Learning to ride a bike Post Reply

[Bee@lifeafterlondon]

I've been a bit lax and my 51/2 year old doesn't ride a bike. We are looking at giving him a bike for Christmas together with our 4 year old who also can't ride a bike. Does anyone have any tips on which bikes are good or ideas on whether to go with stabilisers or not. He rides a scooter but not a bike, and the same for my 4 year old. Thanks so much.
Bee

[Pedal4Health]

`Please don't buy a bike with stabilizers. Makes it so much more traumatic when you have to remove them to teach the child to cycle.
Always better to start with a balance bike. I teach children to cycle and can provide a loan bike.

[juliantenniscoach]

Our two girls 4 & 6 can ride without stabilizers. We did the balance bike route together with scooters. Try to get the rear extention steerer handles when you get the bike. They learn to ride, you get fit - bonus!

[sezwedz]

I'd also recommend a balance bike. My son rode a balance bike and then straight onto a islabike and rode with no stabilisers before aged 3. I'd recommend a light bike like Islabike as it's easier getting them up and going if it's lighter to ride and gears and brakes are actually geared for little hands. Good luck, my kids love cycling and it's great exercise.

[supergirl]

We have a balance bike but our children never ever liked it! So never touch it! Our eldest who is nearly 5 learned to ride on her own at 3.5yrs during the summer. All it took was 3-4 afternoons with us holding, explaining and running behind and then it is practice. Yes our backs hurt in the end but clearly all it takes is deducation and consistancy plus teaching them that falling is part of the learning.

I am not boasting but i dont believe in devices like balance bikes and so on. One of my cousin who cycles a lot told me at the time that from the age of 3,5 a child is ready to learn to balance and to understand simple instructions. We chose to believe and it worked and is working for our youngest who is dying to cycle too (3yrs).

I d say at 4 and 5,5 they ll sail through it. Go for it.

Isla bikes are expensive but very light and designed for children. We didnt go for that because we wanted to be able to borrow friends and cousins bikes who may have not one as light. So we want for a french brand. They are slightly heavier but completely designed for children as per isla (nd considerably cheaper which help when you they ll be too small soon!).

Good luck and enjoy the fun!

[juliantenniscoach]

The other option given the age is this. Buy a normal bike of the appropriate size, leave the pedals off, lower the seat and use it like a balance bike. Couple of weeks of that and then that should really speed up their progress.

Islabikes are expensive but they are very, very good. Furthermore the resale values are insanely good. Check them out on eBay.

[nvmof3]

We have 3 kids, the first two were scooters only then a bike with stabilisers when they hit 5.5 and 4. Once they had got the pedalling sorted, it took one afternoon in battersea park to get them going without stabilisers. My youngest had a balance bike and a scooter. When we tried to put her on a normal bike, she could not pedal at all, kept pedalling backwards and we had to put the stabilisers on until she had mastered the pedalling which took ages. As soon as she had mastered the pedalling, we whipped the stabilisers off and again it took one afternoon in battersea park. None of my kids have islabikes (which I agree are brilliant but too expensive for us). Mine all have bikes from FARA on northcote road - rusty and £10 but easy to give them back and get replacements as they grow. One tip I would give is to wrap a tie or some sort of strap across their chest and under their armpits for you to hold behind/above them as running along holding the saddle is crippling! Also that way you can gradually give them a bit more leeway on the wobbling so they have to rectify their lean themselves. Battersea park is good as the paths are really wide so they can weave along it without hitting the edges!

[windmill26]

I would like to recommend Fred ( http://www.pedal4health.co.uk ).
My kid was peddling away after just one session with Fred

[MrsOctober]

Another vote for balance bike then an Isla bike. Both my boys mastered their balance bikes first. Sure there were days when they didn't want to go on them but with a little encouragement such as going out with a friend who was a whizz on their balance bike, they soon picked it up and began enjoying themselves. We then gave them an Isla bike for Christmas when they were around 3. Isla bikes themselves strongly advise that fitting stabilisers, saying that if your child has learnt balance with a balance bike you will retard their learning process with stabilisers as they will learn to pedal and have to re-learn balance which is a much bigger skill. My older son mastered the pedalling whilst balancing thing in 4 trips to the common, being held by the scruff of his jacket, and was riding a bike at 3yrs 8months. For my younger son we invested £20 in a BalanceBuddy handle from Halfords, attached it to the rear axle and taught him like that. No more back pain and he too learnt in about 3 trips out, even younger at 3yrs 4months. The kids I know with Isla bikes learn younger and faster than those with other brands or Halford's bikes. I tried to lift my friend's son's bike which was a Halford's Ben 10 or something similar, and couldn't believe how heavy it was. We've just sold our 10-month old CNOC14 to a friend for £150. They were delighted to pay that because they know they can sell it on on Ebay for the same price, if not more. Isla bikes cost a bit more but really hold their value. Good luck

[MrsOctober]

Another vote for balance bike then an Isla bike. Both my boys mastered their balance bikes first. Sure there were days when they didn't want to go on them but with a little encouragement such as going out with a friend who was a whizz on their balance bike, they soon picked it up and began enjoying themselves. We then gave them an Isla bike for Christmas when they were around 3. Isla bikes themselves strongly advise that fitting stabilisers, saying that if your child has learnt balance with a balance bike you will retard their learning process with stabilisers as they will learn to pedal and have to re-learn balance which is a much bigger skill. My older son mastered the pedalling whilst balancing thing in 4 trips to the common, being held by the scruff of his jacket, and was riding a bike at 3yrs 8months. For my younger son we invested £20 in a BalanceBuddy handle from Halfords, attached it to the rear axle and taught him like that. No more back pain and he too learnt in about 3 trips out, even younger at 3yrs 4months. The kids I know with Isla bikes learn younger and faster than those with other brands or Halford's bikes. I tried to lift my friend's son's bike which was a Halford's Ben 10 or something similar, and couldn't believe how heavy it was. We've just sold our 10-month old CNOC14 to a friend for £150. They were delighted to pay that because they know they can sell it on on Ebay for the same price, if not more. Isla bikes cost a bit more but really hold their value. Good luck

[pigeonpairmum]

I read with interest the views on balance bikes. Our daughter has managed fine on a small bike at correct height etc for her with stabilisers (and helmet). She had it for 3rd birthday as was getting interested in other children cycling, and we are keen cyclists, and she had mastered Micro scooter. She started in the garden, then built up to going round the Common. 6 months on she is confident and safe on her bike, though it is tiring. We had a friend who bought a balance bike, but I could not see the point. Call me old fashioned (apart from the helmet bit!)!