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I think the real challenge with training wheels is that most kids learn to ride and turn like it's a 4 wheeler; turn left, go left. When they switch to two wheels they have to learn turn left, lean right, go right, which is completely backwards in regards to inputs.

I’ve taught many kids this way. Training wheels take months. This takes minutes. Not exaggerating. Go to a grassy park with a slight slope. Magic.

311

Mine 4 Heat

@bitcoingardener

I never put training wheels on my kids bikes. I took the pedals off when they graduated from a balance bike to a bigger bike, and then put them back on once they learned the bigger bikes. My daughter was on a 29er at 8 years old.

Raise the training wheels to require balance while having less tip over risk.

1.2K

Dan Benyamin (Æ)

@dbenyamin

Standard bike on grass and a few falls. Instant learning for my kids.

lsr

@lsrspeakstocomp

23h

true. I learned bike when i first learned to balance it using my weight. I used to practice how much longer i can balance it without touching ground.

1.3K

Ducon.space

@duconspace

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if only people understood this method more (breaking things down ?????)

Did this with all our kids. Started with balance bike when they were ~2. Gave them a pedal bike at 3 and they just figured it out. Makes me think about other things that we do backwards… Interface design to the world is one of the most important/under considered factors

yeah

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Mikael Brockman

@meekaale

Mar 16, 2024

Replying to @meekaale @natural_hazard and @chercher_ai

couple of days after getting his first bike, literally casually riding off into the sunset with the girl next door

Stryder balance bikes are the best. Just bought my 4 year old a Guardian and he’s already learning to pedal since he has the balance down

Ryan Moulton

@moultano

I tried this with balance bikes with my kids, and they didn't enjoy being on them well enough to learn to balance. They finally learned the training wheels way, because biking with training wheels was fun, and failing to balance on a balance bike wasn't.

5.1K

Ducon.space

@duconspace

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this is 100% true. My kids learned to cycle quickly and easily without pedals. The effect is impressive to witness. I wonder if this is the metaphor for other educational processes which we have gotten completely wrong for decades.

Balance bikes crush this concept, especially at an early age

I honestly thought this was common knowledge. All toddlers I know first had a bike with no pedals and then with pedals. I haven’t seen training wheels in some time now.

This is why parents buy balance bikes now instead of training wheels.

We started our son on a balance bike. No pedals. He gets that thing going fast enough I can't keep up. Now he needs to learn how to pedal.

0xפנתן‎

@p_nathan

My kid had exceeding meltdowns over having to balance.

1.8K

Livin off the interest

@BabylChryst

14h

Yes, this 100% works. All three of my kids learned on a balance bike - no training wheels or pedals. Switching them to a pedal bike then took less than half an hour.

This is old news. Start with a kick bike at toddler stage. My daughter rode a pedaled bike at 4 without falling. I was amazed.

Anyone who’s watched little ones zipping around on scooters and small pedal-free bikes understood this immediately

@Changethursday

18h

My kids got balance bikes first, and love them. They love them so much, they won't try and ride their real bikes

just put them in front of their friends and problem is solved

599

@MowmowOwEn

14h

The training wheels are supposed to be uneven so you still have to balance the bike in between. You're not supposed to have all four wheels touching the ground the entire time. Also, everyone's different and some people can walk and chew gum at the same time, so they can pedal,

My son was a little older than some of the ones mentioned here, probably 7 or 8 but he learned to ride a bike in an hour using this technique.

Martin Salo

@salomartin

Yep, can confirm it worked much better this way with my kids

Leif Baradoy

@leif

100% Also, by removing pedals, a kid learns handbraking early too. Never use coaster brakes.

forest knows learning requires falling leaves failing forward

No, you get stability through the movement actioned by pedaling

The Woodpecker

@PicidaeLignum

It’s right. I taught all my kids using the balance first method and it was radically less traumatic than the way I learned myself.

Prismatic Ray Stantz

@igypham

How to Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike

yeah, kids learn to ride bikes around 2-3 years of age if you do balance bike instead of training wheels

Balance bikes are great for little kids and teach them most of what they need to know to ride.

It works well.

I’ll be thinking, “how do I take the pedals off for the rest of my life”. Thank you!

James Glenos

@jamesglenos

15h

From guardianbikes.com

ditto "training data"

Facts

Vermithrax Pejorative

@geoffs73

If they are on right, training wheels are not even, and encourage learning balance. The off-center leaning is disturbing to the inner ear.

Ariel Diaz

@ArielDiaz

yes, been saying this for 20 years - balance bikes are a way better way to learn

Edward

@EdN618

I think my experience supports this. My young twins spent some time on bikes, no training wheels. Didn’t get it. Switched to playing on their scooters, 2 wheeled, needed balance and as it said, the faster the better. Went back to the bikes after scooting a few weeks and could

Daniel - e/acc

@MonteCarloSims

16h

Most learning is traditionally done exactly wrong. Doing the counterintuitive thing works in many areas.

Is this from LinkedIn?

BoringNobody888

@BoringNobody888

Can confirm, with my kids... this worked much better than the old-school way I learned, measured in both time and injuries sustained learning.

bitbutter

@mormo_music

this is normal in the Netherlands. they're called 'loopfietsen' (walk bikes)

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bitbutter

@mormo_music

May 1, 2021

our 1yo on his balance bike. learning this way is so much better than stabilisers there's no contest.

Coach Crash JM

@Coach_Crash

15h

Pedaling is part of keeping wheels spinning which helps balance. And unless they’re always going to be riding downhill (because live in Escherville) they’re gonna need to balance while pedaling.

Perry Demsko

@nandgatesonly

Also 2-wheeled vehicles steer differently than 4-wheeled. Look up 'counter steering '. With training wheels the child has to relearn steering when they come off.

Indomitabill

@indomitabill

They don’t balance by the gyroscopic effect. They balance by steering into the lean.

npe

@npedev

Training wheels are garbage

Kevin Mistry

@productmistry

Beautiful message - want to learn something quick? Ask yourself, how do I take the pedals off!

Denis Nikitin

@dixonqmg

yep. Our kid got on a proper bike for the first time and just went after spending enough time on a balance bike before. No effort whatsoever

Andrew Dunlap

@andrewdunlap

Another analogy for this that’s also bike related

@julianboolean_

is braking on a mountain bike. Remove your brakes, and you will learn how to ride a mountain bike FAST very quickly. Same applies for much of life. Remove the brakes, and your learning curve changes.

rwdbwd

@samkg

Get a strider. And bicycles do not work via the gyroscopic effect.

kormann

@__kormann__

13h

you should reduce complexity first instead of adding more

Jonathan Mannhart

@JMannhart

richardiporter.bsky.social

Training wheels don't eliminate the balance part. You‘re supposed to mount them in such a way that they prevent you from completely going sideways, not that they're in a horizontal line with the back wheel! They're supposed to be a bit higher. You still balance the bike.

I got my daughter a balance bike when she was 2.5 and she practiced without pedals for a year. I got her pedals (on the same bike) for Christmas this year and she started riding perfectly on literally her first try. It was pretty amazing - I’ll never recommend any other way

Stephan Flagel

@londonfletsch

Cycling is easy. Put a 7 year old on a bike for the first time and they will be off within 3 minutes. It’s only trying too early that makes it difficult.

Seth

@OurDinnerTable

Took pedals off my kids bike based on some youtube video years ago. It took him about 4 sessions with that to learn to the balance. Once he could balance for 20-30’, put pedals back on and off he went. Balance bikes overrated b/c you don’t need them for very long.

Sparr

@sparr0

17h

Gyroscopic effects on bicycle stability are minimal. Bikes specifically custom built to eliminate this factor are almost to equally as easy to ride.

116

Virginia

@Deep9woods

ok, why just for kids…why not a balance bike for adults, especially older adults who may not want to ride a regular bike (too strenuous), shouldn’t do an e-bike (too easy to lose control), but still want to get out and move in a way that doesn’t stress older bones, joints etc

Nitin

@Nitin_GK

50m

Except that riding a bicycle is not only about the balance. The strength to pedal, obstruction awareness and navigation, are very important aspects of bicycling.. And what is the hurry to make kids learn bicycle balancing first?

@richardiporter

Another tip, skip straight to a hand brake bike vs those pedal backwards ones once they’re ready for pedals

Daniel Cooley

@djcooley

As a parent of four children, I’ve seen both styles. Balance bikes FTW.

Elam Bend

@ElamBend

I figured this out with my autistic son. So, I bought a used BMX and took him to a parking lot with a slight grade. I had it ride it downhill without pedaling until he figures out the balance. Then I'd push him while he started pedaling. Fairly quickly he had it down.

Jason

@JasonGiedymin

Arun Jadhav (ಅರುಣ್ ಜಾಧವ್)

Balance bikes. Used for my kids, allowed them to build confidence and were able to learn to ride quickly.

@arun_42

OREN - kitty roaring into the void

This is exactly how my kids learnt cycling. Though the cycles had pedals they didn't use them and instead would coast exactly as described in the first paragraph.

Xitij Ritesh Patel

@xitijpatel

16h

I bought my 8yo nephew a balance bike and he was pedalling by 3. Got handed down to my 6yo and he started pedalling by 5. Going to do the same with my 1.5yo. Balance bikes >>>>> training wheels.

yep we only used balance bikes and never training wheels. kids learned to ride real bikes in 2 biking sessions afterwards. was incredibly surprised.

goutham kamath

@goutham_kamath

I am teaching my 4 yo to bike rn. Not using pedals or training wheel. Day 2 she is learning to balance slowly. Will see how soon she will learn.

@alchemist_digi

i never got training wheels but learned quickly how to jettison myself safely from the bike when a crash was eminent which ended up saving my life one time i didn't realize my brakes were iced up as i was heading downhill into an intersection i jumped and my bike got crushed

Neas

@AeneimNephilim

10h

My parents went through a bunch of those balance strategies and even adjusted the training wheels so they barely hit the ground. What finally worked was a bribe of a pie of my choice. Pie was obtained the next day, motivation goes a long way on teaching.

//Ascor

@AscorGames

There are bikes *specifically* for this, for kids.

pelv75

@pelv75

14h

Absolutely works. My boy was struggling, we took the pedals off for a week or so until he was wheeling around everywhere. Took off straightaway once we put them back on.

Software Dev

@swdevservice

Yeah our kids rode balance bikes (no pedals) first, about age 3, then one of them used training wheels (other skipped), then they rode regular bikes by 6 and 7

@jonsullivan031

REI does a bike-riding class for kids that we took ours to, this is what they do, and the kid learns in a couple hours. Shocking how easy it was when I saw it firsthand

_bbctol

@_bbctol

I feel like the point of training wheels is not to "practice pedaling," but to "be able to ride a bike before you've mastered balance": it's a way of being able to practice without your parents around, without falling all the time!

Bob (Moderna #7) Kerns

@BobKerns