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Start 'em young

by Kash

Starting Out
Their First Real Bike
Teaching Balance
Road Safety

Your children look up to you and have fun doing things with you. The best way to teach a child to ride is to do it yourself and bring them along, in a child seat, in a trailer, or on the front of a push scooter.

The habits of leaning into turns and good road sense, especially if you make an effort to point out signage and how you negotiate traffic, will be learned early and well.

Before teaching your child to ride - even if you think you know what you're doing - take a road skills class. (The things we're most adamant about are also often the things we're most wrong about - and poor instruction could get your child hurt.)

Starting Out

Tandem type trailers or "tag-alongs" are great, but they're single-use devices. If you want to pull your kid to the park and then let them ride on their own, you're stuck.

Several manufacturers make drawbars that connect a complete bike to your seat post; Trail Gator is one brand. This way the two of you can go out for a ride and when they get tired and cranky you can hitch them up and pull them home quickly. I've even seen a baby trailer attached behind the child's bike, but it was really hard to pull. Or you could just teach them to hold onto a long string and pull them along.

Training wheels prevent children from learning to balance on two wheels by preventing them from leaning through turns. They also tip over when one training wheel hits an obstacle. They are generally counterproductive. Don't use them.

Skip tricycles, and get a toy bike that has pedals attached to the front wheel. Remove the training wheels and hacksaw off the cranks and pedals, then lower the seat so that the child can sit comfortably with both feet flat and knees bent. The foam tires have enough rolling resistance that the child will not be able to coast very fast as long as you stay away from steep hills. When out walking, shove a stick into the space behind the seat and you can roll them along almost as easily as in a stroller.

A push scooter is another good alternative. It's less intimidating and you can ride on the back and steer until they get the hang of it. Just remember that skate wheel scooters have poor brakes and on hills can easily go too fast to stop. The company that makes those nasty gas powered scooters also makes a push version stable enough to ride down SF's steepest streets comfortably. It's called the Know-Ped.

Their First Real Bike

Once you're ready to take the plunge and buy that first "real" bike, too small is better. Kids bikes are cheap at the thrift store that you can buy one small enough for your child to sit on the seat and easily put both feet on the ground, then trade it in once they get their balance.

A bike that is too big is intimidating and you don't end up saving anything if they're scared to ride it until they've grown a few inches. On a small bike your child can paddle along, learning more about steering and keeping a bike upright. When they start lifting both feet to glide, put the pedals back on.

When choosing a bike, the one that your child will spend many hours on, a BMX bike is tempting, but be aware the sport has diverged into two completely different branches and most shops stock only freestyle bikes, weighing over 40 pounds and meant for acrobatics on ramps.

Harder to find are the ones designed for dirt track racing. The "mini" and "micro mini" sizes are appropriate for small bodies. These weigh so much less that a six year old can carry one up a flight of stairs unassisted. Adding a front brake, rack and fenders (Planet Bike, Dahon and other folding bike manufacturers sell these) will make it road worthy. Ask your local bike shop for help finding a dirt track BMX bike.

Teaching Balance

Practice in a wide, flat area, not a long, thin strip. Bikes don't actually ever go in a straight line and while learning to balance, a child shouldn't also have to worry about running off the path. Let them loop and swerve until they get their balance, then start to work on going in a specific direction.

If you've started them off with two wheeled toys they've already internalized this, but if starting from scratch, make sure they understand that a bike does not have a steering wheel. It stays upright by maneuvering the bike under the rider after they start to lean.

A child who tries to initiate a turn by twisting the handlebars ends up steering the bike out from under themselves. Instead, a successful turn starts by leaning, then resisting the handlebars' tendency to oversteer.

Road Safety

In recent years helmets have been oversold as safety devices to the point that many parents believe that wearing one is sufficient protection for any bike crash. This is not so. Most deaths come from being hit by a car, the situation in which a helmet is least likely to be effective.

A helmet protects one body part in a fall. Good technique prevents both falls and impacts from cars. Teaching technique can start years before the child rides. While walking or riding, talk about what you are doing and why; explain how to watch for traffic, where a driver's blind spots are, and how parked vehicles obstruct a driver's view, especially of a short rider.

Falling is a learned skill and preparation can start well before children can ride. Practicing at low speeds without a helmet ingrains an instinctive tuck and roll. Gymnastics classes that emphasize tumbling help them feel comfortable hitting the ground in a way that protects not only the head, but wrists, elbows and knees. Praise your children when they land well or step off the bike instead of falling tangled up in it.