Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Recreational & Family
Reload this Page >

Ditching the training wheels (or skipping them)

Notices
Recreational & Family Ride just to ride? Have a family and want to get them into cycling? Drop in here to discuss recreational and family cycling issues.

Ditching the training wheels (or skipping them)

Old 10-31-11, 09:56 AM
  #1  
ebartom
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 91
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Ditching the training wheels (or skipping them)

My daughter is rocking the balance bike, and is very very interested in riding the 12" hand-me-down that's waiting for her. We've done some riding around, with an adult holding on to the handlebars, and she's started to get the pedaling down so that she's not constantly hitting the coaster brakes. So all is good. Except my back hurts, and there's no subtle way I can suddenly drop the handlebars. Plus she's not practicing steering.

So I'm thinking of getting something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Balance-Buddy-...dp/B000MISWIW/
Has anyone tried it?
ebartom is offline  
Old 10-31-11, 10:01 AM
  #2  
bike_boy
Lula Mae = 15 lbs.
 
bike_boy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: I keep hitting <Escape>, but I'm still here!
Posts: 766

Bikes: 2011 Trek Madone 6.5 w/SRAM Red 22

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Or, I hear some folks have had sucess with this pedal-less bike:
(when considering skipping training wheels to help in moving to a pedal bike)

https://www.mystriderbike.com/
bike_boy is offline  
Old 10-31-11, 10:06 AM
  #3  
ebartom
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 91
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
That's the balance bike she's currently rocking, actually. But she still needs to learn to pedal and to start and stop. My guess is we're looking at just a couple of weeks of transition here, but I'm not sure. She's determined, but also very little.
ebartom is offline  
Old 10-31-11, 10:09 AM
  #4  
bike_boy
Lula Mae = 15 lbs.
 
bike_boy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: I keep hitting <Escape>, but I'm still here!
Posts: 766

Bikes: 2011 Trek Madone 6.5 w/SRAM Red 22

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
oops, I should have read your initial post more clearly per balance bike...sorry !!
bike_boy is offline  
Old 10-31-11, 11:05 AM
  #5  
cabledawg
Full Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 212
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 19 Post(s)
Liked 33 Times in 20 Posts
We've used the Balance Buddy (I think ours went onder a different name though) for our last two kids and it's worked well for us. For heavier kids it can be a challenge to keep up and keep them balanced, but far better than the handlebar/seat grab technique. I recommend you get one
cabledawg is offline  
Old 11-11-11, 05:44 PM
  #6  
Fargo Wolf
Resident smartass.
 
Fargo Wolf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Posts: 488
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 32 Post(s)
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Take the pedals off the hand-me down bike and let her push herself around on that. In this way, she can learn to balance on the bike w/o assistance, yet, at the same time, still have the ability to put both feet down at the same time if required. it also familiarizes her with said bike's handling. When she is really scooting around with the pedals off and it's more than obvious that she's mastered balancing, put the pedals back on. It shouldn't take too long for her to get the hang of pedaling.
Fargo Wolf is offline  
Old 11-12-11, 05:40 PM
  #7  
atbman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Leeds UK
Posts: 2,085
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Training wheels are the instrument of the devil and should be declared illegal under whatever is your equivalent of the Trades Description Act. They are unfit for purpose and do knack all for "training" them
atbman is offline  
Old 01-03-12, 06:41 PM
  #8  
Velo Dog
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Northern Nevada
Posts: 3,811
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by bike_boy
Or, I hear some folks have had sucess with this pedal-less bike:
(when considering skipping training wheels to help in moving to a pedal bike)
https://www.mystriderbike.com/
I taught two kids plus an adult relative with a variation of this: I took the pedals off the bike and lowered the seat so they could put their feet flat on the ground, then found a GENTLE hill, just enough to roll, and let them coast down it. When they could go 50 yards or so,we put the pedals on and used them as footrests, then progressed to pedaling. My daughter was riding in 15 minutes at age 4 or 5. My son took a couple of sessions, and a 40-something neighbor who'd never had a bike was riding with her daughter in two or three days.
Velo Dog is offline  
Old 01-03-12, 06:53 PM
  #9  
prathmann
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Bay Area, Calif.
Posts: 7,239
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 659 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times in 6 Posts
Originally Posted by Fargo Wolf
Take the pedals off the hand-me down bike and let her push herself around on that. In this way, she can learn to balance on the bike w/o assistance, yet, at the same time, still have the ability to put both feet down at the same time if required. it also familiarizes her with said bike's handling. When she is really scooting around with the pedals off and it's more than obvious that she's mastered balancing, put the pedals back on. It shouldn't take too long for her to get the hang of pedaling.
+1 If she can already scoot around (and necessarily steer) on her balance bike, then doing the same on the slightly larger hand-me down bike should be a very quick transition. And it'll get her used to steering on that bike and how it feels without anyone holding onto either the seat or handlebars. At that point I've found it to be an easy step to put the pedals back on (still with a seat that's too low for efficiency) and let the child learn the pedaling motion. Raising the seat to a more reasonable height can then be done gradually as the child gains confidence.
prathmann is offline  
Old 01-04-12, 07:15 PM
  #10  
atbman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Leeds UK
Posts: 2,085
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Can someone, for goodness sake, get "training wheels/teach your kid to ride" set up as a sticky?
atbman is offline  
Old 01-08-12, 12:22 AM
  #11  
ebartom
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 91
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
And she's off! Training wheels and handles off. She still needs some help getting started, but I think she'll progress very quickly from here, and will be biking to school in no time at all (or in spring, depending on the weather here in the midwest).

She's 2.5, for what it's worth. Balance bikes are amazing preparation for riding.
ebartom is offline  
Old 01-08-12, 04:01 PM
  #12  
atbman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Leeds UK
Posts: 2,085
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Congratulations - altho' you may learn you have created a monster. If she continues to have problems setting off, you might want to see if you can fit a rear cog with more teeth. We teach them starting with the usual "pedal up" and "big push commands with the emphasis on "push"

Altho' we usually find that they get hold of starting pretty quickly. On the other hand, the youngest ones we've taught have been 3 and up.

Good luck
atbman is offline  
Old 01-08-12, 08:35 PM
  #13  
ebartom
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 91
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I think it'll be a very short-term problem. My son learned the week he turned three, and there was also a short transition period with starting. Her second outing was already much better than the first. She mastered a balance bike, and then had a handle on the back of a 12" specialized, and then we took the handle off when she could go for awhile with no-one holding on.
ebartom is offline  
Old 02-05-12, 09:58 AM
  #14  
conradpdx
Senior Member
 
conradpdx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Portland Oregon
Posts: 301

Bikes: 70"s Raleigh Superbe, 1959 Murray Vanguard Middle weigh cruiser

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I'm not fan of training wheels (don't do anything) or balance bikes (why bother they're bikes with no pedals). I bought my kids bikes and removed the pedals, and like said above once they got coasting 50' or so on there own found a nice slightly downhill grass hill and made them go down that with pedals. Kids were all riding within an hour of adding the pedals back. And within two weeks of adding pedals to my daughters bike. She and I did a Portland parkways of 8 miles, was a little too much for her, but she loved it.
conradpdx is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
BROOKLINEBIKER
Recreational & Family
34
02-16-17 07:00 AM
Artkansas
General Cycling Discussion
20
02-24-14 02:15 PM
Purpleorchid
Recreational & Family
17
05-14-13 11:46 AM
insylem
General Cycling Discussion
5
05-08-13 10:41 AM
Rafy
Recreational & Family
10
05-31-11 12:52 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.