Bye bye training wheels?

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bychosis
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby bychosis » Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:54 am

tron07 wrote:my 3+YO kid got a Target bike as a present and the wheels are kinda of a fixie type. Should I get it changed? or just remove the cranks and let her use it as a balance bike? I had to oil then loosen the nuts and all as its wheel is hard to turn. She always get stuck and need a push to keep going.
Just remove the cranks. Fixie type are only good with training wheels, and training wheels don't teach proper balance or steering.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Mububban
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Mububban » Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:12 pm

bychosis wrote:....training wheels don't teach proper balance or steering.
What exactly are the bad habits/lack of skills that training wheel opponents fear will happen to their kids? I ask because both my kids started out on training wheels around 2.5 years old, took them off about 4yo, and immediately had absolutely no problems whatsoever with balance, turning, co-ordination, slow speed manoeuvring etc. Now at 5.5 and 7.5, they can stand up to pedal uphill, ride balanced along kerbs, weave through laneway barriers at almost stall speed without putting their feet down.....so personally I don't see any glaring flaws in their skillset. What should I be looking for?
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Sparx » Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:38 pm

It's not necessarily about how bad training wheels are (though you do see lots of kids leaning against them, meaning they don't learn to balance), it's more about how quickly they can learn without them. My boy was on a balance bike at as soon as he could walk and was riding a pedal bike (no training wheels) by 2 and a half.

Maybe not all children pick up bad habits from training wheels but lots do.
Balance bikes for me are clearly the best way to learn.

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bychosis
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby bychosis » Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:46 pm

When kids steer with training wheels on they turn by steering towards the turn and then leaning the bike out on the training wheel on the outside, rather than leaning the bike by steering away from the turn a bit and then turning the bars towards the turn as the bike leans over. It's all kinda backwards when you have the extra wheels. This then makes it more difficult to learn to ride sans trainers because you have to learn to pedal and steer differently at once.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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MattyK
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby MattyK » Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:56 pm

I'm regretting following all the advice on avoiding training wheels. My daughter could balance her balance bike before age 4. Got her a proper bike at 6, and started with the "no pedals" approach. No training wheels came with the bike. It's now 18 months later and she refuses to even try putting the pedals on. Just scoots around on it. She can balance it perfectly, feet up on the cranks. Has always wanted training wheels, but I've never gone to get any.

Now my 4 year old boy is copying her fear of trying, and I can't get him off the training wheels that are on his bike, even though he is also perfectly capable of balancing...

:mad:

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bychosis
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby bychosis » Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:36 pm

Training wheels just weren't an option for kid 2 for us. Wasn't to much of a transition, but then again he is very competitive and wanted to keep up with big brother. No3 is happy on his glider for now, and soon he'll transition to pedals, but not for a little while. Hopefully by next (4) birthday, October he will be not the pedals, but he's a bit stubborn and might take longer.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Mububban
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Mububban » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:33 pm

MattyK wrote:I'm regretting following all the advice on avoiding training wheels. My daughter could balance her balance bike before age 4. Got her a proper bike at 6, and started with the "no pedals" approach. No training wheels came with the bike. It's now 18 months later and she refuses to even try putting the pedals on. Just scoots around on it. She can balance it perfectly, feet up on the cranks. Has always wanted training wheels, but I've never gone to get any.

Now my 4 year old boy is copying her fear of trying, and I can't get him off the training wheels that are on his bike, even though he is also perfectly capable of balancing...

:mad:
I knew my younger son especially would have hit the pavement and lost skin once, and never got on his bike again. So the training wheels helped him ride with his big sister, learn to pedal and steer etc, and got him to love riding without bleeding. When I took the training wheels off, he was riding figure 8s straight away so balance wasn't a problem, but then he appears to be one of those annoying buggers who is good at everything physical :mrgreen:

Kids - we all do what we think is best for our families, but they love to throw a spanner into the best of intentions :)
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby tron07 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:02 pm

bychosis wrote:
tron07 wrote:my 3+YO kid got a Target bike as a present and the wheels are kinda of a fixie type. Should I get it changed? or just remove the cranks and let her use it as a balance bike? I had to oil then loosen the nuts and all as its wheel is hard to turn. She always get stuck and need a push to keep going.
Just remove the cranks. Fixie type are only good with training wheels, and training wheels don't teach proper balance or steering.
I had already took of the cranks, pedals chain and all one week after posting cause no one reply this thread. :mrgreen:

Daughter cant flat foot properly and always complain she cant balance and wants me to put in back the . I try to get her to practice at least once every weekend with it. The bike doesnt comes with any brakes, so we just let her pay in the car park and around the unit where its flat.

Probably will get her a proper bike later and let my son have the pink balance bike for a while.
MattyK wrote:I'm regretting following all the advice on avoiding training wheels. My daughter could balance her balance bike before age 4. Got her a proper bike at 6, and started with the "no pedals" approach. No training wheels came with the bike. It's now 18 months later and she refuses to even try putting the pedals on. Just scoots around on it. She can balance it perfectly, feet up on the cranks. Has always wanted training wheels, but I've never gone to get any.

Now my 4 year old boy is copying her fear of trying, and I can't get him off the training wheels that are on his bike, even though he is also perfectly capable of balancing...
:mad:
I think your problem is not letting her have the proper bike (with pedals) when she is at 6 and let her get used to the proper bike.
Maybe can consider the bribe approach, when they ask for something or bribe them with something to put in pedals or remove training wheels or the hard approach, put the pedals in and remove training wheels with or with out their consent. They will grumble and complain but kids adapt very fast.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Mububban » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:53 pm

MattyK wrote: Now my 4 year old boy is copying her fear of trying, and I can't get him off the training wheels that are on his bike, even though he is also perfectly capable of balancing...

:mad:
My son is slowly growing out of it now but he's always been very reluctant to try new things, he's worried about looking silly and people making fun of him, not sure where it came from but there it is.
When I got sick of the rattling from the training wheels around age 4 - 4.5 and I believed he was well past being physically ready, I took them off, and rolled him down the same gentle grassy slope his big sister learnt on, and he took off like a rocket and never looked back. But it definitely involved being sympathetic to his concerns for a while, accepting his personality for what it is/was, then switching into Ultimatum Dad mode. And for our family, it worked and he's now better on his bike than his 7.5 year old big sister!

Every kid and family are a little bit different, but you don't see too many 10 year olds with training wheels, so it should sort itself out somehow :)
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MattyK
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby MattyK » Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:09 pm

tron07 wrote:I think your problem is not letting her have the proper bike (with pedals) when she is at 6 and let her get used to the proper bike.
Maybe can consider the bribe approach, when they ask for something or bribe them with something to put in pedals or remove training wheels or the hard approach, put the pedals in and remove training wheels with or with out their consent. They will grumble and complain but kids adapt very fast.
You clearly haven't met my kids...

The very first ride was with pedals on and me holding, and ended in lots of crying and tantrums. Bribes have been offered. If I put pedals on (and for my son took the training wheels off) it would no doubt just result in refusal to ride.

I can also visualise the time when my daughter does learn to ride, and she'll be bragging about how she could always do it...

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Mububban
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Mububban » Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:51 pm

MattyK wrote: You clearly haven't met my kids...
Haha, before I had kids I naively thought that we adults would speak, and the kids would just obey. Hahaha.

You can try and force a square peg into a round hole, and end up with tears and outright refusal, or you can go with it and find a way around the problem rather than smashing into it head on. You'll end up in the same spot either way. As I said, not too many 10 year olds still on training wheels.
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby tron07 » Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:32 pm

MattyK wrote: You clearly haven't met my kids...

The very first ride was with pedals on and me holding, and ended in lots of crying and tantrums. Bribes have been offered. If I put pedals on (and for my son took the training wheels off) it would no doubt just result in refusal to ride.
I had to get my daughter to agree to turning her bike into a balance bike first before I started removing parts, else she would be crying and refuse to ride as well. When she want something, (something Elsa as usual) I told her only when she gets bigger and can balance on her bike she will get it, and she always ask me to make her bike into a balance bike.

She refuse to ride the bike then I says she can stay at home while I go out to play, usually she refuse to stay at home. I bring her to the park and she can see kids (usually boys) around her age of biger playing with scooters and balance bikes, it usually gets her interested to attempt to ride again.

She knows she cant balance properly and from time to time ask to fix back the pedals & training wheels for her, but I say its done, no going back so she will have to learn to use it. She knows that if she throw tantrums, she is going to end up with some naughty corner punishment (mostly from the missus), never let kids push your buttons.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby elfoam » Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:10 am

Everyone says balance bikes will have your kid riding better but we all learnt on training wheels and were riding perfectly by age 4. I can still remember my little brother powering down the road being chased by a dog on his little training bike. I noticed neither wheel was on the ground and told Dad, we got the trainers off and pushed him out on the front footpath. Couple stacks later he was riding fine.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby bychosis » Tue Jun 21, 2016 7:06 am

My littlest is doing well on his balance bike, but has no idea about pedalling yet. Thinking I will need to look for some training wheels next kerbside pickup so he can get started on pedalling without the balance issues, once pedalling is sorted off come the trainers.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby bychosis » Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:43 pm

Well over the summer week-long holiday I pre-warned junior his balance bike was staying home and the pedal bike was coming with us. His cousin had just started the pedal bike just before Christmas so there was some incentive. He's had very limited pedalling experience preferring to use his pedal trike like Fred Flintstone.

Day one, had no idea on pedalling. I was literally pushing his feet around on the pedals by hand (or foot) as I ran along with him. Wheeled him around for two sessions probably totally 40min-1hr.
Day 2, still no idea. Same sort of time and I was getting ready to give up as he is a bit stubborn and it's hard work on your back.
Day 3. Persisted for one last try. He was keen again though. Something clicked and he got a few revolutions in albeit with lots of skids as his legs couldn't work out which way was which.
Day 4: He got it and managed a few laps of the caravan park in sections.
During the stay he also got a lot better on his 2 wheel scooter, to the point of short stints balancing. HE skipped the 3 wheeler.
Next task: How to start off.

Compared to the other two kids he was the most difficult to teach, just didn't seem interested until he could actually start to do it. He required a fair bit of motivating to get started.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby caneye » Fri Jan 13, 2017 2:59 pm

never an easy task.

competition & group behaviour are always a big motivation for my kids. they saw other kids of similar age cycling without training wheels at Sydney Park and it didn't take much to encourage them to do the same. once the 6yo saw her older brother cycling on 2 wheels, she couldn't wait to try it herself.

if you are in metropolitan sydney, then head out to Sydney Park, Alexandria.
there's a very good program being run by the local council to teach young uns to ride, run entirely by volunteers.
they also have a whole range of bikes available for loan for free (from balance bikes for toddlers to bmx-type of bikes for older kids). some of them are Byk models therefore not too heavy. next to the sheltered training area is an outdoor cycling-cum-traffic circuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c1on6O95Qs

highly recommended.

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby RonK » Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:25 pm

Like learning to walk, kids will find their balance on a bike when they are ready. They have a low C of G so balance is not hard to learn.

My daughter worked it out for herself. By leaning on the training wheels she gradually bent the arms up - until they were doing virtually nothing. Eventually one arm came loose so I took them off altogether. She was a bit perturbed, but with a little encouragement she got on and rode without them.

I've never forgotten the moment - her pride and delight in that acheivement.
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby chriso_29er » Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:40 pm

I have a bike that converts from balance to pedal.
Thought I would try #1 son as a balance bike. Would not go near it!
So I converted it to pedal and stuck training wheels on it. He rode it around like this until he got to big for it and I got him a newer bike.
So with the new bike I converted it back to balance ready for son #2.

#1 son got straight back on it and immediately learned to balance. Next day he was riding his new bigger pedal bike without training wheels.

#2 son instead now loves the balance bike and at under 4 has done a 8km ride on it,balances perfect. Has not ridden a pedal bike as yet, training wheels or not.
So thinking I will either convert it back to pedal soon and give him a crack. If no good put some trainers on it so he can learn the pedal motion before taking them off again.

Will let you know how we go. However moral of the story is every kid is different lol.
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:45 am

Xplora wrote:Son one needs to learn to ride sans training wheels. Any advice? He's terrified of speed. And totally flat is hard to come by.
Well, depends how many wheels you intend him to drop. Two? Or is it three? :mrgreen:
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Tamiya » Mon Nov 12, 2018 8:45 am

Mummzy wrote:I've always been more concerned with making sure my kids never had to ride a bike with a coaster brake
why not? :P many kiddy bikes have coasters, how'd they learn?

Recently built an SE Tripel... wages, big adult bikes can have coasters too! :twisted:

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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Mububban » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:47 pm

Mummzy wrote:I've always been more concerned with making sure my kids never had to ride a bike with a coaster brake
But how are they going to do epic skids and ruin their rear tyres without that coaster brake? :mrgreen:
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby Tamiya » Mon Nov 12, 2018 4:36 pm

Mububban wrote: But how are they going to do epic skids and ruin their rear tyres without that coaster brake? :mrgreen:
Dun worry, these days it's easier still with today's v-brakes on junior bike rears :lol:

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MattyK
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Re: Bye bye training wheels?

Postby MattyK » Mon Nov 12, 2018 10:05 pm

Cool story mummzybot

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