Give me your best teaching to ride a bike tips please!!

[EyeDrops]

DD1 is almost 5, and asked to take her stabilisers off. She's not used a balance bike - we did get one for her 3rd birthday but it wasn't great, and she's not outdoorsy, so we never got round to buying a different one. She got a bike with stabilisers for her 4th birthday and now we're trying without.

I don't think the pedals can be taken off, sadly.

We're holding her, rather than the bike, as I've read that's best - but she just leans on whoever's holding so heavily that we're getting nowhere and it's frustrating for everyone.

So, please hit me with your best tips to get us going - any advice appreciated!

Find somewhere with short grass and a very gentle slope just push and let go. She’ll balance or she won’t. Best that she’s not scared to fall off

Is she good on a bike with the stabilisers?
Make sure she is confident first. You can raise the stabilisers I believe to give her a sense of having more control and then take them off.
I’d actually hold on to the bike rather than her. Otherwise she’ll always be reliant on the feel of you.

Put them at the top of a small slope, on grass and let them go. I've had all my kids riding their bikes within 1 day using this method. Remember to flim it beacuse that huge smile on their face when they get it is priceless.

Same as above. On short grass and I held onto the bike. Rode to the grassed area with stabilisers on, took them off there and put back on for journey home. Only for 10mins or so the first time. Same for the second. Third day took them off at the park and have not put them back on since!

We used a scarf and had it round their waist so we weren't holding them fully as such but giving them a feeling of security worked a treat!

Be confident and don’t worry/let them see you are worried about them falling off.

We did it on a cricket strip in the park. Like felt. Short grass is perfect.

I yelled

pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal

the whole time.

I second the scarf suggestion. My friend did it with her daughter, he made it really tight to begin with and as she grew her strength and balance he loosened it up. They did it every day-ish for around a month and she’s away now.

Same as @LeafTea
Start on grass, slight slope, don't be scared in case she's going to fall off, hold back of seat. We did the start peddling then count to three and let go and shouted PEDAL until he stopped. It worked within a few days and now we can't get him off it!

I used a scarf too. Across her chest and fed under the armpits to to the back, then twist twist twist the rest of the length until you make like a rope for you to hold onto.
One hand on the base of the rope right on her back and one at the end. Then use the scarf rope to keep her balance. Over time make this looser. Eventually move to only using one hand to hold it. Then when she seems confident use just your hand rested between her shoulder blades so you aren't holding her but she thinks you are, it's the sense of security she needs. Then let go.
Run alongside her all the time til you let go, she won't notice you've let go for a while, but will panic when she realises. Then lots of praise telling her she did it.
If possible get someone to video it so she can see she's doing it.

It sounds like more faff on than it actually is. Was just trying to be detailed. And it worked for us in about 4-5 attempts.

When I was a kid tho what worked for me, was that my stabalizers had bent when I was about 4, and I had been riding my bike with them floating in the air without realising. So my dad took them off.

I took my ds 6 out and he had it within twenty minutes ! Took another couple of goes to get confident starting off. I just took him to a nearby secluded path so would be easier to peddle than grass. I held onto the back of his seat until he got peddling then let go. I also put the seat down low enough that he could easily get both feet flat on the ground and told him not to worry about his brakes yet and to put his feet down if he felt he was going to fall.
It was much easier than id imagined!