donheff

I'm sure we all went through the smash and bang process of learning how to ride two wheels. Dad (or a big brother in my case) runs along side you down the sidewalk, lets go and you crash until you don't. I recently bought my grandson a 16 incher and saw that he was ready to make the transition from training wheels. In this brave new world I realized that Dr, Google has the answer for everything and sure enough, lots of posts about tears free two wheeler training. I tried the one that sounded sensible and voila. Take the tyke to a gentle grass slope that levels off after a while. Have him or her start out with the seat low enough to get easy foot contact and ride down the hill with the feet out and touching for balance. Tell them to start lifting the feet until they feel good going straight and then to lift the feet and turn the bike. After they get OK with that, start pedaling down onto the flat area and beyond. Works great, a few grassy falls but no tears.

berner

One tactic I've read about is to take the pedals off and let the child use it as a balance bike for a few days. In no time at all, they can balance and steer at which point the pedals go back on.

donheff

I have heard the balance bike approach, but my GK tried a regular balance bike and didn't have the patience to master it. The hill technique took about 15 minutes and was done.

dbg

That is the exact technique I used on all four of my kids. Worked great. Grassy slope in the park across the street was perfect.

Garfield Cat

Kids to day have several advantages. the big one is the balancing on the Razor scooter types. Once they learn how to coast on that Razor, its an easy transition to ride a two wheel bike. Just let the kid have at it with the Razor and within a few days, the kid will amaze you.

Then tell the kid a bike is like the same thing. Make sure you tell the kid that first. That will boost his/her confidence.

bruce19

I have one child, a son, now 33 yrs old. This was my only experience......when he was three I took him with me on a visit to a motorcycle dealer. While we were there he said, "I want a motorcycle." I told him he wasn't ready and also said "You're still riding your bike with training wheels." He apparently thought about this on the way home. At home he got out his bike and said, "Take the training wheels off my bike." I said, "OK but I'm not going to be running around holding you up." My wife thought I was being too harsh so once the training wheels were off and he was sitting on the bike, she said, "Here I'll hold the seat while you pedal." He responded, "Take your hands off my bike" and rode away. Never wobbled or put a foot down....just rode down the dirt driveway and back....about 200 ft. He got into BMX and Mountain biking and when he was 19 got a Yamaha R6 and a license to race.

rumrunn6

hmmm sounds good

Daniel4

I didn't do any of the techniques you guys described. With my kids, had them sit on the bike with one foot on the pedal at the low position and the other foot on the asphalt. Then I told him to walk the bike. He kept at it walking the bike but using a little more pedal power each time until he could do full rotations. Then one day I pushed him down the street and let go as he pedaled all on his own.