be honest.
Take the pedals off a regular bike and put the saddle low enough to be able to get both feet comfortably on the floor, and use as a balance bike initially. Have a look at the British Cycling Ready Set Ride programme. The activities are aimed at younger children but the same principles apply whatever the age and it will give you some ideas. Once they can glide confidently, put the pedals back on and get them to glide for a bit with their feet resting on the pedals, then start turning the pedals and they'll hopefully be away. Once they've got the hang of pedalling remember put the saddle back up a bit. I've taught a few older children to ride using this method. It's generally much easier to learn to pedals once you've got balance sorted rather than thecother way round.
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/go-ride/article/20200325-getinvolved-Getting-the-most-out-of-UK-Ready-Set-Rid-0

I actually found it easier with older kids. Ours only learnt this summer (just turned 6 and 9). We tried with the eldest a few years ago and he just didn't want to do it, so we gave up. This summer they both just got on and did it straight away. It helped that they understood things better and can follow instructions, plus they ride scooters to school everyday so have good balance. They learnt on my parents drive, so a fairly flat enclosed space, but were soon going up and down the lane. We just held the bikes to start with but they picked it up easily.

find flat or gently downhill grass (soft landing). Hold child not bike, run along side for a bit then let go tell them to keep pedalling. Pick them up when they fall off and repeat.

Definitely recommend classes. We used Bikeability. They were brilliant. My local one was at the athletics track. He was doing laps by the end of the second session. It was amazing.

Take the pedals off and use them as big balance bikes.

I used stabilisers until I was 12 🤷 I'm probably dyspraxic although that wasn't picked up at school. Do have ADHD as well. At 12 I realised that the stabilisers were just bending when I went around corners so we took them off and it was ok.

I agree with the taking pedals off method. That's what we did for DS1, he was about 6 or 7 and it worked well for him. Combine with a slight slope for best results.

I didn't learn until I was maybe 8. I have vivid memories of how I did learn. Near where I live is a country lane and a downhill section. I was with peers and I so wanted to ride so set off down the hill on my bike and just did it. The first section I wouldn't have needed to pedal as the bike is moving and you learn to balance before pedalling.

This may seem an extreme example and there was no traffic but as a keen cyclist now - I find balance the hardest when travelling at the lowest speed.

So if there is a gentle down hill slow - it's a good way to learn some balance before adding on pedalling

I've just looked at these, they seem to have the same ones on amazon for £50. That's a game changer.

The youngest has ASD and ADHD. It's very hard to get her to focus but she is fearless and will learn. She's on a 24" frame. The older one is more unsure of herself, suspected PDA profile ASD but not diagnosed yet. She will be harder to teach. She's on a 26" frame. We took them to halfords to check we were buying the right size and they both picked their own bikes.

You don't need to take the pedals off, they can just pretend the pedals aren't there. You need a small tarmac slope where it's flat at the bottom. The can start at the top of their slope, push off, lift their feet up and go down the slope. Keep doing this while they get their balance. Once they have their balance then they can try putting their feet on the pedals after they push off. Then once they can do that they can try pedalling once they get to the bottom of the slope. Teach them about brakes though - and not using them both suddenly at the same time! THis worked perfectly for my 7 year old with ASD and dyspraxia.

I feel better reading some of the posts here. DD1 is 5 and we've been trying to teach her to ride her bike for a while but a) she's not naturally athletic and is quite uncoordinated (like me - we have the same problem with swimming and other sports!). I don't think it's as strong as dyspraxia would be but she's definitely not got great gross motor, although her fine motor is excellent and she's not credit crafty and creative, and b) she just doesn't seem to care about it or be interested in it. But I see her peers whizzing about on their bikes and worry she'll be left out somehow. She does have a scooter she is happy to ride but even then she's not massively interested in it.

So maybe I'll stop stressing and we will revisit it in a few years!

I can already tell DD2 (2) will be a lot easier as she seems to have much more of a natural aptitude for physical activity. She's a far better climber than DD1 was, she likes her balance bike, she can use a scooter, she likes to try on a skateboard.

Needing to cycle before June isn't a complete necessity, the holiday will be just a good without. It's Duinrell in the Netherlands though, so if would be nice if we could do the whole bike thing. When in Rome and all that.

DS never learned to ride a bike, he had one but never progressed from stabilisers. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at 7/8 and along with rock climbing and swimming unsupervised it was on a list of things not to do.
By the time he grew out of the epilepsy he had lost interest in bikes and was obsessed with rugby, I’m not sure which one is safer.
Im sort of glad because he has shown no interest in motorbikes or scooters. We live rurally and anything on two wheels is a case of taking your life in your hands.
As a dentist the worst facial/dental injuries I’ve seen have been the result of cycling accidents. Even with a helmet they are not full protected facially. Motorcycle helmets would be far better for cycling but they do restrict hearing and vision, although motorcyclists seem to manage. We are seeing more face planting curbs and pavements by the e scooters too. Speed plus hard surfaces are never a good mix.
And the exercise argument is flawed because walking will always going to trump cycling. Studies show that cycling, being non weight bearing, is not good for building bone density.

I am worried about the possible danger but I'm not going to prevent them from learning.

I believe it to be a life skill, much like swimming (which my children also can't do, but we will tackle that in the summer).