Teaching bike riding.

amother

Sun, May 24 2020, 9:07 pm

Im trying to teach my 5 year old how to ride a 2 wheeler.
He’s finding the balance part of it difficult- (the pedaling part - is for the most part ok) how could I help him with that?

observer

Sun, May 24 2020, 9:10 pm

Balance bike. Works amazing, my kids did not have to learn how to ride a two wheeler, they just went from the balance bike to the two wheeler, no problem.

sky

Sun, May 24 2020, 9:26 pm

Have him walk run/walk with the bike himself with his feet on the ground.
Once he feels comfortable he should put one foot on peddle and balance with other foot. Eventually both feet on the peddles.
My 4 year old recently learned this way.

thanks

Sun, May 24 2020, 9:34 pm

Hold the ba k of the bike while (s) he rides, then leave go. You'll all be surprised.

Before you do that, make sure your child knows how to brake. Very important.

silverlining3

Sun, May 24 2020, 10:48 pm

If the bike has training wheels, try taking off 1 and let him ride around. My daughter, 5.5, learnt in like a week to ride from only 1 training wheel to nothing at all. It's amazing how they master it on their own
Remember, a helmet and as thanks mentioned, he should know how to break.

amother

Seagreen

Sun, May 24 2020, 11:09 pm

I just taught my daughter.. it was incredibly frustrating as she is an easily distracted kid who would not just look ahead. But once she got the hang of it the rest she figured out on her own. How to start and stop how to turn...
Good luck!

cbsp

Sun, May 24 2020, 11:16 pm

We just taught DS6 to ride using this method :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlQg5THqhE

Actually, when I saw "we" I should mention that really DS8 (!) did all the work.

We had 10 minutes available a few weeks ago and 5 of those minutes was getting the bikes out of the shed. DS6 had maybe 2 or 3 chances to ride 10 ft. I figured there's no way he really learned.

We went to the park today to "officially" teach him - he got on that bike and his balance was perfect! I'm still shocked! He needs to learn to brake better and some finesse, but that's just practice...

(for context his 2 older siblings took weeks/months to learn with the traditional methods including a balance bike)

Last edited by cbsp on Sun, May 24 2020, 11:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Khaki

Sun, May 24 2020, 11:27 pm

Take the pedals off his bike and let him ride like that for a week or two. When you put them back on he should be able to ride no problem.

observer

Mon, May 25 2020, 12:10 am

cbsp wrote:

The kid in the video totally knew how to ride a bike just fine before they started Very Happy

!

Last edited by observer on Mon, May 25 2020, 12:18 am; edited 1 time in total

cbsp

Mon, May 25 2020, 12:14 am

observer wrote:

The kid in the video knew how to ride a bike just fine before they started Very Happy

Don't care. My kid didn't. My 8yo taught my 6yo to ride a bike after watching the video together. It was just about 5 minutes plus video time.

observer

Mon, May 25 2020, 12:25 am

cbsp wrote:

Don't care. My kid didn't. My 8yo taught my 6yo to ride a bike after watching the video together. It was just about 5 minutes plus video time.

Do you understand how it works? Trying to understand what exactly it does... makes them more aware of balancing?

cbsp

Mon, May 25 2020, 1:16 am

observer wrote:

Do you understand how it works? Trying to understand what exactly it does... makes them more aware of balancing?

I'm not sure the science (biology?) behind it but most people describe it a a switch turning on when learning to ride a bike. By repeatedly challenging the kid's balance the theory is that you're forcing that switch to turn on.

Had I not seen it happen I would have thought it was a bunch of malarkey.

#BestBubby

Mon, May 25 2020, 1:29 am

I taught kids by holding on to the seat in the back to help balance. I run along for a minute and then let go (without saying so).

I instruct the kids to "pedal, pedal, pedal!"

I also tell the kids NOT to look down at their feet or front wheel, but to look
ahead to where they want to go. The bike automatically will go where the child is
looking so if you don't want to crash into the tree, do not look at the tree!

mommy15

Mon, Nov 09 2020, 6:36 am

That video totally worked ive been trying so hard for so long he just turned 8 bh bh thus worked in like a minute. Thanks so much for posting.

amother

Orange

Mon, Nov 09 2020, 7:26 am

No one taught me how to ride a bike, I was just given a properly sized (small enough) bike, and a safe space (driveway so no cars other than my parents') and I played around until I got the hang of it. I was 5.

cbsp

Mon, Nov 09 2020, 7:56 am

mommy15 wrote:

That video totally worked ive been trying so hard for so long he just turned 8 bh bh thus worked in like a minute. Thanks so much for posting.

Yay!

amother

Beige

Mon, Nov 09 2020, 8:57 am

My 9 yr old still doesn't know how to ride one, as many times as I tried to teach him. Thing is that he had treatment for cancer, so could be it messed up his muscles & balance.

While on treatments, I left the training wheels on, because I didn't want him to fall. The treatments weaken muscles & right after chemo he would lose his balance, so he never learned when he was younger.

It really bothers him, as his younger bro zips thru. Last summer he avoided going outside to play & this year he used a sturdy scooter, he was gifted.