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Hi, my son is 6 in November and is 120cms tall.
For various reasons (gravel roads, loads of snow here in sweden) he has never really had the chance to really ride much. He can ride, but has stabilisers and isn't really confident. He can ski like a demon though !
Anyhow, I have a weeks holiday next week and the goal is to get him riding , ideally without stabilisers, confidentally and so he enjoys it. any tips on how best to do it?
Also, his bike is a little small for him now. I thought perhaps the carrot of a new bike if this week goes well may be a good thing? if so which one? we saw an early rider 20" belt drive one that was super light and looked great (threaded BB!) but was expensive!
Thanks in advance.
Martin
The simple answer is the Islabikes... but they're not great for things like XC Racing as they're a weird geometry. But for canals/towpaths/parks, they're awesome. Light, well made, easy to ride, etc etc...
The belters are great, really light and easy to ride, good resale value as well. He needs to get the balance first so maybe take off pedals and try him scooting a bit to get his eye in. Stabilisers often teach kids bad habits like leaning the wrong way I to corners so you need to get him used to no stabilisers first I reckon.
He can ski like a demon though !
Should take all of 2 minutes....
Seriously.... I did the new bike promise and it took longer to take the stabilisers off than learning to ride without.
I didn't even get a photo...
What bike depends what you want to ride together... and if they keep at it really.
In retrospect I would have been better just getting a used 20" (only lasted 9mo).... before 6 yrs he was riding a 24" and racking up miles then before 7 he went Full Suss (which he uses almost exclusively except for XC races now)
Then again I had no idea what he would be riding.... he's now got more into DH races than XC ...
Yes i'm hoping the feeling of speed from skiing will help. New bike promise sounds like a good idea too.
Gravel roads and xc really to start, althought the bike park is of course a target.... 🙂
Awwww steve... you have to have first ride pics !
[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/841/42728515374_b3e67dcd26_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/841/42728515374_b3e67dcd26_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/286LNYW ]DSC00377[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
on grass..... interesting.... should i be doing that?
“The simple answer is the Islabikes… but they’re not great for things like XC Racing as they’re a weird geometry.”
Not that I have any intention of my kids taking up XC racing but what’s weird about the Islabike geometry? Remember, children are not built like adults!
on grass….. interesting…. should i be doing that?
We didn't but retrospectively a great idea...
If he can ski he'll cycle (if he wants to)... its just balance and coordination but roads are harder than snow. Jnr was into scooters (one wheel ones) so it very literally was give him a push and he wobbled off... end of the cup-de-sac and managed to wobble round the turn and back. Like skiing he had the leaning and all he had to really do was try.
Obviously if they try and fall on a road it might well put them back... once they can ride a few circles on grass then you are sorted. You might also be able to whip the cranks or pedals off for 10 mins to get used to turning though we didn't.
If I had to change something it would have been finding a used bike before making the promise...
Not that I have any intention of my kids taking up XC racing but what’s weird about the Islabike geometry? Remember, children are not built like adults!
The answer to my lad is that it was like HTs have gone in the adult world now, long and low. the Isla had flat narrow bars, long TT and forward geometry. So for pootling along easy stuff it was fine, but on anything trickier like Swinley red/blue and XC racing he felt unhappy on the Tech stuff. FoD was tough for him on it. We then bought him a Cube which was far more 'bmx' in the context of higher bars i'd guess 30mm rise.... which put him in a better natural position for tech riding.
Talking about [i]geometry[/i] on kids' bikes?! Oh man.
Anyway - the transition from stabilisers to erm, no stabilisers isn't something you can push. You just have to keep trying, short goes, few tumbles, stabilisers back on, go for a spin.
And repeat...
One day, they just get it. You sit em on the 2 wheeler.. they start pedalling and off they go.
My little lad refuses to pedal, he's lightening quick on the balance bike but I think see it as a step backwards as trying to pedal slows him down.
He's outgrown the balance bike so as of this weekend he's now razzing round on an Isla with no pedals and the cranks cable tied in place.
I used to go to schools with a pumptrack and other features. When we got kids that couldn't ride I would find a nice gentle slope, like a wheelchair ramp and get them to roll down that with their feet just off the ground. Get them to look where they're going rather than at the front wheel. Once they've mastered cruising down the slope get them to try pedalling.
@Martin/howsyourdad1
Just get them on a bike (anything half decent you can change later)... grass is nicer to fall on.
After a short while (depending how often etc.) it becomes more apparent what they want to ride (at least in he interim).
TBH I had no idea how stuff would turn out... Jnr had showed no interest at all until 5 1/2...
I thought some rides on the canal and paths... and we did that for a few weeks before going to our local trails.
We never did roads at all... and he still has zero interest (he's all into DH now and selling his XC bike) ... but I didn't know that back then.
I over spent on his 20" ... once it became the limiting factor it was getting too small to invest in when he was getting closer to a 24"... (and diminishing returns ...) the thing is though by the time he was on the next bike we knew what we needed more or less. If I'd paid less for the 20" I'd have bought a different bike and sold it but due to "the promise" I ended up buying new...
The skiing should help with balance, but the issue is that stabilisers don't help them with the whole 'controlled falling' thing that cycling is.
Has he used a balance bike? If so he should be able to transition pretty much straight to a pedal bike. If not then maybe try taking stabilisers and pedals off his bike and letting him get the feel for balancing on it first.
We got a balance bike for our oldest at 2, she properly 'got it' by 3, and was flying on it by 3 1/2. Bought her an Early Rider Belter for her 4th birthday last November, but she didn't really want to ride it until about April/May - loved her balance bike too much , and it was such a wet winter!
Then she pretty much got it first go, but insisted on me holding her back/shoulder the whole time....that got boring quickly!
Then last week she just decided to go for it, and within 20 minutes she was doing laps of the park, cornering and everything. Yesterday we went to Haldon and she got starting off on her own in about 5 minutes...it took me being a bit cruel and refusing to push start her anymore, so to keep up she had to do it!
Then we did 5km around the green and blue routes. Proud dad moment!
cheers all. no he had a balance bike at 2 years old but wasnt really interested. jealous of all the biking i'm reading about!
cheers all. no he had a balance bike at 2 years old but wasnt really interested. jealous of all the biking i’m reading about!
IMHO the only things that matter are:
1) They are interested
2) They have bike and somewhere to fall and not hurt themselves enough to cancel out 1...
Balance bikes might or might not help... frankly our transition from stabilisers was 2 seconds .. not 2 minutes or whatever... he just had the balance and the will... he could already pedal because he had stabilisers
There are 2 skills required...
1) Balance and leaning into corners
2) Pedalling
Balance bikes are one way to address the first... they do nothing for the second.
If he can ski he can lean into corners... if he has stabilisers he can pedal...
If you find some soft grass its not much worse than falling on snow....
If the kid is 2-3 then perhaps a balance bike provides something... REGARDLESS they won't be cycling 10-20km with you until they are older (and want to) anyway..Then you have to transfer the 'other skill' .. pedalling..
I personally think its swings and roundabouts.... . nothing wrong with balance bikes but I think they are hugely over rated in terms of actually going riding but way more appropriate to toddlers than a 5 1/2 yr old who can ski.
In our case like yours he showed no interest until older... like ski-ing he had balance and leaning into corners from scooters ... if its not 2 seconds it will just be minutes if they are determined and already ski well...
Just don't over think it and have a bike lined up!