Recreational & Family - When to let a six year "go for it" on her bike

My little girl surprised me today. First, on the way to school she rode her little single speed bike so fast I had to run to keep up. It concerns me somewhat as her concept of traffic safety is sketchy as best, but it also makes me proud to see she has the confidence to push her limits. Then, when we got to the final downhill run she asked me to let go and just let her roll down on her own. I'm 50% sure that if I had done so she would have crashed halfway down, and there is traffic on that section. So I just lightly held her shoulders to keep the speed in check.

I've moved the training wheels way up so she has to balance pretty much by herself, but they are there to catch the odd mistake. I noticed today for the first time she actually corrected for an almost fall by herself. But heres the thing... When do you just let go and let them explore the limits?

my daughter was just six when i took her training wheels off
the next week she rode a four mile loop with me
let her rip!

Well I think if She is ready take the training wheels off and may be buy some cheap elbow and knee pads and let her go ( I personally would not do the knee pad or elbow pads for my kids) the kids are always getting bang up and scratched up any ways. I had to take one son into the ER to get a BB taken out of his leg LOL . But as the parent you have to make that call.

My dad let me rip on my own after I begged and begged to have the training wheels off a few months after I turned three. I immediately hit a '62 Chevy and broke a headlight, but those training wheels never went on again. Dad caught hell for that, as my mother sometimes reminds me.

Oh, sorry, were you asking for advice? Like the other posters said, kids will tell you when they are ready. In my case I asked too soon perhaps, but I was determined to figure out this big boy bike riding thing if it killed me. So plant her someplace safe, a church parking lot or well groomed baseball diamond infield, and let her try.

My daughter is a freakishly good athlete and learned to ride before she was 3, but she didn't get the judgment part down until much later (at 27 she still has lapses...). Maybe a little by 6, but that's still not very old to be figuring out traffic, especially if it's heavy where you live.
What I wonder is whether the training wheels are doing any good. If they're mounted high, she's likely to have enough momentum in a fall to go right on over. My son learned without them, and I took them off my daughter's bike on her second or third ride. She didn't miss them, and didn't fall for a couple of years, when she ignored my advice about a gravelly downhill.
As for traffic, what we did (20+ years ago) was ride with the kids to school, for groceries and ball games etc., and explain what we were doing and why we were doing it. They didn't go far alone until we were confident they knew how.

Many years ago with my son, I saw him ride down the driveway and into the street, never touching the training wheels. I took them off after that, and he took off, used a mailbox to stop. He was OK, but upset. I then explained the brakes some more, and told him to watch out for cars, he did great after that.

What I wonder is whether the training wheels are doing any good. If they're mounted high, she's likely to have enough momentum in a fall to go right on over

I tend to agree. She has the skills to keep the bike up, but because the training wheels are there she will let the bike get off balance. I noticed today when I took her to the soccer field at the local school that she can in fact keep the bike balanced when she gets moving. I suggested that we remove the wheels and she agreed, but I think if they come off too soon she is likely to take a fall or 2 and become intimidated. A fine line to walk...

I tend to agree. She has the skills to keep the bike up, but because the training wheels are there she will let the bike get off balance. I noticed today when I took her to the soccer field at the local school that she can in fact keep the bike balanced when she gets moving. I suggested that we remove the wheels and she agreed, but I think if they come off too soon she is likely to take a fall or 2 and become intimidated. A fine line to walk...

You could try taking off one side and leaving the other for a week or so. It sounds to me like she is ready to spread her wings. I have a 6 yo too, and he has been riding since he was 2. He was on a balance bike for a year, had training wheels for half a summer and then was off to the races on his two wheeler without training wheels. He's a pretty seasoned little cyclist now, he knows to stop at the end of each block and check, and most of the time he checks the lanes before he crosses. He rides to school and I accompany on my own bike. After I pick him up at 3 we both ride over to pick up my older child at his school.

I'm going to take my bike down to the soccer field as well as hers tonight. She wants to see if she can keep up with her Dad. I may just have to disconnect the computer and shift down to the worlds lowest gear, but one thing is for sure... she will cross the line before me. :)

If you have a small grassy hill at your soccer field, that's a good spot to practice without training wheels. She'll get momentum, and a soft landing if things go sideways. I've taught a lot of kids to ride without training wheels by sending them down the very small, gentle hill that is at the school by our house.

I have a hard steep corrigated conrete path. But sadly no hills. Given its Korea and school soccer fields are all dirt its bound to be a softer landing than the concrete.

My daughters were late bloomers when it came to cycling and kept the training wheels until they were almost 7 but once they came off we were off and soon we were riding 25-30km and my youngest is a little bike fiend who is now 12.

She just got her first road bike to go with her folding commuter (she rides 14km a day) and her mountain bike... my oldest is a devoted utilitarian cyclist who has no desire to go off road or join dad in a 60 or 100 km ride like my youngest daughter aspires to.

My nieces are now 7 and were riding well at 6 and have taken them on some pretty epic rides with and without my daughters... was picking them up from summer camp in the river valley and we'd ride 8km home and tackle some good climbs.

Thanks for all the ideas. :) We did pretty well this evening. The locals aren't helping with my "no helmet, no ride" campaign. It seems that ALL the local parents don't buy their kids helmets. Back home in New Zealand it was illegal not to wear a helmet 30 years ago.

I never rode with a helmet on when I was a kid. When California passed our helmet law, I was a teenager and I wasn't riding all that much then. Of course, everything depends on the traffic and the road conditions around you.

Good luck with the teaching!

My youngest is five and just got off her training wheels this spring and she's loving it, hanging in the garage is my wifes old 24" wheel Takara road bike that I'm going to restore for her as her first road bike.

As for helmets, My wife saw a teenager killed about 15 years ago when she was filling her car at a gas station because he was hit by a car and he hit his head on the street without a helmet on and all my kids have had the story drilled into them repeatedly so they won't go near a bike without a helmet.

You do realise that if you don't remove the "training" wheels instanter, you will be banned from the site.

Joking apart, she's ready and keeping them on won't benefit her in any way. In addition, if she's balancing with them off the ground and getting much faster, she may well "high-side" if she turns quickly, or loses her balance a little at speed.

Make a ceremony of throwing them in the bin - or consigning them to the nether regions, where they will be quite at home seeing as how they are the instrument of the devil

Put them in the parts bin with baby sized foot rests for my kid seat on the utility bike. When my youngest gets old enough she will inherit this bike and Christine will get a decent one with gears so she can actually ride up a hill.

I've had good luck not using training wheels at all. For 3-4 yo's I just take the pedals off and set the seat down so they can push the bike. Once they get their balance the pedals go on, seat gets adjusted, and off they go. (riding but wobbly by 4, on their own by 5). I wish someone besides islabikes made a kid's bike with handbrakes.(I put a front handbrake on the 16" Giant my 5 yo. daughter just got.).

5 kids on 2 wheelers aged 13 to 5, a 3 yo on a push bike and the baby in the trailer.

I wish someone besides islabikes made a kid's bike with handbrakes.(I put a front handbrake on the 16" Giant my 5 yo. daughter just got.)
Older (I think as late as 2007 model) 12" and 16" Kawasaki bikes have front brakes. But I the quality is not that good - I have one bought in 2007 12" on the third kid now and replaced both pedals, spokes, brake cable and few other things.

My daughters bike has both front and rear hand brakes. The back is a drum and the front is cheap looking caliper. Neither are great, but for the speed a kids bike can get to they do the job. What I don't like are the plastic brake levers.

As far as traffic is concerned, she's unlikely to be able to judge vehicle speeds consistenntly for a few years yet. In the UK the national Bikeability road safety course is only introduced in schools and elsewhere from year 5 upwards when they have been given lessons in road safety as pedestrians before that.

Take a look at http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/ if you're interested.

As for skills development, you might want to take a look at http://www.bsca.org.uk/ and click on Awards and take a look at the Trix section of the site. It will give you a list of things you could teach your girl in an appropriate order of development. I don't know if there's anything on the USCF site, but a structured, but fun, always fun(!), approach will give her even more confidence in the coming years.

Not that this will stop you worrying, of course.

Good luck

I think my son was about 5 when he learned to ride without training wheels. I remember it was a Tuesday, and he spent all week riding up and down the sidewalk. On Sunday he begged me to take him out for a "real" ride, so we headed out on the MUP. I let him lead me and ride until he lost interest. He logged 16 miles that day.

Not long after that I started teaching him to ride in the street. I would ride close behind him and give instructions. Obviously we stuck to the residential neighborhood and didn't ride on any busy streets. As his skills progressed we moved up to busier roads.

I remember the things that were the hardest for him to grasp at first, in the order we tackled them:
1. Sticking to the right.
2. Holding a relatively straight line.
3. Watching for stop signs so I didn't have to point them out.
4. Looking over his shoulder before making a left turn, to make sure there was no traffic attempting to overtake him.
5. Staying out of the door zone.

Everyone's already said it but if she's starting to push her limits then get the training wheels off. They are no longer a safety measure. In fact, they are now a danger. All is well in a straight line but the first time she tries to turn at a higher speed the training wheels can lead to an ugly crash. Get them off and she'll be fine. You'll want to ride alongside instead of run alongside though. My 5yr old went from training wheels to a week later hitting speeds up to 17mph around our park (thanks to being able to corner at speed before a modest downhill). I'd lose touch fast if I was trying to run alongside. Don't underestimate young kids. They have no sense of limits.

I learned in the fall by pedaling into a big pile of leaves. I was a late training wheels off type but I think that was more parental and did hurt my learning since I couldn't turn well enough. Would put a wheel down, couldn't lean far enough, and wouldn't make a turn tight enough. Not fun.

Also, when she crashes, don't freak out unless there's a bone coming out of an arm (there won't be). The best parents I've witnessed (I work in an elementary school) say "Nice one!" and high five when a kid gets a bump and there is no crying, tears, snot bubbles, etc. And the kid goes right back to playing, albeit with a sore spot, but much less fear and a great deal more determination.

Watch the reactions of adults vs children next time a kid gets a 'boo-boo.' It will happen 1 of 2 ways: bump-kid inhales in pain-parents leave seat to comfort kid-kid cries OR bump-kid inhales in pain-parent high fives kid for nice bump or calls them a stuntman-kid celebrates battle scar and keeps on truckin'.

Granted some really do hurt but YOUR attitude goes a long way to how scared she'll be when she does wipe out.

Also, when she crashes, don't freak out unless there's a bone coming out of an arm (there won't be). The best parents I've witnessed (I work in an elementary school) say "Nice one!" and high five when a kid gets a bump and there is no crying, tears, snot bubbles, etc. And the kid goes right back to playing, albeit with a sore spot, but much less fear and a great deal more determination.

Watch the reactions of adults vs children next time a kid gets a 'boo-boo.' It will happen 1 of 2 ways: bump-kid inhales in pain-parents leave seat to comfort kid-kid cries OR bump-kid inhales in pain-parent high fives kid for nice bump or calls them a stuntman-kid celebrates battle scar and keeps on truckin'.

Granted some really do hurt but YOUR attitude goes a long way to how scared she'll be when she does wipe out.

LOL. yeah.

kid: falls down-waah!

parent (me): OK, now get up and try again.

Repeat. (They get it very quickly)

If she's comfortable on the bike, ditch the training wheels. I know 4 year-olds (not mine-- I had later bloomers) who were on two wheels already.

As for helmets, my kids are the only ones in the neighborhood who ever wear helmets. It's always been that way, and my kids are generally okay with it. I've caught my 7-year-old pedaling out of the garage without his lid a couple of times, and one stern look has him heading back in to get it.

I was 3.5-4 when my training wheels came off. The next day I tried to follow the "big kids" down a steep gravel road and ended up going most of the way down on my face. Back on the bike after my mom finished dabbing H2O2 (Yowch) on my road rash.

I learned to ride a two wheeler in a deserted parking lot, with my dad running behind me, holding me up. I still remember him telling me I was doing great, and I yelled at him to keep holding me up, and he said, "I haven't been, you've gone around twice all on your own!" and how exhiliarting it was.

Some of my favorite memories of my dad involve bicycles. *sniff*