Comments on: Teaching a Child to Ride a Bike without Training Wheels

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:17:11 +0000

My two sons developed their balance on scooters. They played with their scooters for at least two years and ride bikes with training wheels for about three. When they were ready to take off the training wheels on their bikes, I only had to run behind them for less than a minute each. I think it’s important not to push them too early. When they are ready to take off the training wheels, they will let you know.

By: Joy Anderson

Joy Anderson — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:30:56 +0000

Your post is great! It gives me an idea how to teach my 5-year old son to ride a bike.

Thanks for sharing it.

-Joy

By: Leanne

Leanne — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:12:49 +0000

Totally second the balance bike. My 3 yr old got one for his third birthday. Within a week he was scooting around it faster than I can walk. Now at 3.5 he is so confident he puts both feet up and glides for 20-30 feet and then just puts his foot down when he stops, like a motorcycle rider. He also is showing he can balance with just one hand steering! Ours is a Miniglider. There is a comparison site at http://runbikes.com that shows all the wooden and metal ones available. Ours is red metal with a handbrake, footpegs and solid tires (no air! no chains! no mechanical parts!) My son totally loves to be using a 2 wheeler like a big boy, and I think he is ready for pedals.

By: Evhen

Evhen — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:46:54 +0000

I’ll second the comment about using a balance bike. Both of my sons taught themselves to ride on their own using balance bikes! You can get more info and see videos of toddlers riding balance bikes (with no training wheels) at http://squidoo.com/learntorideabike

By: Ginger

Ginger — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:19:29 +0000

Great idea, I was wanting to teach my 3 yr old son to ride a bike without training wheels period. That’s the way they learned in the old days before they invented the training wheels and I didn’t know about a balance bike or that you could teach them without all the stuff on a reg. bike. Wonder if he is too young to teach right now. We sure don’t have an ideal yard though. I guess we could try to find someone who does. I sure don’t want him falling down on the street or the sidewalk that’s just not safe enough on our street. We could go to a park maybe and do it. Thanks for the ideas. We do have a bike for him but his legs are a bit short for it right now but in a year yeah he might be big enough to learn then. But I don’t want to wait too long to teach him while he is in the window of learning stage for everything they say the best window of learning is from birth to about 5 that’s when the learn the best and the easiest. Any way with learning like reading and such not sure that applies to this or not. Well, thanks again. Ginger

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:56:39 +0000

Hey, great read !! We taught my son at 2 1/2, believe it or not. He wanted to try because his cousin who had just turned 4 learned how to. We pushed him around the house, letting go for a few seconds here and there. Ater about 30 mins he could ride. He was too little to reach the ground enough to stop without falling overthough. lol So I would stand at one end of the driveway,and my wife on the other. That was at my parents, out of state. Our house has a big hill. So he didnt get to ride at all for a long time. Now he’s 4 and needs training wheels again. You may want edit “break” to “brake”.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:52:14 +0000

This is indeed a brilliant idea, Shana. So simple yet something that never crossed my mind, lol.
I got a huge backyard and I will make sure to make good use of it. Grass stained clothes beats blood stained ones!
Thanks for sharing that.

By: wallaby

wallaby — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:47:56 +0000

Better yet use a balance bike or just remove the pedals, crank and chain from a regular bike and let the child scoot and blance on it until they are confident. They learn to balance this way and moving to a bike with pedals is a piece of cake.

It is a very popular method in the UK and Europe and does not require you to actually go through the problems of teaching (and falling). My oldest son used to just pick up speed by scooting and he’d then just glide down small slopes with his feet up. Whe he got a “real” bike when he was four it was a cinch. He was off and riding in a couple minutes.

Here are a couple US places that sell balance bikes (but like I said, just take off the cranks, pedals and chain yourself if you want to):

http://stridersports.com/

http://www.runbikes.com/

http://www.toysrus.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3516340

and here is the newer version of the one we got in the uk (youngest now using it successfully!): http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/rothan.html

By: Leroy Latty

Leroy Latty — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:42:08 +0000

Two days ago I looked at our freshly cut grass that seemed cut to a perfect carpet pile, thanks to our kind neighbor and my thoughts rushed back some twenty five years to the perfectly cut lawn of a golf course where I learned to ride a bike. We pushed the bikes to the top of a mound. I mounted and my cousin pushed and I remembered my feet automatically pedalling at the bottom of the hill. I got instant balance from the momentum, I was injected with courage and confidence and the rest is history. Thanks for your blog and the confirmation that our precious ground and grass serve this purpose of helping our children to master a life long skill.

By: TheNanny612

TheNanny612 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:50:38 +0000

@Elizabeth – Thanks…I’m glad you enjoyed it.

@Lori – Honestly, I love using the grass to teach children to ride their bikes. That’s how we taught Austin (now 13) too. Not all grassy back yards are ideal, but one just cut, tiny decline and few bumps is perfect. Even if they tumble they are less apt to get hurt and more inclined to keep pushing at it with fewer tears. That’s a win-win for everybody. Good luck with your daughter.