Question about tires for kids' bikes (sorry so long)

[NormDeplume]

A friend's daughter is 9 and has never learned how to ride a bike. They moved here from Dallas a couple of years ago, where apparently it wasn't all that common for kids to ride at all. So I offered to help her get up on two wheels. She's fine on a scooter, so I thought we'd have her riding along in no time at all.

She came over yesterday with her Schwinn Deelite (Target cruiser) and I removed her pedals and taught her to scoot on the bike just like I did with my kids. It was very slow going and she never did quite get the hang of balance on her bike. So after an hour I put her on my son's Raleigh Rowdy and she did much better. If we had started her out on that, we might have had more success.

I have two theories why, and maybe you all can help me figure out which one is better.
A. The Raleigh is lighter and/or has a lower center of gravity.
B. The Schwinn has super knobby tires on it.

I'm almost leaning toward the bumpy tires being the problem, but maybe I'm way off? Like I said, it's moot because it's not my kid, not my bike. But I just wonder if we had her on a bike with smooth tires, would we have had better success? Or is it just because the other bike is a tank?

[conradpdx]

Having taught both my kids in the same way, though I taught them to coast on slight grassy hill (coast down/walk up) My daughter was having problems. But when I looked over the bike, I noticed that the handlebars had slipped just a little out of line and the seat was a hair tweeked as well. So when I readjusted those I also lowered the seat so her feet could rest nearly flat on the ground while seated (I think its more of a confidence thing) she had a much easier time. I also swapped out the seat on the bike for a more comfortable seat than the wedge seat the bike came with. I noticed my daughter was constantly trying to find a comfortable sitting position.

It very well might have something to do with the bike or the bike set up. Are the wheels seated in the forks straight, handlebars, seat, brakes rubbing the rims? I knew my bike was a good one. I just didn't adjust it while it sat for a year between kids. I doubt the tread on the wheels had much to do with it. Box store bikes as I'm sure you're aware are basically just slapped together, so I'd double check all that stuff before I'd blame the tire tread.

Once she got the pedals down, I'd raise the seat a 1/4 inch or so when she wasn't looking, till she was at a proper riding height. Within two weeks she went on an 8 mile ride with me. So it seemed to work.

This is by far the best way to teach bike riding. I know it beats the afternoon of mom running behind me watching me wipe out on the street all day when I learned (after doing training wheels for way too long). It was horrible, still to this day I'm surprised that I ever got on a bike after that.

[rumrunn6]

trust your intuition. knobby tires are on too many bikes that don't need them. I migrated my kids to these and they really enjoyed them. I even have them on my MTB bike and I love them. these are not knobby and they roll easily.

Maxxis Holy Roller

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/produ...roller-26-tire

[NormDeplume]

Thanks for your input. I think it was probably a combination of the bike's shape and the tires. My daughter had a similar bike early on (big box cruiser-style), and she didn't take to it either at first. Once she learned to ride on her little brother's Diamondback, she was able to ride it, but it was never a good fit. Lucky for us, she has incredibly long legs, and when she was 9 we were able to fit her on an XS women's bike. She's 10 now and loves riding.


Although grassy slope is a good idea, my lawn is not well-manicured enough for a novice to ride on. Our property is more suited to learning bike-handling skills in the back yard, via lumps, bumps and gopher holes.