What age did your child ride a bike without stabilisers etc

[TropicofCapricorn]

Just curious really.

DS was just turned 7, really struggled.
DD was 3 and a half. But she'd had a balance bike since 2, so "cheated". I never knew about balance bikes for DS and wonder if he would have cracked it earlier.

Both were 3, both had had a balance bike for their 2nd birthdays. Not cheating!!

4 just before they started school. No balance bike as this was 20 years ago and I don’t think they were around then.

My ds was late; just before he turned 7 too. Once it clicked he got pretty competent fairly quickly though.

Balance bikes are brilliant. DD was about 4 getting her first pedal bike after a balance bike from 2 and got to grips with it immediately.

1 year old obviously!

10 months riding a bike and 6 months swimming, he did his first triathlon at 2 years old.

🤣

4, balance bikes aren’t ‘cheating’ but stabilisers are!

So late...

Oh I know, I was being silly 😜

DS was just 3, he had used a balance bike a nursery, insisted we take the stabilisers off because he said he could ride it. We argued he couldn’t for a a few mins, then I said to DH just take them off, only takes a few mins to put on and off. He grabbed his bike, took it to the top of the hill in the park, freewheeled for a minute or so then set off peddling. Seemed he was right, he could ride a bike!

DD on the other hand, we tried and tried on and off for years. She would insist the (various) bike didn’t work! She finally cracked it about 8 or 9 in lockdown. She was never very confident though and hasn’t been on one since she was about 11.

Mine were 5 and 7 - just because we never tried before that. We had scooters and not much house room. 7 year old picked it up in less than 15 mins ( we took pedals off bike and took her to hill with slight incline, put pedals back on when she got the hang of balance), 5 year old took 3 or 4 15 minute sessions.

I’ll up the average - aged 8 & 10. It was the one thing we managed to achieve in lockdown. We’d tried a few times before but my back would normally give up before they got it.

My son was around 4.5 years old I think. He started off on a balance bike, and progressed up. All children are different and grasp things at different times.

Balance bikes are great, all mine got on a bike and rode it straight away, my eldest is 17 so they've been around a while. Does mean I can't remember what age they were when they first rode a bike though 😂.

Both were 4 - one a few weeks before turning 5 and the other pretty much on her 4th birthday. I really think balance bikes helped a lot.

I on the other hand was 33! DH made me
a balance bike by taking off the pedals and I practiced going down a slope later on a quiet summers evening. It’s one of my greatest life achievements as i didn’t learn as a child.

3 and 4, balance bike and then really good light first bike. Never had stabilisers

Four, as soon as she took Bikeability. Previously we’d just stood in the park with her bike, and argued.

DS is 6, has had a balance bike from 3 , still can't ride with pedals, we take him regularly to a local athletics track where they have riding sessions for DC to practice somewhere flat , I think we're going to book him some lessons this summer.

I have a small suspicion he might be dyspraxic. I'm almost certain I am, I can't ride a bike I can't tie laces in the normal way, I trip over a lot, my hand eye coordination isn't great. DS has to work hard at handwriting, and despite going to gymnastics since before he was 4 he can't even do a cartwheel. DH rides everywhere including to work and DS has been on the back of his bike in a child seat for a long time

One of mine taught herself by the age of 4 despite being dyspraxic she has an amazing sense of balance.

youngest was nearer 8 partly stubborn and partly perhaps also being ND contributed- she may have mild dyspraxia.

Another one couldn’t run or balance well until after being treated for retained reflexes but that was before the age 4 so didn’t impact learning to ride a bike.

DS1 was always whizzing around on his balance bike so just went straight to normal bike at some point early, skipped the stabilisers.

Far more slack with DS2, but also he’s a different person and not as naturally skilled on the bike. So he had stabilisers til he was 6 but we rarely went on the bike so he didn’t get much chance.

DD is 3 and more of a scooter, which the boys were never into. She doesn’t seem particularly interested in the bikes!

4.5

She never quite "got" the balance bike (never went really fast etc). When we bought the pedal bike it took a few stops and starts over a number of months, plus a proper lesson, to build her confidence, but now she's doing really well on it. We did consider using stabilisers but I think the evidence shows that they're not super helpful.

DS was 6, nearly 7. He cracked it at the beginning of Feb half term this year. It took from the beginning of summer last year for him to really get it. The fear of falling and hurting themselves is real when they're older. I regret not doing him sooner when he was less risk aware. There's a book called wobblysaurus that's about learning to ride a bike and we watched lots of YouTube videos on how to cycle then one day he just got on his bike and went!

It was a very frustrating 7 months for all of us though 🤣 he absolutely loves it now he can do it though

ETA sorry kids had me up early so misread OP, didn't realise you'd already cracked it with your eldest 😅

Never used stabilisers, they slow down learning. Why on earth do you think a balance bike is "cheating" - it's a key step to learning the skills needed.

My DC learned to ride a bike in week 4 of a 6 week course which starts the kids off on balance bikes and then teaches pedalling.

3 and a half, after having a balance bike. I think the balance bike makes all the difference.