What's the best way to teach a child to ride a bike?

[Blu]

DS is 4.5, and I am wondering about teaching him to ride the 2nd hand bike we have in the cellar.
I have an instinct that stabilisers are counter-productive in the long term, and it would be better to get him started without.

Any clues or experiences?

Has anyone heard of the Bike Magic method from America, which apparantly enables kids to learn in a v short while?

I think stabilisers serve a purpose in that they allow the child to learn to pedal fast enough to get their balance.

Other than that, a towel put round your chid and under their arms allows you to hold them upright without wrecking your back or offering too much support!

Take the stabilisers and pedals off the bike and put the seat down so he can comfortably put both feet flat on the ground. He will learn to scoot along and learn to balance. When he can balance well put the pedals back on and hey presto!

He would probably have needed to learn to pedal beforehand though.

Aha - this makes sense.

I have read that stabilisers encourage the child to make physical reactions which go against what they would have to do to balance. Starting with the pedal-free tactic, and then moving on to the towel method to help them learn to pedal like mad sounds a good combination. I have never seen anyone in our local park use a towel - it sounds like a brilliant tip!