General Cycling Discussion - What age to remove training wheels

At what age can kids be expected to ride a bike without training wheels? My five and a half year old twins have been riding bikes with training wheels for about a year and a half. One of the training wheels broke off, so I had them try it without, but they didn’t seem ready, they had to get going faster than I thought they would to be able to stay balanced. I bought new training wheels today.

My little girl is 6 and she just started riding without them. (barely)
I don't think there is a certain age. But the only way is to just take them off and stick with it. If you don't think they are ready, just wait a while and try it again. It sure is a thrill when they do it for the first time though! :)

My oldest girl is six and has no interest in riding w/o them yet. I caught myself beginning to make the serious mistake of pushing too hard. The training wheels are back on.

Dirtgrinder's advice is good, let the kid pick the time.

Btw I don't believe that to be the best approach to toilet training but that's a different story altogether.

:beer:

I've got three little cyclists, one started riding at 6, one at four, and the last one pre-five yrs of age. (She finally "got it" yesterday!!!)

Just depends on your child.

But, before the training wheels come off, the helmet goes on.

be careful out there,
tt

..........ummm....
The helmet should be on anytime they are on a bike!

Richard Ballantyne (Richard's bicycle book) as I recall suggests never using training wheels and my parents said I never did.

My wheels were taken off when I was just under 4. I buzzed around the neighborhood useing my feet for balance until I finally just started pedaling by myself.
It's weird how clearly I remember the moment.

Ooops, I mean I was just under 5.
I was good but not THAT good.;)

I agree with chewa. If the kid don't know that training wheels exists, he/she won't miss them. I did not want to learn how to ride a bike because I thought I would loose my balance and fall into a ditch 30 metres away... My parents persisted and I don't think it took more than a few days before I was able to ride without falling. I think I was between five and six years old.

On the other hand, I know of a young girl that kept riding with training wheels for several years and she used the training wheels to keep her balance instead of learning how to ride correctly. Eventually she learned to keep her balance without any help, but I don't think the training wheels was good for her in the long run.

The important thing is that the kid learns to ride :).

/Csson

I've read several comments on this subject suggesting that lowering the saddle and removing pedals so that the child scoots with their feet for a while is the best approach, but having no children I can't talk from experience.

Richard

I'll be 61 in a little bit, and I am hoping that I can take mine off sometime this year. ;)

Cheers...Gary

Originally posted by Danny Y
At what age can kids be expected to ride a bike without training wheels?
You mean I'm supposed to remove the training wheels? Geez, why didn't somebody tell me about this thirty years ago?

This might explain my so many people were snickering at my last group ride...

You buy a bike when they think they are too old for a trike. Take the wheels off immediately. Lower the saddle so they can put their feet on the ground - wont take long to learn how to balance. It is easier to learn how to balance on two wheels than it is to balance on two feet.

My children learnt at 4 and 3. It was a real cheap Kmart bike and I couldnt remove the pedals.

My son learned to ride without training wheels just before he turned 4. I taught him the same way I was taught - by riding down a grassy hill. I ran about half way down the hill with him the first time and he rode from there. Next few times all it took was a push to get him started.

My little 4 year just learned to ride without training wheels. He got on it and took off. My oldest started when he was 3 years old. They rode with training wheels first and just decided on their own they wanted to ride without them.

When I was 6, I made some comment at a company picnic to my dad. I must've been something about the other kids riding bikes. So my dad brings one of their bikes over, puts me onboard and holds the seat and shoves me down the sidewalk. I had no idea when he let go, but I was smiling and giggling for the next 10 minutes riding around. Then I turned around to show my dad how proud I was of riding the bike and rode right into his back as he sat on the lawn (I guess I didn't even know there was such a thing as brakes on a bike)... :) The next week, my dad bought me my own bike.

Since, they are already on the bike let them stay on until your kid wants them off. Can they be adjusted so they don't "help" so much?

I never had trainning wheels but then I crashed a lot for the first two weeks.

Joe

The best way to teach kids to ride is to lower the saddle so that they can use their feet to balance and push along and then when they become more confident start raising the seat so that they can use the pedals. This way they don't have to learn many things at the same time. It works.

My niece was riding without training wheels before she turned 4; my friend's little boy didn't start riding without them until ne was nearly 7. So while I agree it probably depends on the kid, it probably wouldn't hurt to take them off periodically just to see how they do. Some kids are afraid to ride without them, then find out it's no big deal.

My first bike, being secondhand and old, didn't have training wheels. We went the route of one parent or the other steadying whichever kid was riding for a few steps, then letting her go. I was about 8 when I learned to ride a bike, and it took about a week or two before I was able to take off on my own. It took me about another month to get the hang of stopping properly, however!

It depends on the kid, I guess. I was a really klutzy kid.

At what age can kids be expected to ride a bike without training wheels? My five and a half year old twins have been riding bikes with training wheels for about a year and a half. One of the training wheels broke off, so I had them try it without, but they didn’t seem ready, they had to get going faster than I thought they would to be able to stay balanced. I bought new training wheels today.
My kids learned at different ages...mostly around 6. One of my kids was embarrassed to go out on training wheels and so hadn't ridden at all after age 6, then decided to ride at age 9, and got it in under an hour. And I've seen kids who look to be about 3-4 riding on very low kiddie bikes with fat wheels, and I think they must easiest to learn on.
Robert

If they are already on a bike with training wheels, simply raise the training wheels up so that the bike wheel is on the ground and the training wheels are a half inch above the ground.

Let the ride like that for a few weeks, then teach them to ride without training wheels.

There has been tons of threads on this - simply do a search.

My daughter started riding just after her fifth birthday. She didn't use training wheels. I used roller blades and bladed behind her while holding her by the shoulder. Eventually I was just touching her shoulder and providing no support at all. When she soloed I could still be there and steady her if she got into trouble.

As best I can remember from my youth training wheels were something that lasted for a week or two. If they lasted longer it was more that daddy was busy and didn't get a chance to take them off.

Training wheels are evil. Had them on for 5 minutes before one found a sewer grate. Lost 2 teeth, received a lot of road rash and my first trip to the emergency room. My dad taught myself and my 2 younger brothers with out them on the front lawn.

I took them off my son's bike last April, on his 5th birthday. He insisted because the kid next door, who is bigger but four months younger, had his wheels taken off.

My kid did great while actually riding, but his legs are too short to reach the ground if he is sitting on the seat. So he could ride, but not mount the bike or stay up when he stopped.

He ended up in a "no-man's land" where he basically didn't ride for months.

Now, we've got the wheels back on, and watching the TdF with me got him psyched again. He's grown just about enough, so I think I can remove the training wheels for good in another month or so.

(The neighbor kid has his wheels back on as well.)