When did you first learn to ride a bike? « CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

When did you first learn to ride a bike?

(20 posts)

Started 2 weeks ago by gembo
Latest reply from chdot

No tags yet.

gembo
Member

Poignant Radio 4 piece there from their go to Scouse writer Frank Cottrell Boyce. Like me he grew up in a flat but again like me he moved to a property on a new estate where everybody had bikes. Frank and his brother expected bikes for Xmas but on Xmas Morning they found they had been given Fuzzy Felt. THis sort of thing could scar you for life. Turns out his dad had a bike and Frank learned to ride it when he was twenty and set off for university at 5 am tracking himself to cycle as he went.

Good story

You wonder if everyone had bikes why a second hand one never made it into the Cottrell Boyce family? We had a huge Raleigh 14 with white walled tyres that were 20 cm in diameter and about 20 cm wide. Pretty easy to learn on and then I was lucky to get the cheapest Raleigh fromthe Kays Catalogue. A Chico when everyone else had Choppers or Grifters BUT I loved that bike - light and maybe even steel tubes. Good for climbing and descending. Back in the 1970s in our village there was no traffic after about 8 am so we had the freedom of the streets until about 5pm all summer

Posted 2 weeks ago #
chdot
Admin

(Not me)

“

Raleigh Tomahawk. It was rubbish and it fell apart but I loved it. It extended my range from the end of the street to Heaton Park, a massive 3 miles away and meant that I could stay out all day! Not as fast as my best mate’s Raleigh Chico and not as cool as all the BMXs that started to appear a year or so later, but it gave me freedom to explore. Sadly I can’t see my boy getting the same unsupervised opportunity. He’ll have to go riding with his dad. How very uncool for him.

“

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/best-bikes-that-you-were-given-as-a-presents/

@gembo

“Back in the 1970s in our village there was no traffic after about 8 am so we had the freedom of the streets until about 5pm all summer”

The reality of ‘road conditions’ obviously affects how much people (of all ages) actually ride.

The fact that about 80% of children can cycle (according to that news piece) is actually impressive/encouraging/depressing depending on how it translates into actual riding.

To the actual question “When did you first learn to ride a bike?“ -

I was thinking about it recently and can’t remember.

I got a very secondhand tricycle (solid tyres) when I was about 3 which did me until I was about 8 (no significant mileage/journies).

Some memory of trying to ride my father’s but it was massive.

I don’t remember what two wheeler I first used - presumably a friend’s before I bought an anonymous 3 speed off someone.

Lived in a low traffic village then, but most kids didn’t seem to have bikes, or at least use them.

Don’t know whether that was ‘odd’ or whether the ‘golden age’ where all children rode bikes is largely a myth.

Posted 2 weeks ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

We had a huge Raleigh 14 with white walled tyres that were 20 cm in diameter and about 20 cm wide.

Raleigh RSW14 was my first bike too. It was second-hand and had lost its weighs-a-ton balloon tyres and had narrow black ones that probably came from Thomas Piper's shop. I learned with stabilisers, as was the fashion I suppose, but one day determined to ride without them after all my friends made fun of me. The nearest hill was a long grassy slope and I freewheeled down it going so fast I scared myself to death - but I learned to balance at least!

The frame eventually broke at the head tube after possibly one too many stunts, and I went in the Raleigh Grifter direction after that (I didn't break that frame but I did bend the forks).

Posted 2 weeks ago #
chdot
Admin

“I learned with stabilisers, as was the fashion“

I presume I missed that stage because of having a tricycle.

The ‘fashion’ now is balance bikes.

Though it will probably (and should) persist.

Stabilisers are fundamentally a bad idea. They delay the acquisition of balancing skills.

Realistically, from a parent’s point of view they may be a ‘good idea’ as falling off is less likely - so is speed…

The other fashion item of recent years is the micro-scooter. This (probably) started as an expensive accessory to be seen on/with then, fairly rapidly, became cheaper/ubiquitous.

Obviously ridiculous compared with a ‘proper bike’.

BUT, actually a serious ‘active travel’ option - used by some families for local/school journeys where the car has been the default.

Kids like them and learn balance and (sometimes) pavement-sharing skills.

I’ve always been impressed with really young children on the 3 wheel ones!

But bikes -

‘Everyone’ should learn to ride.

I presume more people can ride a bike than swim the length of a pool?

Until relatively recently learning to swim was essential/normal at most(?) schools. Largely with paid teachers/instructors.

Learning to cycle is ‘up to parents’. Formal cycle training at school (largely) depends on volunteers…

Posted 2 weeks ago #
Frenchy
Member

I presume more people can ride a bike than swim the length of a pool?

Numbers are apparently very similar (but probably depend a lot on interpretation of what constitutes "being able" to swim/cycle). 24% of adults can't ride a bike and 28% can't swim. Numbers are apparently growing, as well.

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/fitness/a60938225/quarter-brits-cant-ride-bike/

Posted 2 weeks ago #
jdanielp
Member

I wonder how much overlap there is between the 24%/28% which presumably comes down to lack of opportunity when growing up?

I don't remember much of the detail, but have been reminded in recent years that my dad taught me and my brother to ride bikes in our local park (Haslam Park in Preston in case anyone knows it) on a gentle downhill path which has perhaps a little more necessity for steering than is perhaps ideal, but with soft grass to either side and only a fairly small chance of ending up in the brook at the bottom.

Sadly I have been reminded of this while pushing my dad in an increasingly necessary wheelchair up or down the same path...

Posted 2 weeks ago #
neddie
Member

Kids do best when they learn to ride in this order, and this order only: Braking; balancing; pedalling

When kids are put on stabilisers, they quickly learn to pedal really fast, fast enough that an adult can't keep up with them on foot. Then they either fail to anticipate a hazard and are unable to brake, or they turn too quickly, overcoming the capability of the stabilisers to keep them upright. Then they fall and end up with scrapes, which can then put them off riding for 6 to 18 months!

Balancing first, then pedalling!

Posted 2 weeks ago #
fimm
Member

I remember that we had the "jingly bike" which I think had hard tyres and was certainly noisy. There's a photo of my 2 sisters and me, with me on the bike (I'm the oldest) and my sisters on tricycles. I think that bike had stabilisers.

Posted 2 weeks ago #
jdanielp
Member

Talking of tricycles, my mum used to transport me and my brother on the back of a family tricycle when we were little, which had two rear-facing seats behind the main seat. I remember this more than I remember learning to ride a bike and anything about that bike, which presumably means that learning wasn't too traumatic (or possibly so traumatic that I have blocked out any memories).

Posted 2 weeks ago #
Baldcyclist
Member

I remember that toes were for braking, though my parents never agreed. :D

Some early mishaps for me which I remember were hitting a brick wall head on, also scraping my arm along harling when stabalisers came off.

More 'advanced' mishaps was jumping over the other kids in the street, we had a wee ramp which we'd put on the kerb into our streets car park, then n+1 kids would lie under ramp and we'd jump over them. I once became detatched from bike, and landed on my chin, followed by an afternoon in Bangour hospital. Still have that scar on my chin.

Bikes, mostly Raleigh, but I remmeber a Strika, and then later a Winner (first road bike). No Chopper. :(

There was another bike early on (maybe a Puch?) it was copper brown and my dad had something welded several times as I used to just bump up the kerb.

Other adventures included riding to Almondale country park, which was a lot of roads and distance away from where I lived in Livingston. As a 70s kid my parents never knew where I was, we were esssentially ferrel and so long as back before dark, no one much cared where we were adventuring on bikes. :)

Posted 2 weeks ago #
ejstubbs
Member

I had a solid-tyred tricycle when I was wee, probably passed down from my older siblings. I don't know exactly how old I was when I was given my first bike - maybe about six? - or what make/model of bike it was. I do remember it had stabilisers when I first got it, and it took me quite a while to get the hang of riding it without them. My big brother took it upon himself to fix that, by holding on to the back of the saddle as I wobbled around our fairly spacious lawn, until one day I rode it from one end of the lawn to the other, stopped and looked around, only to see him still standing at the other end of the lawn, and I realised that I'd learned how to ride a bike.

From that day on the I was freed of the confines of the garden and rode hither and yon around our bit of Bromley*. There was quite a network of snickets which meant that it was easy to avoid the main roads, and the residential side roads were a lot quieter in those days, even in south-east London (it was Bromley that took the GLC to court over its "Fares Fair" policy of subsidising public transport, on the grounds that it was unfair because the public transport provision in our area was so poor.).

One local park had a really steep hill down which I used to ride at what felt like breathtaking speeds. There were two trees growing quite close together about half way down, and where their roots met they created a kind of launch ramp which added to the thrill. Somehow I survived such foolishness. However...

The day I got my first flat tyre and had to push the bike home, I was too scared to tell my Dad about it because I thought he'd be cross that I'd 'broken' the bike. When he eventually realised that I hadn't been out on my bike for quite a while I had to confess that i'd rendered it unrideable. He was entirely unperturbed, and cheerfully taught me how to fix a puncture, from which time I've always regarded a bike as something that I can fix if it goes wrong (99% of the time, anyway).

* David Bowie's Mum lived a few streets away from us. She got one of our spaniel's puppies the one time it had a litter.

Posted 2 weeks ago #
gembo
Member

@stubbsie Bromley has an insane amount of traffic today BUT oddly is pretty good for cycling. Even as a kid. {today I mean]. Not a good as Balerno but nobody’s perfect.

My sister in law lives near the incinerator and you can get from her house through a wee park then on a segregated path beside the main drag then into A bigger park [is it Norman Park] which has a great circuit to cycle on down to the Athletics Ground and back. From they athletics ground there is good signage on side streets over to Hayes where there is a good bike shop and from there it start to get too much for kids which is a shame as after the busy bit you are in rural Kent and can get all the way to the highest hills in Kent without much traffic. They aint high but do kick up.

I have had decent cycling in the morning then v isiting mad Eltham Palace or sweet William Morris HOuse in the pm. Sort of Holidays. Also cycled up to Down House where Darwin resided.

My sister in law’s whippet had puppies and she gave one to Sioucsie Siousx’s mum [this is a lie]

Posted 2 weeks ago #
ejstubbs
Member

Sounds like your SiL is at the other end of town from where we used to live. The nearest parks to us were Kings Meadow and Chinbrook Meadows (the location of the aforementioned steep hill) although Sundridge Park Golf Course was across the [private] road behind our house.

We had moved away from Bromley a good few years before the "Bromley Contingent" became a 'thing'.

Posted 2 weeks ago #
gembo
Member

@ejstubbs Yes - Bromley South is her station. No wonder I couldnt find David Bowie’s house. I=Bromley is big. THE ULEEZ of course goes way out beyond Keston and indeed Downe.

Posted 2 weeks ago #
chdot
Admin

A Bromley tale related to bicycles.

“

My great grandfather started a bicycle business in Bromley, Kent in 1888 and the shop was in the original location until one evening in November 1940 when a Luftwaffe bomber decided to jettison its bombs over Bromley rather than continue to the original target of the London Docks. My grandfather George had been working late in the workshop that night, and had just left for home on his bicycle when the bomb exploded on the shop.

“

https://bicyclespecialties.blogspot.com/2008/05/torpado-project.html?m=1

Posted 2 weeks ago #
mcairney
Member

Not quite sure it's precisely when I learned to ride a bike but I do remember having to learn to ride without stabilisers pretty darned quickly as mine broke within days of getting my first 'proper' bike.

After that I got a Raleigh Mini Burner for my 5th birthday and I remember my dad taking me to the top of a bing near our home in Tranent and pushing me! Sink or swim indeed

Posted 2 weeks ago #
Tulyar
Member

When I reached 12 I got a paper round, & went to new school.

Dad's old 1947 Raleigh Sport was overhauled & rebuilt as a joint project

I sat on bike & scooted around garden, then on a smooth tarmac back lane, for about a week

Then encouraged to ½ turn and 'ratchet pedal' steadily increasing up to ¼ turn to full rotation as I coasted along, having already mastered Stage B (balance) in the 3-stages of learning to ride a bike (Stage C - controls = braking & steering on balance bike or walking with a bike)

The final stage - Action is connecting stage C-B & A as riding a bike

Stabilisers are 'Haram' to borrow from the Arabic (the antethesis of Halal!) they should be called DE-stabilisers as a child can set off at speed without any experience of steering or braking, then a sharp turn will send the child face-first into the ground, something where a bike helmet can often enhance the facial injuries, as the BBC guest Jonathan Shepherd describes here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028swp fcrom the factual and objective records of cycling injuries. This is where a face plant does harm enhanced rather than prevented by a helmet, potentially to the extent of severe damage to vertebra C1-C5 (thoracic) where a C1 fracture = death or quadroplegia from damage to spinal cord/cerebral cortex. For brevity, a detail I'll describe elsewhere

I used the C-B-A method to learn to master riding an ordinary bicycle at Drumlanrig where at last there was a 60"wheel machine to use
Stage C - scoot the back-step & 'get the 'feel' of steering &c
Stage B - scoot & rise up to sit on the saddle only & coast
Stage A - scoot, sit on saddle & put feet on pedals to turn the wheel, remembering that this is a direct drive - no brakes required & when you stop pedalling you have to be ready to dismount

Also worth listening to 'Dough' https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028tzr with some useful comments from sensible people!
Including Pashley Cycles, Whyte Bikes, Bicycle Association

So much more to do & since Cycling UK dumped their independent specialists, I've been struggling not helped by a desperate need to find a lawyer to take on a civil action that I am not eligible for the established systems of legal aid

It is desperate - please PM on this & the other issues

Posted 1 week ago #
Tulyar
Member

My twins got a couple of balance bikes - that were butchered from 2 £10 machines with 10" wheels - stripping off the transmission & stabilisers

At 4 years they had pedals, & did a race at CTC York Rally

By 6 I had secured a pair of Dawes King Pin Juniors with 18" wheels vice the regular 20" ones - 1- speed along with a pair of Raleigh 18' for their pals, all 1-speed

They cycled to school solo from 9 years old, but the failure of Leicestershire Council to just put a concrete culvert in place when they built up the embankment for a 50mph dual carriageway to the huge high speed roundabout for the A47 link (from M1) effectively stopped them cycling to secondary school, and cost the Council in providing a bus to school

I do wonder who actually does the sums here, asz it must cost more to provide a school bus service than a route for kids to cycle to school?

PS they're now 25, on only learned to drive this year, but has no intention of owning a car, the other does drive but not very much as her job is either WFH or catching the train to London

Both BTW could do their 35 times table by 7 y/o (as their auntie was a pit boss, & uncle also had a casino licence....

Posted 1 week ago #
LaidBack
Member

Think I had a scooter first. Wooden deck model with a rear brake. Others in neighbouring tenements (Partick) had various bikes so must have swapped. One had a Moulton original borrowed from his mum. 4 speed Sturmey with white tyres (!).
I subsequently got a s/h Raleigh 3 speed 'tourer' that was really too big. Rattly chain case. Dynamo lights and saddle bag. Fell off at least once or twice.
Raced round back courts - always uphill to get home.

Posted 1 week ago #
chdot
Admin

“
Even today, there is a small minority of adults who can't ride a bicycle, let alone pull a track stand: roughly 8 per cent of women and 1 per cent of men in Britain, according to a recent Transport for London survey, Apparently, most able-bodied adults can grasp the rudiments in one three-hour session. The best thing about learning to ride a bicycle, though, is that you will only have to do it once.

“

It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels

Book by Rob Penn

Posted 1 week ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.

// CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

About This Forum

CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

When did you first learn to ride a bike?

Reply

RSS Feeds

Links