This is almost exactly how my parents taught me how to ride. I won a BMX in an art contest as a little kid and wanted to learn how to ride, but my family was too broke to justify buying training wheels. They told me to start pushing myself around the house on it until I felt like I could start pedaling. By the end of the second day, I was racing my older brother down the driveway. The only difference is that they didn't bother to take off the foot pedals. I ended up with some bruised shins, but it was worth it.
scaped legs were a staple of my childhood anyways so same here we Dad just didn't bother taking off the pedals after work but taught me on the actual bike i would ride
No training wheels, no helmet, not protective gear at all. Shins and elbows were pretty much always bleeding. Mom would tell us "don't come in the house until you rinse off the blood using the garden hose". Oh and we drank from that very same garden hose. How did we ever survive?
The balance bike was actually the first bike: German Inventor Karl von Drais is credited with developing the first bicycle. His machine, known as the "swiftwalker," hit the road in 1817. This early bicycle had no pedals, and its frame was a wooden beam. The device had two wooden wheels with iron rims and leather-covered tires.
Right? I was like, how is it new in any way when it was the literal origin? Plus, balance bikes specifically aimed at little kids have been around for ages and ages.
Man, the “dad running behind the kid at full speed” example is so spot on. I had a little 10” pedal bike in my garage that dad took the training wheels off of, and he taught every single kid on our block to ride on that same bike, just by pushing them through the grass and chasing them. Over a decade later I’m knee deep in the BMX racing world, and so thankful for that little 10” haha. Thanks Dad!
actually what he said is not true. tire grip and balance is what keeps a vehicle upright. steering doesnt matter because that only applies when there is no one on it. this is easily observed at low speeds on a unicycle, where steering and leaning doesnt apply yet its very easy to stay upright in a straight line.
@@Blox117 you're constantly shifting weight to make adjustments when you're riding even in a straight line. Training wheels doesn't force you to do that
Few years ago I taught my 3 years old brother to ride a bicycle. Basically I advised him 3 things to follow: watch directly forward so he couldn't see the front wheel or did not look on the pedals, just concentrating on the road. grip the handle bars tight so he has an extra points of stability and the 3rd one is to keep pedaling with no fear. Little man caught it up in 2 days and now he is a great company for a ride at the age of 7. He's riding basically an adult bike now with no fear and feels very secure in it.
Good on you, and good on your brother. Looking far ahead is really good advice for any type of cycling, and so you probably instilled a great habit into his riding for the rest of his life.
This works!!! My 7-year-old had not learned to ride. She had training wheels that we took off this year. Every time she tried it this year, she would almost fall and run home crying. Today, I lowered her seat and took off her pedals and rode around with her. In about an hour, she asked for the pedals and then rode for 2 miles!
Allmost the same experience. He got a balance bike. He fixed it in a few weeks, 2 yrs old. Some weeks later he graduated to a pedal bike and rode along at 2 yrs 3 mnths.
I couldn’t learn ride a bike as a young kid, but my parents bought me a razor scooter and after just a few weeks of that, I hopped on the bike and got it first try. I think the concept of leaning to steer is almost identical for both, it’s definitely a great safe way of learning.
This is what I did with my kids about 20 years ago. Balance bikes were not yet a thing but I knew how problematic training wheels were. But they had Razor scooters and learned all about balance on those. At the time my kids learning to ride at 4 and 3 respectively was seen as an amazing accomplishment. Balance bikes and scooters FTW!
@@fprintf I actually learned how to rid a bike at 3, the funny thing is the reason. I did have training wheels and my older by a couple years sister was getting them off and got a kickstand. I really wanted a kickstand. My Dad was firm you only get one when you don't have training wheels since it would hit them and no point... I told him to take off the wheels and did it that day lol
The scooter is better, and learning by standing up to ride rather than the seated position is better. This is because the bike can go all over the place while still being able to keep balance above it. Once seated it "hooks" you and takes your body where the frame goes. So it puts you at a disadvantage, which isn't what you want while learning.
@@pauljs75 Oh definitely, wasn't disagreeing. Just a funny story that I was able to learn at a young age at the time since I really wanted a cool attachment. Scooter definitely is a good stepping stone to it especially before the no pedal ones he was talking about existed
Two years ago, I used this method to teach my girlfriend (24 years of age at a time) to ride a bike. It took her 1 day to learn how to maintain balance and then how to pedal and lean while turning. This method is by far much better than having the training wheels. I think this should be propagated further so that parents apply this more often. Great video as always! Cheers!!!
32 year old here. would love to test this for myself as i have balancing and stability issues even while walking. I have spine damage which causes irregular bouts of numbness in my legs and feet, and have had to switch to using an adult tricycle for transport. I actually might try this if i can scrounge up a cheap two wheeler somewhere just as a learning tool.
As a small child, I remember having some training wheels on my first bike. The thing I specifically remember, since the sensation of turning on a bike still haunts me to this day, is that the training wheels would cause an imbalance of friction on the ground with even the slightest of turns. This very quickly results in falling over to the side, not knowing how to fall safely because they haven't rode a bike before. This video is good.
Surprised you did not mention the Swiftwalker from the early 1800's. The first bike was a balance bike and that would have been a great history point to throw in there. Great video as always guys!
Some of my kids had a hard time getting used to the pedaling motion. After they had mastered the balance bike I set their pedal bikes up with training wheels on blocks and had them pedal stationary. They soon learned when to push down on each pedal and when not to. Then I took the training wheels off and that was it. They were riding after just a few minutes of getting used to pedaling and balancing.
This was actually way more helpful than I expected it to be because my Daughter-in-law has never ridden a bike, and my son and I need to teach a 30 year old how to ride. Thanks!
Tell her how to use the brakes and then find a nice long slope. Have her get used to just lifting her legs off the ground, then practice placing them on the pedals, then practice actually pedalling (but not producing power, just to get used to how your CoG moves while pedaling), then practice actually putting power down. Did that with a dyspraxic cousin, she was fine.
My first bike had training wheels, as you might guess. I unsure of why the training wheels themselves were not even, so that they never both touched the ground simultaneously. I didn’t think much of it, but one day, eventually, I noticed that you can balance the bike just so while riding so that neither of the training wheels touched the ground. At this point I was simply riding the bike the way it was intended and never really had to do the whole father-son cliche moment of learning to ride the two wheeler because my training wheels, along with my mushy childhood brain which endlessly explored things, trained me to do so. I felt really proud if that moment because I was able to see that this big event of learning to ride a two wheeler was no big deal at all, and I felt like I had discovered something about the intended use of the training wheels that literally no one I have ever met even talks about.
This is the proper way to use training wheels. My parents actually read the instructions and did this intentionally maybe yours did to and just never told you.
That's how you are supposed to use them. Once the kid isn't relying on them you take them off and then do a little work on getting on and getting going + the psychological aspect
Kick scooters will also teach the proper motor patterns for bicycle balancing: once you kick off, it's all balance and carving turns. Also you learn to be very worried about tiny cracks in the pavement. That was my actual progression since I rode kick scooters for a while when I was younger, then picked up bicycle as an adult in about 48 hours(two half-hour sessions).
I used to use this tiny kick scooter so much, even when it didn’t fit me feel. I would end up doing all of the same lean-turns on the scooter that I would on a bike.
I vividly remember the day I realized for the first time that my training wheels were hindering me more than helping me. I asked my dad to remove them, a few flops later I was riding with the best of 'em. A few scrapes and bruises are just part of the learning process.
I remember I kept telling my dad to take them off. He was busy but finally after asking probably 20 times that day he grabbed them and bent them up😂 started riding just fine without
I asked for mine to be taken off and after a week of no luck I took matters into my own hands and bent them until the wheels pointed at the sky. Training wheels are the worst.
I taught my wife how to ride a bike last year. Children are amazing in how fast they can pick up skills, adults however, take arguably longer. She was terrified of falling and had next to no balance reflex. No pedals and walking the bike got her up and running in 30 or so minutes. Threw the pedals on and about an hour later she could ride without me as a safety. 10/10 method for teaching/learning how to ride a bike.
I used to have a girlfriend who hadn't ridden a bike at least since her childhood, if ever, and taught her how to do so on my old ebay Dirt Jump bike which came with shifting gears and as such was the only suitable bike I had to teach her on since my real Dirt Jumper was single speed only and all the other bikes I could've borrowed from family and friends were way too tall for her. Started by running along next to her to try and prevent her from hurting herself in case of a crash but a few minutes later she was riding around that parking lot all by herself without crashing even once. Felt good to see her enjoying the ride and how happy she was about having (re-?) learned to ride a bike.
Weird, I tried to learn how to ride a bike when i was little and never really get anywhere. But when i try again when i was older(18) i got it way quicker precisely because i have less fear of pain. I guess we all got a different learning curve
@@higherquality Why is that? I'm sure that even in the Netherlands there are adults who haven't ridden any bikes for a long time or never learned how to do so in the first place, albeit probably few and far between.
I actually had a sort of unique experience with training wheels. My father was sort of distracted by certain things in that time, so he never got around to actually trying to teach me or even raising the wheels up. Thing was though, the wheels started to bend and raise up on their own. I still remember noticing the wheels sort of “bouncing” when I leaned to the side and such and deciding to treat it like a sort of game where I tried to ride without the wheels hitting the ground. It taught me to keep balance, and each time the wheels hit the pavement they bent more. You’re probably right about it not teaching me to turn, but I lived on a cul de sac, so I was always turning and that was how I trained to steer. I remember getting pretty good at going around without even noticing the wheels and eventually my father noticed what I was doing. So he took em off, gave me a push, and I didn’t even come close to falling as I had been doing the same thing for some time. Balance bikes definitely seem better though, I believe my niece and nephews have one. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven’t ridden my bike that much, but last time I did I think sort of sucked at it. Main reason was I was just unhealthy, but I wonder if I have to get used to turning again 🤔
Same, except I think my dad angled the wheels up a bit, or maybe they were just built that way. If you practice maneuvering the bike within that narrow near-vertical envelope, then logically you should be able to keep it up without the training wheels.
For me, one of my training wheels broke off completely, and we just never got it fixed. I would do the same as you, making a game out of it, to teach myself how to balance properly.
I had an extremely similar experience! But I was only allowed to ride my bike in the driveway & my parents paid far less attention. By the time my mother noticed I was able to ride a bike, my brother actually let me use his old bike, which didnt have training wheels on them, while my brother used my mom's old bike. She had walked up to the window just to check on us, only to stop and yell out to me "WHEN DID YOU LEARN HOW TO RIDE A BIKE?! It had been weeks at that point and only my brother was even aware of it. Also, as someone who stopped riding their bike for many years & just got back into it, DO IT! It's so worth it. I splurged on an ebike to make my commute to work substancially easier & cheaper. I've had some soreness as my body adjusts to it & have had to take multiple breaks due to pain or poor weather, but its SO worth it. I forgot how freeing it was to race down the road with the wind in your hair.
This is the proper way to use them your suppose to raise the wheels so they just keep you from falling over but should never touch the ground at the same time. My parents actually read the instructions and as a result I only had training wheels for a few days.
Spot on. My son learned on his own on a bike I was repairing for him. The pedals were junk, so before I had a chance to get a new pair, he started riding up and down the driveway, just kicking around. In two days, I installed the new pedals and off he went. Easy peasy, the best way to learn to ride a two wheeler. Great video!
i taught my 3 year old how to ride in about 30 minutes. he had had balance bikes his whole life (he has an older brother with whom we had used training wheels, BIG mistake).
My daughter had a tricycle when she was very young ( pedals and steering) Then she learned to ride a scooter (for balance on two wheels). When she was given her first bicycle she just got on it and rode. She already has all the skills. No extra learning required.
My kid couldn’t grasp riding a bike with training wheels so it just sat in the back yard. After seeing the video, we pulled the training wheels and pedals and dropped the seat. One week of using this as a balance bike, we put the pedals on and he was riding in 5 minutes. Game changer!
My first time riding a bike started like this. I hopped on the bike with my step-dad holding the bike steady, and started getting rolled forward. He kept pushing me and I was pedaling. I never noticed he got left behind, I thought he was still supporting my bike. Id actually managed to keep my balance first try without realizing. I then stood on a curb, hopped on and rode off again. I love how quickly I picked it up. Thank you step dad for one of the few fond memories I have of you. We don't talk anymore
@@ManLikeEddy haha, no, not the reason. My parents don't really care. They judge, but at the end of the day they could care less. Nah its my mom's side of the family (stepdad) and the way they treated me that led to us not talking anymore
@@sunnyskies3969 eh it's just parents nonsense when you grow up to be older you learn to understand that you shouldn't involve yourself and just live your best life and I understand you might say your best life is with them but did they ever think their best life was with you?
Being Dutch, but growing up in South Africa, my Dutch uncle was appalled to find me riding around with training wheels. Immediately kicked them off and gave me a push down the lawn and I was good to go (after a few face plants)
I couldn’t agree more. My kids were going down hills with their feet up on a balance bike at 18 months, and taking jumps at 2 years. At 2.5 years I bought my oldest his first pedal bike, threw training wheels on it for a day so he could figure out how to pedal and use brakes and the next day he was good to go. My youngest is now 2.5 years old and will be making the switch to pedals in a few weeks.
I'm 59 and like you i learned on training wheels. And likewise taught my sons in training wheels. Mainly because there wasn't a better way at the time. A couple years ago my son picked up a Strider balance bike for his son. It made a huge difference in how fast he learned to balance and steer it. Keep bringing these great videos. They both informative and entertaining.
There still isn't a better way, him showing improperly set up training wheels doesn't really do much to bolster his point. If the bike stands vertically with all 4 wheels touching the ground, those aren't training wheels. I don't know what they are, but they're not training wheels. The whole point of the training wheels is psychological, to manage the fear of falling over. If they're set properly, the training wheels only contact the ground if you've leaned too far. Simply make a game of it about how long you can keep the training wheels off the ground and kids will pick that up faster than folks realize. As far as the balance bikes go, those are pretty much completely useless. You can take training wheels off a bike without much trouble and still have a bike that handles just about the same as it did. But, it's a bit more involved with a balance bike, either because you need to completely replace it, or because you need to install the pedals, chain and related bits of drive kit. What's more, with the training wheels, you can typically adjust them up or down, so you can start with only a little bit of lean being permitted and advance to the point where you have to lean nearly to the point of falling over before they touch.
I don't think 18 months have any fear, by the time they learn fear... they already mastered balancing a bike and thus would know that riding a bike is well with in their skills.
I actually never learned to ride a bike past training wheels. The step from feeling safe with the wheels to having nothing always felt too great. Been wanting to get back into it and learn, but not in a financial position to do so currently and feel nervous as an adult to be learning
I also never fully learned how to ride a bike without the training wheels. I don't know what it was but I would keep losing my balance and after scrapping my leg to the point of some blood coming out, even with the encouragement of my dad of how far I went, I never got back on.
Man, if i had the ability to teleport i would definetly teleport to you guys and just run behind you to catch you when you are about to fall. Its such a good thing to be able to ride a bike, its very fast and efficient. My dad taught me by first attaching a broom handle to the back of my bike and helping me balance when i was having troubles, and when i was getting a hold of it he just ran behind me and caught me if i was about to crash.
I was 4 when I learned to ride. Before I even rode the bike my dad removed the training wheels saying "you don't need those." So yeah, I learned how to ride with my dad running behind exactly as you described. Balance bikes for the kids is a great idea
I have done this method with all three of my kids (started the hard way with the 1st one) and they were pedaling on their own with about 3 hrs of practice. An hour and a half of balancing, coasting down a slight decline and walking the bike back up. The next day they do it again a few times to get confidence, then I put the pedals on. Do the same thing with pedals and BAM! They suddenly get it and I celebrate (my awesome parenting skills😂)and hug them and tell them how proud I am. So glad you talked about this because it's an essential dad skill that nobody knows how to do.
4:32 THIS!! This is *EXACTLY* what happened to my daughter when she was learning to ride her bike. The reliance on the training wheel to keep her upright was a real hard habit to break, because she had learned to turn at speed without having to do the lean. We didn't make that mistake again with my son, and he took to it much quicker using a little strider type bike.
Eh, training wheels worked for me. I recall finding it annoying when the training wheels touched the ground because they don't roll as smoothly as the main wheels, so I naturally learned to maneuver the bike without letting the training wheels touch the ground. They were angled so the bike could lean a few degrees each side. Sure, this does not permit more aggressive turns possible with no training wheels, but, I had confidence that if I could keep the bike within that tight upright envelope, then I could handle it when the barriers to that envelope were removed.
I learned to ride a bike just last year at 19 lol... parent running behind the bike was definitely a much better training tool than more wheels. I used an oversized hand-me-down where my feet couldn't touch the ground and it sucked. biking feels and is a lot more dangerous when you don't fit your bike properly. I finally got my own bike this year and it feels so comfortable being in full control.
My dad has always pointed out the flaws of training wheels to people and told them you should instead get your kid a balance bike. I was using training wheels for 2 years until I was 5 years old, and they didn't teach me to ride a bike at all. After my dad got me a balance bike, I was able to ride a bicycle 1 week later. Glad to see a popular youtube video addressing this.
I hope every parent, include my daughter who is expecting my first granddaughter in August, watches this video. I would love to see my granddaughter get into mountain biking with me. Thanks Seth.
20 years ago I taught both my boys on what we called the black magic bike. A very small bike that never had training wheels on it. Both learned to ride at a very young age 3-4. I swore up and down to all my friends and brother that training wheels slowed down the learning process. I did not need validation, but I’ll take it! Thanks for the entertaining video once again.
I agree with all statements you made. I never learned how to ride a bike as a kid. Now that I'm an adult, I run into 2 issues - there are no balance bikes for adults, and the "right" size of bike for me has the seat too tall for me (at the lowest setting) to walk the bike with the pedals off (which makes it harder for me to even stand over it with pedals on too). Might have to learn on my daughter's bike, now that she just sized up.
This is how I wanted to teach my daughter, but it freaked my wife out not having pedals, so she failed a lot with the training wheels until she let me do old school of running behind holding her seat as she wanted to ride with her friends.
I was born in 2002, two-wheeled balance bikes weren't really a thing at least in Europe, so I obviously started riding with training wheels. Unfortunately my parents didn't take any photos or videos from those days, but the moment, when the elevated wheels both detached from the ground and I was balancing the bike by myself is one of my most memorable experiences from my childhood. That might have been perhaps my third ride on the street. After that my dad took the training wheels off and never had to mount them back.
I was also started riding with traning wheels here in Europe and as you asoon i could balance with out having them touch the ground they disapare, which is why im so confused when i see them installed so they always contact the ground becuse that wasnt the purpose for them
Honestly teaching someone how to ride is very fulfilling, when I was 8 I taught my 5 year old neighbor how to ride and I still feel proud of that 15 years later.
My childhood best friend and I incentivised each other to get rid of our training wheels as quickly as possible. Both our bikes' training wheels were elevated, so we both experienced fabulous bursts of speed and smoothness whenever one of us managed to balance on two wheels whenever we raced each other. We had been itching to remove our training wheels for almost a year by the time our parents decided to have our training wheels removed!
Also, it's just a lot of fun to just pump around flat ground without pedaling- same as on a skateboard seeing how long you can cruise without putting a foot down. Good to learn all the dynamics involved.
My grandad taught me. After riding round the park on flat ground with training wheels, he took them off and put me at the top of a hill. Pushed me off and I did indeed balance. I was upright all the way down the hill as I gained massive speed and went straight into the metal slide. It hurt quite a lot 🤣 I have no idea why I neither steered away or used the brakes, but it did certainly teach me I didn't need the training wheels any more.. 😅
I was similar, I spent way too much time with training wheels, my parents got tired of it and took me up a hill (well actually a volcano...) and *push*. I finished figuring it out by the time I got to the bottom. I did similar with my dyspraxic cousin, she had a fair bit of practice with being pushed and balancing in the garden but that pushing force isn't natural. So we took her to a (shallower hill) and let her go down it a few times, first few times was just to keep her feet off the ground, then she practiced placing her feet on the pedals while balancing (but not actually pedaling), then we added pedalling to the mix but only to get used to turning the pedals while balancing, not to produce power. After a few times she had the confidence to actually put some power down into the pedals and off she went. The problem was stopping her once she got it all together...
As someone who within the past 3 years had to go through teaching a kid with training wheels I definitely see they are the wrong way to go about it. Had the hardest time with the transfer from the training wheels because: 1) she got used to them catching her, and 2) also got freaked out by how the back wheel came off when it naturally tried to lean. So then with the wheels off she was afraid to let it lean like it needed to. We eventually got there, but it just took longer than it should have.
Upon picking up cycling again on my adult years, I was in my LBS one day for a service, when this woman walked in with her kid and a kid's bike, asking the guys to install training wheels on it. I vividly remember being astounded to hear him reply firmly: "I am sorry, ma'am, but I wont get in the way of your kid's development on a bicycle". So much has changed since we first got into bikes (I'm 33 now) and it always makes me smile, seeing younger kids fly about on balance bikes. I figure that, if I had had one of those, I too would have kept on biking throughout my teenage years.
When I was a kid, my parents bought me a bmx kind of bike that had plastic training wheels on it. I was constantly riding it along our rugged cement street, causing the training wheel to break. My parents bought THREE more pairs of aluminum training wheels and they also got destroyed due to how I ride my bicycle, (actually just like how yours was destroyed in 8:47). That was in my early elementary days and I never learned how to ride a bicycle, up until my dad bought a hardtail bike when I was in Grade 11 just to roam around and work out. He was working abroad so the bike was left in the house with no one to actually use it. I just watched a random video of "how to learn to ride a bike within 15 minutes" that taught the balancing technique. I went out with the bike and all by myself, I learned it in 5 minutes and weeks passed, I went on to ride with my friends around the city and then went on for semi-long rides after that. I'm now in my 4th year in college, still riding my bicycle and going on rides occasionally for fun. With that, I can really vouch that training wheels suck.
I could never get the hang of training wheels, especially with "adult supervision". One day, a kid down the street had a small bike w/o training wheels he was riding. I think he got called in for lunch and I asked him if I could try the bike while he was inside. A few minutes later and I was riding around the block. It was the lack of "advice" on what to do and not do that was the biggest help. Instead, just get on the bike and figure out how it works.
My dad spent months trying to teach me to ride in the mid 80s, unfortunately he couldn't ride a bike himself so he didn't really understand the mechanics of balancing on a bike so he failed in his endeavours. I eventually taught myself but only after I'd grown enough so my feet touched the ground.
Ever watch a video that perfectly expresses a thought you’ve had for years but never said anything about. 🤯 Wouldn’t expect anything less from Seth. My eldest daughter didn’t learn to ride a bike until the training wheels came off, now she’s never off her bike. My youngest however still clings to the idea she needs her training wheels. Can’t wait to show her this video. Hopefully we will be adding another member to our riding squad soon. 🤞Thank you Berm Peak Express. 👍🇦🇺
Thank you for the video. It popped up on my ten year olds RU-vid, the next day we removed his pedals and training wheels. Three hours later the pedals were back on the bike without the training wheels. He ride for hours, He loves it. Balance was his biggest concern.
My first bike had training wheels, and I remember pretty quickly my mom took one side off so there was just one. I still remember how much harder it was to turn in the direction the training wheel was on, and was very happy when I got them both off and didn't have anything getting in the way of my turns.
100% true on all here. Another useful thing I did to help my kids learn pedalling when transitioning from the balance bike is build a simple stand for the pedal bike out of wood to keep the back wheel in the air. That way the kid can learn pedalling on a stationery bike. And adding that to knowledge of how to balance, had the youngest riding off-road and pump track at age of 3 with a huge grin on his face.
I have preached this to all my neighbors with kids for a long time now. When my brother and I learned to ride at age 4-5, we where just given pedal bikes right from the get go, no stinking training wheels. Of course it was pre 1970 and it was survive or die.😂
I started on training wheels, my dad decided to keep those for as long as I need to get the basics of my controls. Then he took me to the local school's stadium place without training wheels, he was supporting the bike for me to get used to moving, and then he would let go, and he challenged me with going as far as I can without losing control... Most often I just couldn't feel when he was letting the bike go so when I started to getting how to balance, I was really surprised to start seeing him meters behind - it felt like he was holding me the whole time right until I started losing control. Later I got better and better, my final "exam" was cycling back home which I successfully completed. I was not young to be fair, I was like 6 or 7... But damn that was worth it, I love cycling nowadays.
It’s amazing how I literally can never ride a bike because I’m autistic and people don’t make bikes with training wheels for people as large as me. Great video about a man talking about something not made for him.
For some reason I still remember vividly the day I learned how to ride a bike on two wheels back when I was 3 years old too. I had a bike with helper wheels, and my father told me to try and ride it in such a way, so the helper wheels made as little noise as possible. Over the course of a day, my dad gradually bent them higher and higher until the moment they were so high it was practically impossible for them to touch the ground without me falling over.
Seth, thanks for the explanation. It makes so much more sense now. I was very critical of the balance bikes, mainly because I would see kids still using them a lot instead of bikes with pedals. I think that is a point that does needs to be made. Once, the kid knows how to balance, there is not need to keep them on that style bike longer than needed.
Interestingly enough, A LOT of kids keep riding their balance bikes after they learn to ride a pedal bike. To them it's just another toy that provides another type of fun. To me they're good for small spaces like a driveway
Hi Seth! Maybe you read this. I'm 45 and live in Austria. As I grew up my parents did not teach me how to ride a bike but my brother and I got one of this old folding bikes that were popular in the 1980s. We were to short to start riding siting on the seat so we started by climbing up to the seat from the luggage rack in the back. That was possible the worst way of learning how to ride a bike 😂. My kids are spoiled as I happen to get them a Woom 1 out of Christians garage when Woom bikes first started here in Vienna. Since then they went through quite a view bikes and are now both riding their Mountainbikes better than a lot of adults. They are 10 and 7 now. I can just confirm that balance bikes are the best way to go and also it is important to let them decide how fast they want to learn and not pressure them too much. Cheers from across the big pond René
I taught myself to bike, maybe in middle school. Now that I've seen that 5:54 I realized that that's how I learned - quickly and didn't even fell. Since I taught myself and was alone, I used both feet like that without putting them on the pedals and just slowly glided and tried to balance. It was like instinct, but this knowledge will help me to teach, maybe, my future child/children or other people who want to ride a bicycle. This is like an 'Aha!" moment. Thank you.
I never learned to ride a bike! I just got on one and rode it! I was 4 years old. One of our neighbours had a very nice Raleigh BMX. She was 6 and the culture in our area was for parents to forbid bike sharing. Mainly because those who had bikes were few and sharing meant more frequent trips to the bike repair guy. One day 'Louise' left her bike lying unattended and my eagerness got the better of me. I had watched her ride around for months and felt like I knew what to do. So...I pulled the bike to a curb, pushed off and just started riding. Nobody had ever seen me ride, so the excitement of it far outweighed the fact that I had ridden the bike without permission.
One of my earliest memories was when I was around 3/4 and I first encountered a bike with training wheels. Given that I already knew how to ride (as Seth described, plus scraped knees) I had your typical 4 year old reaction of getting immensely frustrated with it and crying because I couldn't turn how I wanted😂
A small counterpoint for balance bikes: two of my kids were just never that interested in their balance bikes. They rode them occasionally, but they never really used them *fast* enough to learn to balance. When their friends started riding pedal bikes they were suddenly interested, but trying to teach them immediately on pedal bikes proved difficult, as they were trying to learn balance and pedaling at the same time. For the older one we sorta forced our way through, and he ended up not liking biking...probably from all the difficulties and frustrations we both felt. For the younger one we actually bought training wheels and had him tool around with the training wheels until he got the pedaling down, and then teaching him without the training wheels was easier. My third son, the youngest, loved his balance bike and rode it constantly. For him, when it came time to graduate to a full pedal bike, the transition was easy. His was the first time I believed people when they said starting with a balance bike was better. For my older two I actually think it was counterproductive.
Perhaps the key for less interested kids is to find a gentle sloped hill for them to go down with the balance bike. They can pick up enough speed to make it interesting, but not so much to make it difficult to control.
@@MSUTri Yeah, knowing what I know now I'd start them back on the balance bike in earnest. Or, I love Seth's idea of just taking their pedals off and getting used to the actual bike they'll end up pedaling.
In Dutch we don't call these training wheels but side wheels and they're meant to give the smallest kids the ability to ride a bike. I never thought of these wheels as training wheels and they specifically don't teach kids to learn to ride a bike. They're only there to keep them from tipping over. So traning wheels sounds quite strange to me. I don't have kids and I have no idea how it goes these days. Holland is also a radically different place when it comes to cycling so it's difficult to compare anyway. Side wheels don't teach kids to cycle just as walkers don't teach kids to walk.
For me i learned how to ride a bike at 18 years old. The more body control, pain tolerance, and the will to do it really makes riding a bike easier ( on the road after 4 days of learning)
I ended up doing the opposite. My son used training wheels for about 5 months. He as able to learn how a bike feels under him like turning and all the basics all on his own. After that,I took them off and he just took off riding by himself. He basically taught himself to ride. Now, a month later, he's on a mountain bike.
They can take all the time they want. They are actually having fun, not competing. I probably just use regular bikes and use the usual training: learn to balance and progress as they want and how they confident feel instead of buying an expensive "balance bike" crap. So much overexplaining this subject on this video , still
@Jehty21 I let him learn on his own and on his own time. He loves riding his bike and is now interested on taking on new terrain on it. It was never a problem.
I thought my cousin how to ride a bike with him being 15 years old. Their parents never got him one and so I gave him mine and he learned how to ride a bike in literally 1½ hours, from not being able to advance 2 meteres to get to a quite considerable speed. He now just needs more practice but I'm really proud of him, he now has one more form of transportation and bit more freedom.
My brother is an able-bodied twenty-one year old who never learned how to ride a two-wheeler. He had a bad crash as a kid, and it kind of left a mark on him. I'm hoping I can get him on a bike and be the parent riding top-speed behind him. This video certainly helped, thanks.
That was precisely the way I'd taught my kids to ride. When I'd got my son a bike with pedals after the balance bike and told him we're going to the stadium to drive it, he just hopped up, told me he'll see me there and rode there. Pro-tip: snorkeling mask and tube does same magic for swimming. Your kid is not afraid of water in the nose and eyes, but swims in correct position.
Thank you Seth, I have two kids who I started on balance bikes...and they were doing great. For my eldest I then made the stupid choice to get her on a 16" with training wheels to practice the Pedals... Massive mistake as all of a sudden she forgot how to balance the training wheels kept catching and obviously undoing everything she learnt about the balance. I did the same, removed the training wheels and Pedals, really had to build her confidence back up (it took months). finally today she has mastered it! My youngest, has not had training wheels at all. We are taking the same approach this time on a 12" pedal bike, started with pedals off and no training wheels. Already he is now on the verge of being able to pedal and balance at 3 years old. Thank you for videos like this, really amazing information and hopefully it will help other dads get kids outside and having fun! Keep doing what you do! Merry Christmas!
I got the chills when I saw where this was going. I remember briefly using training wheels when I was 3 and then one day while they were off, I was having fun just kicking myself across the patio like a hobby horse. It was after a few times going back and forth when I heard my mom clapping and my dad running outside to join along. I was confused at first but moments later they told me I was actually riding. As an adult, I ride the greenway daily; and I see why the hobby horse is becoming so popular for very small children. I learned that way by complete accident haha!
I was about 5 yrs old & had training wheels on my 1st bike, I could never get used to riding without them, even with my dad running beside/behind me, I got demoralised and the bike got put aside for a while as my dad wouldn't put the trainer wheels back on. One day, on my own I decided that I wanted to play with it. The back yard had a slope on a portion of it and so I took the bike there and started rolling down the slope with my feet out the side for support. It didn't take me long to realise that I didn't require my legs as outriggers any more, so my feet went onto the pedals and next thing I knew, I was pedalling back up the slope!!! I had taught myself how to ride!!! This process took me maybe an hour, 2 hrs at most, I was SO proud of myself
My dude! Thanks so much for making this video. After showing this video to my wife and kids, I took the pedals off my kids' bikes and they basically taught themselves to balance-ride and then pedal-ride in like 2 days each. I've been trying to get my kids to try learning literally for years and they've been super resistant. Also, for years, I've been trying to explain to my wife and in-laws that the kids should learn without training wheels ... and I don't think they were onboard with that. But now they are. LOL
Just gotta say perfect time to post this video as its getting to perfect biking weather and theres a ton of kids that want to learn including my little sister who i might just try and teach later with the info from here.
I learned at around 21 on some public bike rentals so I could move around with friends and they essentially played the dad roll on a incline street we were on. Thankfully the people nearby on the bar patio were nice about it and turned it into a positive experience.
After a really bad bike accident in 6th grade I had a couple years where I didn’t ride bikes out of fear. So in high school I had to completely reteach myself how to ride a bike. And the balance bike method is kind of exactly what I did. I would try to peddle but keeping my feet ready to catch myself if I tilt. I also kept my seat low to touch the ground. It took a while but the more I practiced the less and less I needed to catch myself :)
When I was 4yrs old my mother bought me a small bike with no peddles. And then I went to a bike with training with training wheels to learn to peddle. It took me a couple weeks to learn all the basics. Definitely recommend this method to anyone who wants to teach their child.
My son was very comfortable with a balance bike at the age of 3. At 3.5 I bought him a 16" bike and made the mistake of slapping on some training wheels bcs he couldn't pedal from the get go. But he got used to training wheels and he didn't want to get rid of them and was afraid. Now he just turned 4. Today I watched this video at work. Went home early picked him up from kindergarten early. Removed the damn training wheels and told him we will not put them back and he can ride if he tries. And he did!!! And he couldn't get enough. So thank you for the inspiration mate... ❤
Back in the early 1970s, having just turned 4, my parents bought me my first bike, and like most kid's bikes, it had stabilisers (what we Brits called training wheels). I'd already ridden a tricycle, a 3 wheel scooter and a pedal car, so I really wanted just 2 wheels. After a few days I told them I wanted the stabilisers removed, so they duly obliged, knowing there would be blood, tears and a swift change of mind on my part. After several spills, grazed knees and elbows, a few days later I was riding round without a care. I'm thankful my parents didn't refuse, they helped me balance the first few tries, and just let me get on with it. 50 years later, I still manage to fall off occasionally. 😁
When you say it's not the gyroscopic effect of the wheels, consider this. Take a complete bike wheel, attach a string to one side of the axil, spin the wheel in an upright orientation as fast as it would be spinning on the bike, let the wheel spin suspended from the rope from one side. see how well or not well it holds its stability. I think you think the wheel needs to spin faster than it does to exhibit the gyroscopic effect. That said, yes, it's also the steering geometry. Everything you said about that is correct.
We got a bike for Xmas in 1969. Five kids aged from 4 to 12 years had to share that one, a 14-inch thing with training wheels. We were allowed a week with the training wheels before they were removed. Occasionally they were refitted to have fun and get wet and dirty. We found we could straddle the sides of a puddle with the training wheels and have the back wheel in the water/mud of the puddle but not touching the bottom of the puddle. Pedalled fairly ferociously, you could shift a lot of water/mud from a puddle quite quickly.
I completely agree with you. Strangely I ended up with the training wheels anyway. We had our toddlers on balance bikes, and they loved it. Once we got pedal bikes, they didn't quite get it. After a month or so of them not getting it, I gave in and installed the training wheels. They then road the pedal bikes for a few months. Eventually I took of the training wheels and, just like your were saying about how you transitioned, I ran behind them for a bit. I have three kids basically the same age, and they were all riding pedal bikes without the training wheels one day 5 minutes apart. -- I highly recommend balance bikes, and no training wheels, it just didn't happen that way for us.
This is how my son learned to ride a bike. First he had a balance bike and 3 months before his third birthday we got him a real bike. It took some time for him to build the confidence to ride it without me holding the bike at the saddle but once he did it all on his own he was unstoppable. It's so great to see how natural this comes to kids. :)
I never really had any experience riding bikes, just some waddling around with trainers. we once went to an empty and remote nature reserve on an old airfield with paved roads, and my parents did the same thing, just without running behind. I learned pretty fast how to not crash because pavement and WWII airstrip don't feel too great on your knees.
I learned on training wheels before these were known, or maybe they didn't exist. But my little cousins learned on these, and they learned so much faster. I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was 6, they learned when they were like 2! Balance bikes are great.
i've been teaching kids how to ride bikes for maybe two years. first i teach them how to pedal and they how to stear the steering wheel when ridnig (i just basicly tel them to stear where the bikes leans) most kids learn in the 1st or second hour and they never rode a bike before. i'm very happy to see other peaple learning the physics of riding a bike.
That’s exactly how I taught my daughter. She had a balance bike for a year and when I bought her first real bike it was a matter of 10 minutes before she understood how to pedal. Next was learn how to brake. Pretty stressful.😅 Once they pedal you have to be on a bike too to be able to catch them.
Our 3 year old ridesa balance bike and a tricycle since 1,5 years and we bought him a Woom 2 last sunday. He learned how to safely ride on the paveway in 2 hours and now drives by himself to the Kindergarden - next to us on the street. I explained him that cycling is the combination of pedaling a tricycle and balance from his Laufrad - as we call it here in germany. Youngest kid I know that ride a regular bike was 16 months - but he already was tall and have enough force to push.
This video came out at just the right time, so thanks! I’d been struggling to get my twins riding, though I’d seen them demonstrate all the needed skills separately - they could pedal, they could balance and corner on scooters, etc., and I’d filmed them lifting the rear wheel up on training wheels so had identified the problem. But this video, along with the footage I’d taken of them, helped to demonstrate the plan to them. They love RU-vid Kids, so an external source of validation was supremely helpful. The next day we went out without training wheels or pedals, and within 30 minutes of each other they were riding independently. That was about a month ago; last weekend they came with me on a ride and did 10km on 16” wheels!
My kid is one more of those that learnt to balance without pedals at 2 years old. He started riding a bike with pedals within an hour of getting it at 3 1/2 years old. I second the message in this video.
My mom used to walk to pick me up from school and often she would bring my bike for me to ride home. My training wheels didnt come off until the other kids were roasting me for still having training wheels in kindergarten. That is a core memory for me. Started my love for biking.
I like how every day is a nice day to get my mind blown by learning something new or that something as basic, as primary, as that time ages ago when i learned how to ride, still has room for improvement for the next generations
