How to teach your kid to ride a bike... FCB style

irvinehomeowner

irvinehomeowner

Well-known member
So earlier this year I posted this:
http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php?topic=1613.msg19534#msg19534

IHO said:
Two weeks ago, we took the kids and their cousins to Woodbury Elementary to play on the playground. There was no one around but after a while more kids showed up. In fact, a full court basketball game broke out between these 6-8 year old boys... and talk about diversity... not one "color" was over represented. Over where the asphalt hits the grass, there was an Asian family where a father was teaching his son to ride a bike. He did the PeterUK thing (where is PeterUK these days?) where he took the pedals off the bike and the kid was learning to balance by riding down the grassy incline. We watched him and thought of how great an idea that was... the grass made it so it wasn't that fast and if they did fall, it was soft. After a few times going down the incline and balancing on his own, his dad put the pedals back on and then showed him how to pedal. Shortly thereafter, he was able to pedal in the grass and it was nice to see the interaction between him, his father, mother and brother as he celebrated his new found ability. Fast forward a week later and guess who's there with their bike? That's right, because of that Asian family, my own kid now knows how to ride a bike where we failed previous times because she was afraid of falling on the asphalt. Maybe it was just the right time or she needed the extra insurance but that is one memory in Irvine that we'll cherish.
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We decided it was our younger's turn. We did the same thing but like with our daughter, we did not take off the pedals and on the first go down, we had him push the pedals... and he got it right away. After 2 more times down, he moved to the asphalt and then "graduated" to biking the parking lot circuit (the Woodbury Elementary has a large oval parking lot similiar to a race track).

This is where I see a difference between boys and girls (or maybe it's just him and his sister)... while she was careful and worried about falling, he threw caution to the wind and was taking the turns at speeds that had my heart beating irregularly. There were a few times where he almost fell but he quickly recovered and pedaled away.

I was surprised how easy this method is but I think at a certain age, once you understand the concept of balance and motion, it becomes natural. One of the things that I think helped the most is giving them Razor scooters. That introduced them to learning how to balance and so riding a bike was less foreign to them. They even make those learning bikes that have no pedals and you basically coast with them (saw a 2 year old on one at a different elementary school).

It's funny because my wife was so worried that they didn't know how to ride a bike... esp my older one. I told them it will happen soon enough... and now she wants to buy them both better bikes (great). I think the best thing about this method is they learn to balance without your help very quickly since it's really the hill that is pushing them along... not you (which is good since you don't have to run alongside them constantly).

As a disclaimer... I really don't know if the Asian family we observed were FCBs, but I would like to thank them for the inspiration. And, while we were there, another family (I assume they were non-FCBs) was watching us and found it was a novel idea and maybe they'll use the same method on their children.

So how did you teach your children to ride a bike? Or do you remember how you learned to ride one?
 
For both my kids, took their training wheels off, gave them a little push to get their bike started and then ran behind them to catch them when they go off-balance. Repeat until they don't fall off. All of this on asphalt :) Started balancing on their own in about 4-5 cycling sessions.
 
That's how I learned but I think there was no training wheels to take off... they just bought me a bike without them and I had to learn to ride it.

But I don't remember any other details... it was like during the last 1800s.
 
220px-Toddler_on_metal_balance_bike.jpg


I'm trying the balance bike route. Looks like a regular toddler bike without peddles or training wheels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_bicycle

I learned like IHO and bitmaster did as a kid. Dad just pushed me a a few times after taking training wheels off on asphalt. I like the going slightly down hill on grass method. Sounds safer.
 
homer_simpson said:
iacenter: I saw those at Costco.  Wondered why they were missing pedals  ;)
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$27.99! Pretty cheap, but I think that a kiddie bike with training wheels might go a longer way.

1. Once they learn to balance, what do you do with the balance bike? You would still have to buy them a regular bike.

2. They still need to learn to pedal and steer, which training wheels helps with.

3. Once you teach them how to balance, you can take the training wheels off and they have a bike that might last them another year or so.

I actually think buying them a Razor really helped with their sense of balance. Once they mastered that, balancing on a bike was easier to learn... and like I said... it only took them 15 minutes or so to figure it out.

However, it makes a good gift (since the parents can save their money for a pedal bike) so I may get one for my nephew.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
homer_simpson said:
iacenter: I saw those at Costco.  Wondered why they were missing pedals  ;)
Click to expand...
$27.99! Pretty cheap, but I think that a kiddie bike with training wheels might go a longer way.

1. Once they learn to balance, what do you do with the balance bike? You would still have to buy them a regular bike.

2. They still need to learn to pedal and steer, which training wheels helps with.

3. Once you teach them how to balance, you can take the training wheels off and they have a bike that might last them another year or so.

I actually think buying them a Razor really helped with their sense of balance. Once they mastered that, balancing on a bike was easier to learn... and like I said... it only took them 15 minutes or so to figure it out.

However, it makes a good gift (since the parents can save their money for a pedal bike) so I may get one for my nephew.
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The balance bike I bought used no training wheels--they use their legs/feet to balance. It steers just like a traditional bike so they learn that skill as they coast on the downslopes. It is an expensive toy given how limited a lifespan it has.

My daughter is doing pretty well now with the balancing aspect but she is asking for a pedal bike already :) I will probably end up selling it at a garage sale and buying a pedal bike.
 
To clear things up... I was talking about a pedal bike with training wheels (to help learn steering and pedaling).

I think balance bikes are good for younger kids but I also think Razors/scooters achieve the same thing and they can still use them later.
 
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