Learning to ride a bike!

[Aimsmum]

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DD was 5, but DS got it at 3! Best place was the park so soft landing if fell off, no parked cars etc to worry about, & loads of space to turn, wobble etc in.

Good luck - it kills your back doesn't it

dd was nearer 7 when she got on someone elses bike and rode off much to my astonishment
We had spent hours encouraging her on hers...

Mine still can't do it (but we've never really tried tbh, this is the first time in ages he's been interested) but he's nearly there and I think if we give it one more go he'll get it. I do feel a bit guilty for not having taught him before now tbh. He's only just 8. No tips since I haven't managed it yet!

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My boys always struggle with 'physical' things. The other lads in the street just got on their bikes and rode them aged 4-5.

DS1 was 6.5 - he was nervous of trying, and we had to bribe him! We did half an hour a day during a half term holiday, and he had it cracked by the end of the week.

DS2 is nearly 6.5 and he can't do it yet, and doesn't want to try.

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DS1 5 and 2 3 will be getting bikes for christmas so will be encouraging them to learn without stabilisers.
They currently share a bike that they've had since they were able get on one.
Went to toys r us a couple of weeks ago and was horrified when I saw them both on different bigger bikes. They looked in proportion meaning that their one at home is well and truly outgrown....must of been blind to miss that one.

Is it worth just taking off one stabiliser off first? or better to just take both off?
Oops sorry hijacking

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Take them both off, otherwise they lean over on to the 1 stabilizer & find it hard to balance when both off.

Someone suggested just one off at first but then I wondered if ds's would overbalance to compensate IYKWIM.
Been thinking since posted....I wonder if like armbands when learning kids to swim you can deflate them slowly then remove them...well I wonder if stabilisers can be moved up slightly so they sit just off the floor...if so then maybe could just keep moving them up until they aren't even really using them before removing them.
Or maybe its just best to remove them and have done with it?

I have adjusted dd2s stabilsers and mostly she rides along without then hitting the floor, but when she does wibble instead of falling off she can straighten herslef back up again.
By adjusted I mean bent up as its a banger of a bike

Mine are nearly 7 and still can't ride a bike, they both have the most awful balance.
It could be in the genes though,I was useless on a bike and was the only child in my school to fail my cycleing test, as every time I took my hand off the handelbars to signal I just fell off!!

Will have a nosy at ds's old bike and see if I can do something about lifting up/bending the stabilisers.

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Somebody here suggested this and it worked like magic for ds:

put the saddle down so she can sit on it with both feet easily flat on ground. take both stabilisers off and both pedals off. Then she will be able to scoot around on it and learn to balance by herself - soon she will be whizzing along with feet off the ground most of the time. Then when she is confident put pedals back on, and off she goes

ds had his pedals off for 3 days, then we put them back on and he could ride!

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My DD is 6 and learnt to ride without stabilisers in the past 3 weeks. We went cold turkey with me holding her for a few minutes but she grasped it really quickly. Today she was across the width of the park on her own without so much as a wobble!

Top tip - shin pads - she had so many bruises on her shins because she found it hard to start herself off and she kept whizzing the pedals round and whacking her shins all the time!

I wanna bike now! Can I remember how to ride one though? Ah yeah, it's like riding a bike

DS was just over 5 and we tried a few times half heartedly then suddenly he got after about 10 minutes in the park on the grass for soft landing. We had removed the stabilisers and had shoved a long broom handle down the back of the seat, sort of wedeged between the wheel and the seat. This means you can hold the bike upright without killing your back and also the child doesn't know when you are holding and when you let go so they tend not to panic - it works brilliantly. Got this tip from Denmark where, as far as I could work out after living there for 7 years, kids are virtually born on bicycles. Good luck, it's a mega achievement when they get it.

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my ds was nearly 5 and dd 5 yrs i taught them both in garden.I started off holding the seat at back and running with them once they had speed i let go.i think the best piece of advice i can give you is dont teach him on a bike too big its better to teach them on a bike too small as they have more confidence!

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Make sure her feet are totally flat on the ground when she is sitting in the seat, Aimsmum. That's the most important thing; she needs to feel completely safe, knowing that she can get her feet to the ground in time no matter what.

Once she gets the hang of it on a too-little bike, she'll be ready for the correct-size bike within 1-3 weeks.

DS1 can't do it yet, although it is starting to dawn on him that it is vaguely embarrassing to still have stabilisers on your bike at 6, so now if we meet another child he knows when we're out, he pretends it's DS2's bike .

This has to be done on grass and with a crash helmet on but putting dd2 whos is 4 on a slight hill where she has to worry mainly about steering and not about the effort in peddling has helped immensely.

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