bike - learning to ride one / new bike

[nappybrain]

DS is trying to learn his bike - we have just taken stabilisers off - he is very nervous and i think it's going to take a while...question is do we buy him a new bike. he is 8 now and has had current bike for a couple of years. not sure if big new bike would be better as the current one looks small for him - but as i said he is nervous and likes feet on ground - any thoughts appreciated

No no, don't buy a new bike just yet.
He must learn to ride and gain confidence on the too small one.
Keep the seat right down, even if it means his knees are up by his elbows. He needs to KNOW that he can get his feet to the ground fast enough. When he tells you he think he can raise the seat, then raise it back up, or consider getting a larger bike if seat pole is already at its max line.

IME, it takes only a few weeks for them to get their confidence.

I agree, much better to learn on slightly smaller bike, the smaller bike will be lighter too so much easier to stop the bike falling over and turn it around etc.

We've just put DD2 back down on to her smaller bike to take the stabilisers off as the bigger one was too much for her.

aaah ok thanks this is helpful - the too small bike is not the problem then...have to keep practising!

nappybrain - coming back to this as DD2 finally did it this weekend..... on her bigger bike. So there goes my theory!

I think she found it easier as there was less frantic pedaling, and now she's got the hang of putting her feet down when she stops she's fine with the bigger bike. You need to borrow a bigger one maybe and then you can see.