Share your tips to get kids into cycling to win a kid's bike worth over £200 - plus a copy of On Your Bike!

[SorchaMumsnet]

On Your Bike is an entertaining and informative book which will teach children all they need to know about the wonderful world of cycling.

Sir Chris Hoy, along with the characters of Flying Fergus, teaches children about bikes in this scrapbook-style collage of snapshots from Sir Chris’s own childhood on a bike. It also includes technical drawings, diagrams and practical photography.

This book draws on the Olympic champion's wealth of expertise in a fun, friendly and accessible format. Ringbound to lie flat so you can practice the techniques alongside your bike in the garage, the book also features access to bonus step-by-step videos of Sir Chris demonstrating key tips and tricks.

For a chance to win an Evans HOY Kids bike PLUS a copy of On Your Bike: All You Need To Know About Cycling For Kids, just tell us - what are your tips on getting kids cycling?

This discussion is sponsored by Piccadilly Press and will end on 8 November

Books T&Cs apply

Evans T&Cs:

The prize is one HOY Kids bike under 16inch wheel size, supplied by Evans Cycles. The winner must contact Evans Cycles within one month of notification which will be served to the email provided in competition entry. The winner can only choose a HOY Kids bike under a 16-inch frame that is in stock at Evans Cycles. Evans Cycles will endeavor to supply the bike direct to the customer either through UK address home delivery or click & collect to a local UK Evans Cycles store, either option free of charge and at the winner's choice. The prize is non-transferrable. The prize cannot be exchanged for cash or voucher alternative. The winner cannot use the value of bike against any other item in Evans Cycles.

Also when they are at the learning stage hold the child not the bike. This way they learn to balance for themselves. A little back pack really helps to hold on to.

Promise of a shiny new, to them, bike when they master no stabilisers.

DD is currently the whole bloomin summer moments away from mastering riding, but we're at the stage she can ride really well with me puffing alongside her with just one finger on her back. Mind you the running is probably good for me.

If I dare to remove my finger she turns around and falls off!

She is bribed to enjoy her bike by lots of adaptions like the fruitbasket and shoe lace front basket 'just like mums' for her teddies and cut down shoe box baby carrier on the back for her doll. Love that they have an imagination whilst they're still small.

Dd loves to copy her older way more capable brother. Just let them watch and learn then try for themselves.

I have been looked into cycling lessons that the council offer in the school holidays but finding the time as a single parent working full time has been difficult- my son recently became confident riding his bike with stabilisers but has now outgrown it. He is quiet tall and I have contemplated getting him a balance bike but most seem too small. I have also looked at Strider bikes but tbh I'm a little confused and anxious about him riding a peddle bike... could do with some support with this really. I loved riding my bike as a child

I had them in seats on the back of mine as soon as was possible. Then it was short rides around the local park. We did hit a glitch when we realised that DD's sn meant that balance and concentration were an issue, so we bought a tow behind affair. Once she was tall enough, we got ourselves a tandem.

I joined the cyclescheme and bought a hybrid. DS was given a road bike by my brother when he was 14. We rode the Bay cycleway in Lancashire together (81 miles!).

DH was inspired and bought himself a good bike.

The rest is history

Lead by example. Buy them the lightest/best bike you can afford . Get muddy, stop at the park for sandwiches and cake, race up the hill. Make cycling normal, ride to the swimming pool, to school, to the shops, to work. Don't feel guilty if sometimes you get put off, by the weather or time constraints.

Start young so they see it as a normal part of life. We started with our son in a bike seat on the back of dad's bike and now he uses his balance bike to get around.

Ride with them! Me and DD ride our bikes everywhere, to daycare, to the shops, to the park, its our main form of transport.

And from my own childhood experience - holidays in the Netherlands where we'd hire bikes and explore the area on bike. The flatness and safe cycle paths made cycling much easier and more enjoyable.

Just keep cycling together. Making it a family activity that you do together.

I think they need to start young; ride on toys to balance bike to bike. If they enjoy it, they will keep at it, like anything else.

Kids want to copy, if the adults in a house cycle then the kids will want to too.

Make cycling fun. Find a route with points of interest along the way. Don't start of too ambitious, short trips at first to build stamina and interest.
Also, having a fairly decent bike helps.

Make sure the bike you're trying to teach dc on is an appropriate size for them. I see lots of children being taught on teeny tiny bikes with their legs going to each side like a clown, or on what look like garden gates, struggling with balance. Whilst getting a reasonably light bike is nice, the right fit is way more important, and will make a difference to how quickly they're riding independently.

Firstly make sure that it's fun and the whole family engages and does it too, make sure that you start in an off-road and safe environment before moving on to riding on the road . Also make sure the bike fits and isn't too heavy, nothing worse for putting kids off than being on a bike that is the wrong size and difficult to manage.

Model it, do it yourself. Cargo bikes from the very start and tell them what ugly polluting beasts cars are. Cycling fans for life then.

Lead by example. We cycled with our first daughter on the back of my husband's bike, and then we got her a like a bike soon after she could walk! Now she scoots along beside us if we go for a jog, and she balances for long distance downhill, so we hope she'll move easily onto a pedal bike. Now we have our second child, she goes on the back seat. And it's what we do on family days- running/cycling or swimming/surfing!

Anyone got any tips on getting a good bike seat? DS is 10 months old, is that still too young?

DS1 got a bike for his 4th birthday. We have found that he really enjoys going out on it when we take the dog for a walk around our village. However there are a lot of busy roads so it's not so much fun going round on the paths and it's a bit difficult for him still to go on rough tracks with it. We've found the ideal place to go near here is the grounds of the nearby student's halls of residence, which has good paths running through it and very quiet roads that are easy to cycle on, plus attractive grounds from the old manor house it was converted from.

So my main piece of advice is to find somewhere quiet with good tracks so that beginner riders can have a bit of freedom to ride in a safe environment.

My daughter and a neighbour's son ride to school together.

Balance bikes are often tiny. There are older children who can't ride a bike and are too big for commercially available balance bikes. A two wheel scooter is a good alternative to a balance bike for an older child. We never had a balance bike, but my children got a sense of balance by using a two wheel scooter. I never could be arsed with taking the pedals off a normal bike.

If you aren't sure about a balance bike then a lot of modern bikes have removable pedals so they can become a balance bike

I would 100% say go for the school bike course if they offer it (most seem to now) even if you have to borrow a bike to do it

It's all about opportunity! If they have the opportunity, they will ride in my experience!

Progress from seat on the back of a parent's bike to a balance bike. Straight from that to a normal bike with no stabilisers. Family outings in a safe environment to begin with and then on to roads and road safety when they've got the hang of it.

Definitely make it part of every day life if you can. My DD cycles to school every day, up some pretty tough hills too. Her bike sits in the hall so she can grab it and go. No faffing with trying to get it out of a garage.

Raise the saddle regularly so that it's at the right height too. Good gears and an aluminium frame do make a huge difference if your journey is at all hilly.

Watch the Tour de France, velodrome racing, road racing, bmx'ing on the tv. Get them excited about cycling!

Last year my dd learnt to ride from her older peers on the same estate we are.
It was so lovely to see the older kids teaching the younger ones.
& the younger ones gaining confidence then showing their parents.
Bike riding is definitely one that you lead by example to encourage

I started taking my dc on the cycle track near where we live. We either go one way for a bike ride which leads to lovely coffee shops and parks or the other way which has interesting things like a pontoon on the river, a tow path along a canal, a huge park at the end and a railway line with loads of places for a picnic.

They got me into it more then the other way around. Always have a pitstop and I think they look forward to that the most as that's what they plan together

I'm trying to get DS (just 3) to cycle now. Just got a balance bike for him, although he prefers his scooter as he can go faster on it.

So far, my experience is... 1) let him fall, but help him to get back on 2) don't go cycling for too long (we were out for a couple of hours and he complained of a sore bum!) 3) take the bike out with us as much as we can.