Recreational & Family - DIY LikeABike/Glide Bike

I am looking at making one... Probably from a small bike I have. The spawn is 3.5 and rides great with training wheels. I think the glide/run bike will help her work on balance.

Has anyone had good experience DIYing one?

Bonus points for pics.

I posted some time back about the ugly little creation that I made out of a $4 yard sale find to teach my 4.5 year old to ride. Pretty simple.

Look for a tiny frame with 12.5" tires. A girls bike is best for either gender as the 'top tube' is lower, easing injury in the event of a fall. You can buy one new from Target for under $35, or watch for yard sale bargains. Remove the pedals, the whole crank assembly, and the chain and toss them aside. Lavishly apply duct tape to anything not perfectly smooth like the axle ends, all other hardware, around the rear sprocket gear still attached to the rear wheel, etc. This way the occasional gentle fall produces no scrapes. Drop the seat & handlebars all of the way down. No training wheels!

Have them sit on it and "Flintstone" with their feet. The idea is that with the seat all the way down on such an undersized frame they should be flat foot on the ground at all times. This makes them feel completely in control. Kick along and make gentle turns to get used to it all. Eventually, have them periodically lift their feet and glide along. They will master the balance thing quite quickly. Within days, my little one was weaving in and out between cars parked in our driveway, and ready for the pedals. It was almost too easy!

Other details - I had her wear full padding from a rollerskating outfit - knee, elbow & gloves, along with her helmet. Falls without blood produce smiles and the desire to get right back up.

Incentive - I bought a brand new bike for her, and showed her the box. The prize for balancing on ugly ducktape bike was that she got to help me assemble the new bike. That was big. She is really into playing with daddy tools!

Some of the commercial products have limiters on the steering angle, and this also lessens the chance of a fall. A sudden overcorrection can cause them to fall backwards at low speeds. I thought about bolting/welding something to limit angle, but it never really became an issue.

I have loaned this thing out to others with good success. The record is meet at lunch on Monday for the transfer, received it back on Friday! I cannot think of too many other methods that produce that kind of success.

Go for it, and good luck!

Thanks fibber! That's about what I was imagining.

Oh, you get six bonus points for the picture.

Wow, I never heard/thought of that method! My boy is 6, but hasn't learned a 2-wheeler yet, mostly due to the fact that our driveway is a hill, and we live on a hill, so there's nowhere at home to ride safely for a beginner.

The crazy neighbor gave me a girl's bike that he found on the side of the road, but the pedals are locked up for some reason, I'm gonna go with this idea! I never thought training wheels actually taught a kid anything anyway.

Six bonus points! Oh joy! What to do with them... what to do, what to do...

Glad you liked it. Now you know what you are going to do with this weekend!

Oakback: Go thank your crazy neighbor for the gift!

I wish there was an equally easy way to teach a kid to rollerskate/rollerblade. My older daughter and I went blading in the park last Sunday, and the little one rode her bike along with us. Later that day we gently walked her around our driveway on blades, but it is going to be a while before she get it. Funny, but the older one took to skating much faster than biking.

Fibber +1. We've got 3 wooden likeabike copies in our club container and a couple of "pavement" bikes which we've modified as Fibber did - except for the duck tape stuff.

We've taught 200+ kids by this method over the last 10 years, including about 40 this year alone. It has never failed, even with one kid of 14 who had severe dyspraxia who took 4 x 2hr sessions, but finally succeeded. You could have fitted a watermelon slice in his smile. The quickest was a kid of 3 who learned in 3 minutes flat. His parents then put the bike in the boot (trunk to you), drove off and we never saw them again. :(

The only trouble with doing this is that I seem to spend too much of my time coaching ankle-biters - great fun and very satisfying but doesn't leave me much time to deal with the bigger kids (7-14).

I wish there was an equally easy way to teach a kid to rollerskate/rollerblade. My older daughter and I went blading in the park last Sunday, and the little one rode her bike along with us. Later that day we gently walked her around our driveway on blades, but it is going to be a while before she get it. Funny, but the older one took to skating much faster than biking.

Good for you! I never learned to skate or rollerblade, haha (I'm 26), I'll let my wife help the kids with that.

Hey, I'm 2x your age. There is a downside, though. I did fall once. Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!!!! Recovery is harder as you get older.

I've been talking with a friend about taking the girls skiing this winter. I never did downhill, and haven't been on X-country skis since I was 21. Part of me says it's a crazy stupid thing to do. Part of me cannot wait to try it.

I posted some time back about the ugly little creation that I made out of a $4 yard sale find to teach my 4.5 year old to ride. Pretty simple.

Look for a tiny frame with 12.5" tires. A girls bike is best for either gender as the 'top tube' is lower, easing injury in the event of a fall. You can buy one new from Target for under $35, or watch for yard sale bargains. Remove the pedals, the whole crank assembly, and the chain and toss them aside. Lavishly apply duct tape to anything not perfectly smooth like the axle ends, all other hardware, around the rear sprocket gear still attached to the rear wheel, etc. This way the occasional gentle fall produces no scrapes. Drop the seat & handlebars all of the way down. No training wheels!

Have them sit on it and "Flintstone" with their feet. The idea is that with the seat all the way down on such an undersized frame they should be flat foot on the ground at all times. This makes them feel completely in control. Kick along and make gentle turns to get used to it all. Eventually, have them periodically lift their feet and glide along. They will master the balance thing quite quickly. Within days, my little one was weaving in and out between cars parked in our driveway, and ready for the pedals. It was almost too easy!

Other details - I had her wear full padding from a rollerskating outfit - knee, elbow & gloves, along with her helmet. Falls without blood produce smiles and the desire to get right back up.

Incentive - I bought a brand new bike for her, and showed her the box. The prize for balancing on ugly ducktape bike was that she got to help me assemble the new bike. That was big. She is really into playing with daddy tools!

Some of the commercial products have limiters on the steering angle, and this also lessens the chance of a fall. A sudden overcorrection can cause them to fall backwards at low speeds. I thought about bolting/welding something to limit angle, but it never really became an issue.

I have loaned this thing out to others with good success. The record is meet at lunch on Monday for the transfer, received it back on Friday! I cannot think of too many other methods that produce that kind of success.

Go for it, and good luck!

This is the same method I used to teach my children.....only I just
removed the pedals and left the crank and chain in-place. Just pop
the pedals back on when the child is ready.

NOTE: I do believe in training wheels. I started all my kids with paedals
and training wheels installed. The first challenge is to learn how to
pedal and stop. When the child wants the training wheels off then take
off the pedals too. They will still be able to stop!