Riding a bike - What age?

[2wheeler2025]

What age did your child learn to ride a bike?

Noticed a trend of kids not being able to ride a bike until 6/7+. Just wondered how old your child was?

AIBU - It's not an important life skill, my DC will do it when they're ready
YANBU - It is an important life skill and I actively tried to help them learn to ride a bike as soon as I could

Youngest dd's legs still need to grow a bit.

Frog 10 inch balance bike has a very,very low saddle. Even an exceptionally short 2 year old can ride it

All 4 Dc learnt to ride a bike without stabilisers around 3-3.5 years. All had balance bikes from very early. I cycled, still do. Some of Dc1’s friends can’t ride a bike yet, they’re 9-10. Essential skill for mine, live rurally so need to to cycle to see friends, get to school.

6 for my twins. Neither of them enjoy cycling currently however. They much prefer their scooters and just want to be out on them all the time.

I think it’s an important life skill but I also think kids pick it up very quickly when older so it’s not an issue whenever they learn.

Balance bike age 2. Pedal bike 5th birthday and simply rode off, a total non event, we were speechless - it’s supposed to be a milestone. We’d been expecting all sorts of falling off, scraped knees etc- total pro and all due to zooming on balance bike for years

When she just turned 5

Before that she whizzed around on her balance hike

Without stabilisers? 5 I think. Seemed older than other kids as she was still on her first bike I'd bought for her 3rd birthday. Balance bikes weren't quite as proliferous as they are now, with a huge dose of hindsight, we should have taken the pedals off as the combination of balance, pedalling and steering was too much for her (since diagnosed autistic).

There were a few kids in year 6 when they did bikeability that didn't own a bike and had never learnt to ride.

If you have the space and money round your home to have balance bikes, then they swap to a bike easily round 3 years old.
no balance bike opportunity and it’s a few years older.

Round my way you definitely get some parents who seem to expect you to clap or something when their 3 year old cycles past you on a path, when all it actually indicates is that they had a balance bike, not that they’re the next *insert name of good cyclist. I’d rather they taught them some manners tbh.

DC was 3 and 2 mo.

Learned to ride the pedal bike in about five minutes having already mastered the balance bike. I'm a total balance bike convert. We didn't use stabilisers, I don't think they help at all.

It took longer for DC to learn to start and use the brakes safely without me though.

Literally a thread on this last week. Think most now can ride a two wheel pedal bike around 3 or 4

It very much depends on the ability of the individual child. Mine all had bikes young, but one needed stabilisers for many years, until age 8. Others zoomed of age 4-5.

Dd1 - totally uncoordinated dc so age 7 (nearly 8)
dtds - total adrenaline junkies with no fear using the skate park ramps age 4 😳

Both children learned around 4-5. I remember DC1 learned in year R and DC2 learned just before.

Balance bike at 2 then pedal bike at 3.5.

Like many other posters on here have said the transition from balance bike to pedal bike is easy. I really don’t see the point of stabilisers.

I agree with this.

DD was about 8. We had tried to get her going a bit earlier, about 5 or 6, but she struggled and lost interest. Got the bike out again when she was nearly 8 and it just clicked and she was riding it within a week.

Seems to remember I was 7ish.

Always amazed when I see little kids of 3 zipping around quite competently

Slight aside I saw a very young child (maybe 4) properly riding a bike without stabilisers down the road (on the pavement) after school drop off, this morning. I was slightly nervous because a) I worried they might not have the awareness of cars backing out of, or into drives, and b) their adult was nowhere to be seen. I was half preparing myself to detour from my own journey to ascertain where the child was going but then I did see mum about 150m down the road and the child got off the bike to wait.

I think it’s one of those things that, when your child has just learned to ride a bike, feel important. When your kids are teens and your child who didn’t learn to ride a bike until they were 8 is a county level netball player on a sports scholarship, and your child who learned to ride a bike at 3 hasn’t ridden a bike for 2 years because they’re more interested in singing and drama, you realise it’s not that important in the grand scheme of things.

My kids did this, each subsequent child earlier in life than the previous. My very active DS third child could ride just after his third birthday (started on balance bike at 18 months). DD2 around 3.5 years, DD1 around her 4th birthday. It's not a life skill for all but for us it was a godsend for the school run as well as lots of fun, and they still ride as teens, DS every day on his paper round. Stabilisers actually hinder kids learning to ride because they prevent freewheel and I have to bite my tongue when I see 6 or 7 year olds wobbling along on stabilisers.

I don’t think ‘I rode a bike at 3’ is something to put on your CV, to be honest.

They do Bikeability in year 5 or 6 which is cycling proficiency but that's learning to ride safely on the road not how to ride a bike.

I'm getting close to a full house on my "typical mumsnet comment" bingo card, thanks 🤣

No worries 👍

Ours got the knack of balance bike zooming around feet up when they were 2, riding peddle bikes from 3. We avoided stabilisers, I don't think it helps develop technique.

Youngest is 5 and getting just getting the hang of riding woodland trails/slightly downhill tracks. So much more fun now they're getting older!!!

My DD was 2 weeks after her 4th birthday. She had a balance bike from around age 2

At around 3 with training wheels and 5 without. I don’t see it as a life skill. It’s an alternative to exercise for me.