The Frustration Of Teaching Kids To Ride A Bike
Teaching Daughter to ride a few years ago was almost a complete disaster. It became A Thing That I Had To Succeed At - more about me than her, tied up with my ego rather than her enjoyment.
Tempers got frayed and we nearly didn’t succeed at all.
Apart from the idiot holding the saddle, there was also the issue of stabilisers (training wheels to you in The Colonies). At four, she’d got her first real bike, and I’d put a set of these on so she could ride it straight away.
The problem is with stabilisers is that they teach nothing about how a bike moves. All they do is let a child get on a bike and figure out that turning the pedals makes it move forward.
- They don’t allow a bike to lean into a corner, so the first time (in fact every time) the child attempts any sort of above-a-snail’s-pace turn, they get thrown off the bike
- The child comes to depend on them for balance, so when the stabiliser’s wheel hits a pothole, they fall off the bike
- If the bike isn’t on a smooth surface, there’s the possibility of the stabiliser wheels lifting the rear wheel off the road. This’ll usually happen when your child is experimenting with standing up and pedaling like they’re forming a breakaway group on Alp D’Huez. The sudden lack of rear-wheel traction will fire them over the handlebars to land teeth first on the path.
Basically we’re talking a resounding Nul Points.
Anyway, eventually we got through the tears and frustration (Daughter experienced her fair share of both too), and Daughter can now ride pretty darned well.
Since then, I’ve found the correct way to teach people (adults and children) to ride - you’ll need 20-40 minutes in all:
Take the pedals off and lower the saddle so that the person you’re trying to teach can comfortably put both feet flat on the floor. For younger children, you can now get scooters & runners like this one, that don’t even have pedals .- Let them play at just scooting along on the bike like this. The aim is for them to get the feel for what makes the bike balance.
- If they’re struggling give TWO helping hands . One to hold the saddle, but the other to take control of steering. A bike stays upright by performing a series of shallow turns INTO the fall (that thing about the wheels being like gyroscopes is pure 100% BS). So as they scoot along, when they start to fall one way, steer them into it - centrifugal force takes over, and brings them upright again. This also saves your back muscles from having to do all the work. To begin with these turns-into-the-fall will tend to be quite exaggerated - make sure you have lots of space.
- Once they can scoot along unaided , put the pedals back on, and raise the saddle so that they can still comfortably get the balls of both feet onto the road.
- Give them the TWO helping hands again , so they don’t need to think too much about balance while they’re trying to remember to pedal.
- As they gain confidence . . . move to just holding the saddle . . . and then to nothing at all. BUT stay with them for the first few times that they’re riding un-supported - they still don’t believe they can do it, and the sound of your footsteps will reassure them that they’re not going to fall!
If this doesn’t work for you, the BBC has produced this handy instructional video:
(video via Andy Cline at Carbon Trace )
My nieces both had like-a-bikes (wooden bikes! How middle class is that?) and the youngest is an absolute whizz on hers. The older went straight to a ‘proper’ bike (from islabikes) without stabilisers, although there was a bit of a transitional stage while she worked out that the bike tends to go in the direction you’re looking…
The real frustration is finding places where they can actually ride them in London
Very useful article - will put up a link to it this month in my monthly roundup
Nice reminder of the restrictions of using stabs, but can I add a caution. Boys! If you have a son he may have some sort of co-ordination problem. Its called delayed coordination development (the medically recognised version is around 5%, but its a spectrum). We used to say the child was awkward or kackhanded, but it has now been recognised as generally temporary condition although a percentage do go on to be diagnosed as dyspraxic. It may mean that your son has not worked our the hardwiring in their brain either to balance or to turn the pedals or both. Most boys with this will out grow the problem by age 8. The most important thing you can do if your son is like this is to persist with lots of praise. Use the stabilisers to work on turning the pedals with confidence and develop strength. Take them off or use a runner to develop confidence in handling the bike. Take them out on a tag/trail gator as well, it makes it fun allows them to pedal and begin to feel the lean of the bike into corners without falling off. Do bike related stuff often - you are teaching “muscle memory” effectively repetition is speeding up the process. Most importantly keep praising them for how far they have come and don’t compare performance with others.
Congratulations you have discovered the CBA method which I have even used when learning to ride an ordinary (high wheeler) bicycle.
I coined the term CBA because it describes the 3 skills you need to combine when riding a bike of any sort.
Control - steering and braking are the important things which should be leared before the child or adult moves at any speed on the bike. Unfortunately with (de)stabilisers a child can jump on and pedal away madly before they realise they don’t know how to stop or make a turn and get thrown off outwards and face down into the ground.
Balance - as the novice masters scooting (where it is difficult to go faster than you can paddle your feet) you encourage them to lift their feet and coast for increasing distances ready for the next stage. With a scooter bike you will find this a handy way to work from age 2 upwards - get rid of the pram and make walking to the shops fun and the pace & effort for the child will match with an adult walking - it will prepare a child for the next stage and getting bikes with cranks, pedals and brakes suitable for under 4 years old is not an easy job.
Action - exactly what is says - you have a novice/child who is confident to coast along and now add the action of pedalling, and at first try just resting the feet on the pedals and doing a rocking quarter turn motion to keep the speed up until the rider feels happy to rotate the cranks for a full turn.
and there you go riding a bike.
There are a few extras you can add - before you even get on the bike for stage C let the rider hold the saddle and wheel the bike around, steering it without using the handlebars by leaning the bike. With practice you can push a bike around controlling it with 1 finger lightly pressed on the saddle. The other off-bike detail to try is putting on the brakes put the front brake on hard and push the bike forward - see how the back wheel lifts up - control the force to see how to use the front brake without heading over the handlebars. Do the same with the back brake - see how easy it is to skid on gravel, and get the feel for using the back brake (if fitted)
Most good bikes for young riders sold on the European mainland have a rear coaster brake - a powerful and reliable brake which works even when they put dents in the wheels and when the small hands cannot squeeze a brake lever hard enough. I have a coaster braked bike and can stop very quickly even when it is raining, as there is no wet rim to dry out with the brake blocks. Most of the utility bikes you see in the Netherlands have just one gear and a coaster brake making them practically maintenance-free.
Oh an how do you learn to ride a high-wheeler - just the same way
C - after making sure the bike will fit you (and your knees won’t hit the handlebars) scoot the back step without actually trying to mount up.
B - find a smooth surface which is level or has a very gentle downhill gradient, scoot and step up to sit on the saddle and step back down to scoot if required.
A - sitting on the saddle offer your feet to the rotating pedals and let them be carried around, adding pressure as you gain coinfidence.
As the bike is fixed wheel, stop as you would on a normal fixed wheel bike and aim to have your dismounting, normally with your ‘backstep’ foot on the pedal at the bottom of its rotation. and swing your scooting foot over and down.
Job done….
BTW cycles are a great leveller for a family group, the olds and the young can ride comfortably at a common pace - grandparents can take their grandchildren out on bike rides with neither running out of puff
Cycles are also great as a mobility aid - I know of several people who can barely walk but can ride up to 50 miles without pain, and one guy with no arms had a trike built which was steered by leaning his torso and braked by tipping back his head.
If you want more post me a message - you’ll find me through google