5.5 year old and stabilisers

mmclo · 13-04-2009 12:43AM #1

I plan to take the stabilisers off my daughters bike, she loves to cycle but seems a bit nervous. I find the stabilisers are terrible, for a while she couldn't move it at all until I raised them. This improved things a good bit but with little hills and dome shaped cycle lanes it seems particularly hard for her to start (I think the halfords bike is a bit too heavy too)

I know from other sites the idea is to have a balance bike with no pedals first but this is where we are at and I don't think I can suddenly introduce a bike with no pedals when she has been mashing away for a few months

Any advice in general? she's good on breaking and pedalling so I intend to focus on balance and make sure she can get two feet on the ground?

Lumen · 13-04-2009 07:12AM

A cyclist friend of mine has four kids around the same age. He experimented with teaching them to ride at different ages, and found no difference (i.e. it didn't help if they were older). The youngest was just 4.

The problem with removing pedals and stabilisers (as I've discovered) is that when you take them away the child can't go fast any more, so they don't want the "balance bike", they want their pedals back.

So, use her frustration and teach her to ride properly, now. Take the stabilisers off and take her for a ride with you holding the bike around the saddle area. Over the course of a couple of half hour rides, you should be able to reduce the assistance and she'll be riding.

Or that's the theory. I tried it with one of mine when he turned three, and got unbearable backache after about a minute.

5.5 year old and stabilisers

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