OK I am struggling to get our boy (nearly 5 now) to allow me to take the stabilisers off his bike
Thing is he learned his balance ages ago on a wee balance bike (of the Scooot variety I think) and can happily zoom down a hiill on it with his feet off the ground and steer and brake well
I got him a bigger bike with pedals for his birthday (last November) and was not allowed to remove his stabilisers before he opened it (grandparents and his mum conspired against me)
Now he can pedal OK but does not want me to take the stabilisers off.
Any hints on ways to explain this other than
"you've already learned balance this will not be difficult"
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Removing stabilisers - how to build confidence?
(23 posts)- Started 12 years ago by spytefear
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Posted 12 years ago #
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Bend em ! just make them realy akward to ride on the stabilisers, and keep on at them to cycle properly. My Grandaughter had the same issue, parents conspired cause they were over protective ! Seriously bend them up or loosen the bolts and readjust ! worked for her !
Posted 12 years ago # -
Inch them up. But my wee boy was the same - zoomed about on his balance bike and then when it came to pedalling went back five steps. I wouldn't give him stabilisers but he just wouldn't ride it. One day he just got it. I've spoken to a few other parents who tell a similar story. One day it just clicks. Peer pressure will kick in too if his wee pals are pedalling with stabilisers.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Clearly he needs to know his peers don't use stabilisers.
But perhaps they are all indoors on their Wiis
Posted 12 years ago # -
yeah, tough one. Splitshift's suggestion sounds good to me!
We avoided this dilemma by having bike with stabilisers at grandparents, then just not putting any on bike we got here. It helped it was a really wee bike.
We just said 'try it like this and we'll put them on if you need them'. And we never needed to. Could you get him to agree to try it, and promise to put them back on if needed?
(You should have seen Roibeard's youngest (same age as yours) riding his Islabike last week - gears and big wheels. And totally confident on it. Maybe sometime we could have a 4/5 year olds get together in HP?)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Chdot - the only P1s I know who ride without stabilizers are kids of this forum (and our next door neighbour who borrowed our wee bike). the others all still have them.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"the only P1s I know who ride without stabilizers are kids of this forum"
Exactly - CCE parents care/understand!
See how many responses on this in a few minutes!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Cameron was 4 1/4 years in April when he finally managed riding without stablizers. We took the same route as you. Wooden balence bike followed by metal bike with peddles with stableizers. He could balance but didn't want to ride without stablizers as he was scared he would fall off. He could peddle with stbleizers but the block was peddling & balencing. I took him to the beach to show him stablizers meant he couldn't cycle, and also as he wanted a bike with suspension (like my own bike), so I bribed him explaining that stableizers and suspension don't go.
He just needed reasurance that I would be there, holding on to him, so he could feel me, before he gained confidence. A week later I was showing him how to start and stop. He's not looked back.
Louis 3 in October (in a month) has been riding the balence bike and Camie's older bike with stablizers back on, and only last Saturday I took the stablizers off for his cousin to ride it whist they were visiting. Louis said he wanted a go and he manged it straight away!! He's not even 3.. [Proud dad moment there!!]
I guess he just needs to feel you're there holding on to him and won't let him fall. Ensure his feet can touch the floor and first off show him how to stop so if he slows he won't worry about falling off.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Spytefear, we had a similar-ish thing too.
Why not try telling him that you're going to make his bike like his old balance bike - so that you are going to take the stabilisers AND the pedals off, then play a few games where you you're going to time him and that there will of course be rewards for gliding along for, say 10 seconds or whatever.
Then when you're out and he's been (hopefully) quite happily doing that for a bit, just casually say, oh we might as well get the pedals on (which you will of course have brought along with you as well as your pedal spanner) and then you'll be able to go further (bribery at this point is up to you - I say: always the best option). Hopefully at this point he'll agree, and off he'll go. Tip: very slight slope down is good at this point, so he can get a bit of momentum before getting his feet on the pedals, cos he won't be able to do standing starts yet, like he can on his stabilisers. (We used the garden bit at the prom where it really widens out.)
Good luck!
Posted 12 years ago # -
My youngest (5) was very wary at first . She kept leaning over to one side. I found that by walking along with her and placing a light hand on her back/shoulders could ease off the pressure when she was balancing and pedaling but could still grab her if she fell ( it's also a lot kinder to your back than grabbing the saddle). Anyhoo didn't take long 'bout an hour back and forth outside grahams plumbing and she'd got the hang of it.
Now she's totally gung ho blazing down the pavement from school every day a total speed freak.........typical bl**dy cyclist!!!!Posted 12 years ago # -
I'd second the suggestions regarding making sure the stabilisers aren't on the ground in normal cycling and the use of a reassuring hand in the middle of the shoulders. The hand pressure can get increasingly lighter...
I used stabilisers for the eldest, but skipped them for the middle one and tried a balance bike for the youngest (complimented above - he'll be chuffed when I tell him tonight!). Fortunately we didn't encounter any regression - gentle encouragement and persistence may be necessary.
For myself, my parents didn't think I could ride, having never got beyond the stabilisers. They spotted some 2nd hand bikes for sale and went to see them, becoming very surprised when I hopped on to try it and rode off! I wouldn't recommend this route, as I had missed out on quite a bit of fun in the interim!
I'm happy to join in with some positive peer pressure if you like - Joel is quite happy with others having a shot on his bike, so you could tempt junior spytefear with the offer of a ride on the 20" Islabike...
Robert
Posted 12 years ago # -
Camie who is 4.5 is riding Louis' (~3) balence bike while Louis is riding without stableizers for the first time.
At the end Josie (filming) says Louis can you use you're brakes, at which point he comes to an abrupt halt and falls off....
Posted 12 years ago # -
Nothing spurs a young kid on like seeing one of his pals or a peer doing something they can't.
My lad was 3.5 when he learned to ride on a bike that came with stabilizers but were never installed.
His desire to avoid stabilizers was influenced by his admittedly amazing peer who could cycle 'properly' (without stabilizers) before he was 3. He also wanted to be like daddy and do something his little sister couldn't.
It only took 30 mins in a play park to get the confidence once the carrot was dangled in front of him.
So perhaps he needs to go out with a cycling pal - a play date - along with you to help him?
Posted 12 years ago # -
no shortage of cycling pals for play-dates.....
Posted 12 years ago # -
Spytefear - you could try taking one off?
I have inherited a bike that is easy to cycle. Very fat tyres, my youngest (6) been on it about a year - never had stabilsers (did use them for the other two). I would not say hr steering is 100% and she goes too fast.
THe bike that she uses is for asix year old but I can ride it too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
You will know yourself if he has the basic balance.
We just took them off one day (wifes idea, as he was so good on 2 wheeled scooter) and made it a wee game where we jogged alongside, one hand on arm to steady him.
Lots of encouragement, and he was away ahead of us same afternoon.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Bending them up seems to be a good idea just adding a little more clearance each time
I had through about removing the pedals but given I don't have a pedal spanner (lost it) and that I reckon he would regress when I put them back on as it's the pedal start he needs to practise, his balance was fine on the wee metal balance bike
Meeting up in the park sounds like a plan too.
I aim to be in Harrison Park today around 4.30/5pm weather permitting
His bigger bike is out at his grand parents so he will be on the wee second hand one I originally had out there but brought in as it was a wee bit smaller for him to reach the ground better. Have given much thought to replacing the heavy one we got him with an Islabike as they appear to be synonymous with kids in this area nowPosted 12 years ago # -
"Have given much thought to replacing the heavy one we got him with an Islabike as they appear to be synonymous with kids in this area now"
Who cares what the other kids have. the point is they are fab to ride. K. was just exuberant about how much she loved riding one after trying it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Who cares what the other kids have."
I don't - they must be good if there are so many of them, and form what I have read they are a lot lighter than the hulks other shops sellPosted 12 years ago # -
Dambed 403 error... I had a long post...
Basically I agree with Nelly, lots of reassruance, and taking it in small steps.
Remove the stablizers from the start or he will keep leaning on them and may over balence if they are bent too far up.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Dambed 403 error... I had a long post..."
Yeah sorry, doubling annoying.
On bad 403 days I copy before pressing "Send Post"
Posted 12 years ago # -
"
carltonreid:And here's the scoot-weee-balance method for teaching tots to ride (sometimes in less than an hour): http://t.co/2vItDA3B
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/carltonreid/status/115751209364754433
"
Posted 12 years ago # -
there's a lot of sense in there, although I found the writing style a bit hard to follow at times...still, this is good: "Life isn’t all dead straight railway paths." :)
Posted 12 years ago #
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