Advice for my niece

[Gmurph]

Hi everyone,
I am new here.
So here we go, I have a 17 year old niece who is autistic. She has no physical restrictions and is high functioning. She wants to learn to ride a bike. She has never learned. Just wondering about equipment and techniques you fine folks might know about. Thanks all!

 

[Froze]

17 years old, does she drive?

If she doesn't drive does she want to be able to use the bike for getting groceries and other shopping?

Do you think she can handle shifting gears? Does she live on mostly flat land or will she need to be able to ride steep hills?

I think, at least till you answer those above questions, is that she might want a commuter bike that can do all the stuff I listed above. Something like the Diamondback Insight 2 Performance, see: https://www.rei.com/product/124902/diamondback-insight-2-bike-2018

Or the Cannondale Synapse Disc Sora 2019 womens Road Bike, see: https://www.evanscycles.com/cannondale-synapse-disc-sora-2019-womens-road-bike-EV308148 This bike should be able to be found locally.

 

[treecko142]

I think regular bikes that we use are good enough for her, it's just important to have someone ride with her during the first month or so and be objective in saying if she can bike by herself or not. She may get sad if it turns out that she can't ride alone but its better than her getting into an accident.

 

[Corzhens]

At her age, I think it is the right time to give her a bike. But if learning to ride is the problem, my suggestion is to get her a scooter, that one with no motor where you use your foot to push. She can learn the balancing much easier on the scooter than on the bike. And when she had mastered the scooter then the bike will be natural and more enjoyable with the pedals.

 

[Froze]

The scooter idea has to be dwelt with a degree of caution and intense investigating. Those Chinese made scooters are actually dangerous at any speed, the brakes are inferior and not made to stop a "heavy" scooter and the back and front suspension can't handle the sudden pressure of a emergency stop, in addition the tires are of poor quality, so what you end up with is scooter that can't stop due to it literally skipping across the pavement. I've actually seen that happen twice in the last 2 years.