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You're absolutely right--children's bicycles with training wheels are good for exercise and entertainment, but they do little to nothing for balance. In my experience, the best way to teach anyone--children included--to ride a bicycle is to take the pedals off, lower the seat, and let them scoot & coast around until they develop the proper balance. ...

It's silly, but with the saddle down so that he is able to push himself forward with the feet, ask him to pretend he's running on low gravity, trying to go as far as possible between steps. On doing this, he can/could/should lean the bike a bit left when he puts left foot on ground, and lean the bike right when right foot is down. The "secret" is trying to ...

I would go with the undersized bike method as Sheldon Brown recommends. Basically, get a bike that's a bit on the small side (and has at least one brake lever) and remove the pedals (and maybe also the cranks), so that he can have his butt on the saddle (seat) and both feet firmly on the ground with knees slightly bent. That way he can run with the bike ...

My dad taught me, my two sisters, my neices and nephews the same basic way. On grass. Get them on a two wheeler, no training wheels, but with helmet on, and start em up on the grass. Find a field that is smooth (maybe a slight downhill to start on) and push them and let them go. Grass is harder to ride on, but soft enough to fall on without damage that ...

Rollers are awesome! At least I think so. I have used both a trainer and rollers and I much prefer using the rollers. Once you are used to using the rollers you will be more than capable of doing things like watching a movie. One of the best things about rollers is they magnify issues with your cycling form. Once you have trained enough on the rollers your ...

Well, I was raised "old school". My dad put me on my first huffy - got behind me and pushed me down the driveway. Well, after 10 to 15 times busting my tail, I got the hang of staying up and was riding on my own in about 2 hours. Afterwards, as I rode through the yard (I grew up on a four acre yard) I crashed, got up and kept going. Just make your ...

I ride behind: she sets the pace, concentrates on the road ahead. Being behind I can watch, control the distance between us, speak advice, and manage (i.e. observe and give hand signals to) any vehicles approaching us from behind. Edit: I just found a quote on the front page of http://www.vehicularcyclist.com/index.html "I’ve taken three cycling ...

Learning to ride a bike on a traditional pedal bike can be a scary experience for both parent and child. We've all been there. The initial excitement of chosing the brightly colored princess bike or the bike adorned with the latest comic book superhero quickly fades when reality sets in. That reality is that a standard pedal bike is the wrong tool for ...

The best thing about training wheels is that it get them on the bike and fast. They get a feel for what it takes to peddle, wear a helmet, etc... The other thing I found is that my kids had little or no problem making the transition to a riding without training wheels. Yeah it took some time the first day but they were used to the mechanics of riding if ...

I think that, besides having fun - which is of utmost importance with kids otherwise they give up and choose to do something that is more fun and less distressful -, after they learn to keep balance and speed up, I'd say the next things must learn are to brake properly and to control their trajectory. That said, one of the most exciting things to do, in my ...

Are you thinking to get a small BMX and take the drive train off instead of getting a run bike, so you can put the drive train back on when he's ready? Otherwise I don't quite understand the purpose of the question, sorry. If that is you're idea I'd suggest that's probably not a good idea. It's going to be difficult to find a BMX small enough for a two year ...

how do you learn how to ride on rollers? Believe you can do it. Do it! Do it in a doorway. Practice How long does it take you to get the hang of it? Took me about 30 min. on a set of plastic parabolic rollers before I felt comfortable enough to take the rollers out of the doorway and just be next to a wall. are almost guaranteed to fall off ...

I did the same thing for my son when he was 2. After a year and a half, he just "looked" ready. I knew he could ride so I had him try pedaling. I have a short hill in the front yard and put him near the bottom. He was determined to NOT ride properly, so after about 25 feet he "fell" off and said "SEE!! I can't do it!" I laughed and said, "You did it almost ...

The first time I successfully learned to balance was on a grassy slope in a park. The slope was pronounced but not large: a total height/drop of maybe 3 or 4 feet, and maybe 10 degrees of slope. The point of a slope is that, before I tried it, when I was trying to learn to cycle on the flat I found it to difficult/impossible to learn to balance, steer, and ...

The technique I describe here is covered very nicely in a video at REI's web site. My adult wife learned to ride at a local free workshop in Brooklyn two years back. See if there's a local class / workshop in your area. It took all of two hours. The class was held in a large, vacant asphalt lot. The students were taught how to properly adjust the ...

I wouldn't treat the 27 year old any differently than a kid learning to ride a bike. I recently taught my 6 year old son how to ride a bike. We tried the smaller bike and removing the pedals but that just didn't work out so well. The bottom line is that everyone is different and the key is to find what will work for your friend. One thing that I did ...

IMO (having run some Boy Scout cycling classes, among other things), before you go "play in traffic" with teens/adults you should have a "chalk talk" explaining the various basic rules/techniques for riding in traffic, and then, on a quiet road, demonstrate the techniques and have the "student" practice them a bit. Granted, if by SO you mean a spouse or ...

I had some instruction a few days ago (to find out what bad habits I've accumulated), and after checking my bike and handling away from the road, and working through some scenarios on (almost) empty residential streets, the traffic section worked like this: start on a quiet side-road, or in a safe spot at the side of the road discuss a manageably short ...

Not to be insensitive, but I think you are over-thinking it just a little. I'd say start with an open, grassy field - for me this would be the public park a few blocks from my house, but I don't know where you live. And ditch all of the protective gear save for a regular bicycle helmet. All of that padding is just going to make your friend more nervous, ...

Well the answer that I found worked well for my youngest and some of my friends kids was: Lower the seat so that they can almost have their feet flat on the ground so they can prevent themselves from falling too many times - so they are not terrified. Pick a bike with short pedal arms so their legs rotate more times per minute which will help with balance. ...

My wife bought a Stryder bike, which is a two wheeler, with no pedals/crank/chain/etc. My son sits on it, pushes and brakes with his feet. He rode about 40 miles this summer on it. (The pool is about a 3 mile round trip from our house, and we rode there a fair bit). Now he glides and balances very well. We have to get him a real bike this summer, to ...

As @Kibbee stated give a little time. Don't expect to be able to do a one hour ride and be painfree the next day. Try to increase your saddle time gradually over a couple weeks. You can do several short rides a day to toughen-up the sore spots. The saddle may not be the only issue. Did you consult with anyone about bikefit? The bike may need some adjustments ...

Bicycles are designed in a way that makes them very stable going forward, at the cost of being unbelievably unstable while riding backwards. The most common fixed-gear geometry (inspired in track racing) doesn't help a lot. As a comparison, BMX is a modality where riders usually ride backwards in half-pipes, but the bike geometry is very different. What I ...

First make sure the child has some protection gear like helmet, knee/elbow guards (in my childhood I dit not have these, but the world has changed since :) Then find a small slope so that the child does not have to pedal very hard, but can concentrate on balancing. ... Success!

Our kid is a wimp when it comes to bumps and I'm overprotective, so just sticking some pads on her and letting her go wasn't an option - the scrapes and bruises would've turned her off. We tried riding on grass but couldn't find any place with enough of a gentle slope to overcome the extra resistance from the soft ground. But right next to one of the grass ...

I found the easiest way was to put the rollers in a door frame. Keep looking ahead and find a cadence where you only need slight pressure on the pedals. When you start too hard/easy will probably make you fall off. I found that I got the hang of rollers pretty quickly. One or two rides and they were easy and I didn't need the door frame to get going.

Yeah, I'd go with the undersized bike, or at least lower the seat all the way. Maybe remove the pedals. He doesn't have to be flat-footed on the ground, but should be able to push reasonably well while seated. Get him comfortable (on a smooth level surface like a parking lot) with pushing along and balancing, steering, braking, and coming to a stop. Once ...

I agree with Mike - the first time I come off the rollers and hit the road I can definitely fell the difference in my form, particularly with my cadence. They're great as an adjunct to regular season cycling, too, since they really force you to concentrate on a smooth pedal form (if you're "pushing" the pedals as opposed to turning them you'll surge back and ...

I have no experience with kids in that age, but I think the most important skill she can have is to cover a large enough distance without stepping the ground. How much is "enough" is debatable, but there is sort of a "qualitative" difference between running with the aid of a scooter (long, but predictable, consecutive steps), and giving the scooter some ...