Re: Children learning to ride

[Steve Rumsby]

wheelsgoround wrote:
> In the current issue of Cycle, Chris Juden says the best way for kids
to
> learn to ride a bike is with no stabilisers and no pedals so that
they
> can learn balancing, steering and braking first. Once they have got
> the knack of that, pedals are added.
>
> When I got a bike for my 3-year-old, I just put stabilisers on it
> without thinking but I think I'll give Chris' sugesstion a go.
>
> Anyone got any experiences they would like to share?
>
My experience is that stabilisers don't actually help a child to learn
to balance, but they do help a child learn to pedal, steer and brake.
My daughter spent a couple of years on a bike with stabilisers. What we
did to get rid of the stabilisers was take them off (obviously, drop
the saddle down as low as possible (so she had confidence she wouldn't
fall over) and take her to a field. It took maybe half an hour of
wobbling about before she got the hang of it, and she's never looked
back.

My son, after about a year of pedalling about with stabilisers, is
going to get the same treatment this summer, if only because his
stabilisers are now broken and I don't want to buy another set!
Steve.