General Cycling Discussion - At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?

At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?


Just gathering some info here! :) I'm preparing a lesson plan for one of my teaching classes and I'm wondering if it is too much to expect that most Grade 1 students (between the ages of late 5 and early 7) would know how to ride a bicycle.


Also, what mode of human-powered transportation did you start with? A tricycle? A bicycle with training wheels? A bicycle without training wheels? Other?

I started out with a trike when I was a tiny tyke. Then I think there were training wheels, but I'm not sure. Mastered balancing the two-wheeler when I was around five or six. Still vividly remember the moment it suddenly just happened - I was balancing and riding a bike!!! :) :) :)

1977... so I was 5. My parents had purchased a blue Columbia cruiser for me from Sears (I think) and given it to me as a Christmas present. I spent the next spring learning to ride with the training wheels until one day I decided I no longer needed them. So I scrounged around for a pair of pliers and removed the training wheeels myself.

I do not remember. My children started riding tricycles at 1 and 2.

I was actually 12. I grew up as an extremely uncoordinated kid, I couldn't even tie my own shoelaces before I was 8. I actually just didn't think I had the balance to ride a bike, I mean, someone as uncoordinated as me would just fall off, right? Fortunately, my friends at Werris Creek taught me differently. Once that happened, a whole new world opened up...

I started with a trike (at least I have memories of taking corners too tight and going over).

At age 7 or so, I was sitting on my brother's bike leaning against the house and my dad grabbed the bike and gave me a push. I very quickly learned how to ride -- no training wheels -- but learning to stop took a little longer...

That said, it is no problem for a five-year-old or younger to learn to ride. I have to dodge all kinds of kids on my commute to work. But whether or not they know how to ride varies greatly.

I believe I was 5.

I was 5 when my Dad first took my training wheels off... It's been nearly 40 years and I still fall down occasionally if they're off ... ;)

I lived in a very hilly area with lots of traffic as a kid, so the first time I rode I was about 11 or 12. I was at a family friend's house, and decided to try riding the son's bike. I did well until I decided I was doing well enough to try a wheelie. :eek:

At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?

I was 6, my brother was 5. Our grandparents bought each of us matching 20 inch bikes at the same time. Even at that young age I was slightly peeved that he got one the same time as me, since he was 1 year younger. :mad: We started with training wheels but they were off in a week. :)

I was 5 and my DS was 6.

I think I was 11. I'd had an adult-size Columbia for several years, however, since my feet could barely touch the pedals, self-sustained riding took until then. There were never any training wheels.

My daughter just turned 8. We have taken off the training wheels on her bike and she can keep it going for about seven seconds. I expect she will be able to ride unassisted sometime this year.

Our school has "Wheels Day" periodically -- kids bring human powered device to school. Through second grade, most kids brought tricycles or scooters, so I'm not sure that the majority are able to ride bikes by then.

I started with a tricycle -- one of the classic, all-metal ones. I soon learned that I could take it to the top of a steep hill and get into an aero crouch, standing on the back platform with my chin on the seat. I'd regularly pass cars. Braking was quite effective, but a pair of sneakers lasted only a week or so.

Paul

About 5. started with tricycles befor that. Then on to training wheels. They came off, and I taught myself to ride. JFK was president.
The funny thing is, the first thing I have always wanted to do was upgrage my bike.

I think I was 5 I knew how to ride in kindergarden so that was what '84 for me.

I was 5 and my DS was 6.

You had a directeur sportif at 5!!

10 perhaps. I had a tricycle, then a bike with training wheels.

I was 5, my brother was 8. My son was 7, but my duagher is too young to start (16 months).

Training wheels came off when I was 5. Not too long after I had a pretty bad accident (tried to climb up the side of a curb) and pretty much stayed off until I was 8. I'm commuting beside/behind my 5 yr old to his kindergarten, he's on training wheels still. Every once in a while I ask if he wants them off. He says no. He tells me it's too bad that his 6 y/o friend and I don't have training wheels like him and (the 6 y/o's) little brother.



Before the bike were shiny red tricycle and orange/yellow Big Wheel.

I was four when I started riding on two wheels, the training wheels came off a couple of months later. The bike was a red 16" western auto with chrome fenders , red and silver handlebar streamers and a Roy Rogers saddle bag. I was da pimp in 61'!

Riding with the training wheels off is one of my clearest memories from a very long time ago. My family had just moved from Edmonton to Ottawa. It was in the parking lot of the Alta Vista towers in Ottawa. It must have been in 1977. I would have been 4 or 5. I remember riding across the parking lot, having to stop at the end, then get off my bike and turn it around to ride back to the other side of the parking lot.

Thank you Machka for reminding me of this, any memories that I have of my bike as a little kid are my favorite. Come to think of it most of my favorite time involve me and the bike. I may have not been born with a bike, but I will do everything I can to make sure that it is buried with me, along with the guit-box of course.

I started on a trike. That trike took me all over town, much to my mother's consternation. Learned to ride a 2-wheeler at age 5, but didn't get one of my own until my 7th birthday.

4 ... it was a huffy :o

Just asked my mom, 2 wheels, age 3. lol i thought i was 5 or somting. for some reason few days ago i felt that feeling when i first was balancing.

It was a little red bike single speed with a black basket up front. 16" probably

And i had that bike till the age of maybe 14, it was handed down to some other tiny kid. and now i dono were it is either spain or saudi araibia. probably still works too.

EDIT:
it was built in riad by a company called "wheels" they maid some seriosly good bikes (jap stuff) i had another bike from them (rigid mtb) but that got joy rided one to many times.

I was seven when I learned to ride a bicycle

I had a tricycle before that...but that wasn't the question.

I started with a pedal powered toy tractor, and a tricycle. I could net get a bicycle until I was tall enough for a 20" wheel single speed. I think I was in 2nd grade. Problem was, I tended to look at my feet as I sped along, and often ran into trees, telephone poles, and parking meters. Still was fun though.

I lost my training wheels one afternoon in front of the carport in 1973. It was the first weekend after I started the first grade. Tennison Duram, the handyman at my Pop's office, ran behind me, holding my banana seat, for about ten feet. He let go, I could not figure out how to stop, and I still haven't.

--A

I think I was around 5, living in Denver (Montbello).

what mode of human-powered transportation did you start with? A tricycle? A bicycle with training wheels? A bicycle without training wheels? Other?


http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/02/89/14/98/0002891498153_215X215.jpg

It was before I started school, so I would have been 3 or 4. I had a two-wheeled scooter, and I got the idea of balancing from that, after which the transition to two-wheels with pedals, was fairly simple; I still remember the thrill of being able to stay upright for the first time, and not have to stop! (…and it's still magic, even after 53 years!)

- Wil

I learned at the age of 26. I win!

Yeah. I had a Big Wheel before a bike. I loved that thing until the day I broke the spin-out handbrake. :(

I learned when I was 4.

I had a trike and a bigwheel back to as young as I can remember (3ish) and got a bike right around 1st grade. My parents didn't like me having it at their house so I could only ride at my grandmother's...probably why it rusted out and I didn't get another bike till the end of 6th grade (12) which then resulted in getting hit by a car (stupid and bad eyesight) which kept me bikeless until this past summer at the age of 23.

Tricycle, Scooter, Bicycle with training wheels, Bicycle without training wheels by Five or Six.

Age 6 sounds about right for me.

I taught myself to ride at 8 and thought I was late in learning.

My parents had recently split up so I knew if I was going to ride a bike I had to teach myself so I went a couple of blocks to a street with a slight incline and after a couple of failed attempts I managed to gaine balance coasting down the incline and I was off.

I found it similar to learning to skate on my own at 6 (Ithought I was a late leaner then too)

I don't remember exactly but I think around 5 or 6 years old back in 1977-ish. My brother and sister taught me to ride. They're a lot older than me and I used to watch my brother ride around on his custom made road bike. He used to find parts in the garbage and make his own bikes.

anyway, they had me ride up and down the block following close to catch me till i was able to keep my balance. Finally, when I was able to ride without any assistance, I was happily speeding along and had that feeling of freedom that a bike gives you. It was wonderful. I then slammed head first into a lamp post!! They didn't show me how to steer and brake. oh well. I'm still slamming in to things to stop.

I was 6. my bro and sisters all could ride bikes sans training wheels by 6.

I think I was about 6 - my brothers decided it was time to ride - so there was this ramp that went to the second story of a barn. They brought me and the bike to the top of the ramp. I got on the bike, they pushed me down the ramp. Didn't need training wheels but I sure would have liked to know how to stop and steer.

Survived (obviously) and for a while, that was how I thought you started pedaling - find a hill to get you going!

I remember it well. It was in the 6 th month of my mom's pregnancy and my older twin brother gave me his old trike.

I was probably 5 or 6, on a fixed gear solid (square cross section) 16 " tire behemoth. I learned without training wheels by coasting down a grassy hill behind the house and crashing a lot. My oldest three children learned at 3 (twins) and 4 this past spring on 12" bikes. We took the pedals off and let them "walk" the bike around and coast. It took a very short amount of time. I found that pedaling is the most difficult concept to teach. With trikes, our 2 year old will pedal forward, and suddenly miss his rhythm and be going backwards...the cranks are just too short. Once he's tall enough for a 12" bike with training wheels, the pedaling works itself out. I would expect most kids in that age range to have ridden a bicycle, perhaps with training wheels.

Trike - don't remember.
Bike - age 6