bicycle/riding bike question

[chocnomore]

DD (5, with quiet severe autism and only little speech/language) managed to get the hang of riding the bike (without stabilisers) over the summer hols. very proud

however, she does not get the hang of stopping/breaking at all. she always stops with her feet (2 pairs of shoes ruined so far). we adjusted the break levers so she can reach them easily but I suppose it is just too much for her to coordinate.

there are some bikes out there with coaster brakes (back pedal brakes) and I wondered if this might be the way to go
anybody had this issue and found coaster brakes are the solution?

I was just thinking, how stiff are the breaks? We've had this problem with newish bikes before, even if the reach is fine they require too much strength in the hand / fingers.

Can she walk the bike? You could see if she can use the break whilst walking the bike.

As an aside my son loved it when he discovered he could make the breaks squeak! (we didn't, so cleaned the wheel rims and all the other gunk that had managed to build up)

Not sure whether back peddle breaks would be any easier, I think it is usually Dutch Style bikes that have them. I think you would have to find a stockist or bike hire place that would let her try.

Hope she continues to have fun on her bike and well done for getting the stabilisers off!

never thought of walking the bike as a way if teaching her to use the brakes. will try that. thanks!

brakes itself are not stiff (old bike). she does not even attempt to use them (don't think understood what they are for).

we never used actually stabilisers, we started with a balance bike and then moved her to her current bike (pedals off). once she had a good balance on this bike we put the pedals back on. it worked :)

HTH

Hi chocnomore, my ds is 4 and rides a bike with stabilisers. DS could not use a balance bike and has taken a while to get going on the bike with stabilisers. But the one thing he has had no problem with is using the coaster brake. Very easy for him to use and makes me feel better that he knows how to stop.

Well done to your dd learning to ride a bike at 5!

How does she use her feet to stop? If its against a wheel maybe a set of mudguards would help, although it would be no good if she pushes her feet on the ground.

Could the problem be that the balance bike didn't have any brakes and so that the only way she knows how to stop? How about fitting stabilisers and toe clips and letting her try it in a safe place? If she can't use her feet to stop she'll have to find another way, and once she's used to using the proper brakes instead of her shoes hopefully she'll stay using them.

she just drags her feet along the ground - very much balance bike style

will try daft's suggestion and see if it works. I don't really want to go down the stabilisers' route esp now that she is confident riding the bike.