Bike riding help: 6 year old

Although this is not a direct answer to your question, I wanted to chime in. I, too, searched for bike riding classes / lessons and wasn't able to find one for my kid or for myself. I'm embarrassed to admit that I never learned to ride a bike and as a 40-something year old person, I finally wanted to learn. My kid is extremely cautious and risk averse and at 6 years old, they did not know how to ride a bike.

This is what worked for us. 

• Woom bike (or similar high quality and super light bike) -- it's very light and easy to ride and handle. We took the pedals off and used it to glide on a slightly inclined playground. We practiced at Beach Elementary School in Piedmont. At first, we just walked a bit, glided a bit, walked a bit, glided a bit. When the child didn't want to ride or glide, we just played in the playground, had snacks, and made it fun. There may have been some ice cream or special meals after the bike sessions. Gliding got progressively easier. Getting the gliding down was the key, and letting the kid go was also important. As a person who is very cautious and don't know how to ride a bike, I was having a hard time letting go of the bike and letting my kid just go. My partner was better at letting the kid go and not hold on to the back of the bike. Once the kid felt comfortable gliding and balancing, we added the pedals. Our child is not athletic or coordinated and is very scared of everything but it took about 6 afternoons and the child learned to ride a bike! We did have a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and gloves. If the kid fell, which they did a few times, they were fairly well protected. A child who is more coordinated and a bit more adventurous probably could probably learn much faster. 

  I used the same strategy and it did take me longer to learn but I can ride now. 

Wheel Kids is great!  Taught both my kids to ride in less than a day, and had them taking multi-hour bike trips by the end of the week. The staff was great and my kids had a blast. I’d definitely recommend them. 

I signed my kiddo up for this week-long summer camp, Trackers Bay Rovers & Wheelers, right before he made the break through on riding pedal bikes.  Still think the extra practice will be helpful for him....

Hi, 

Sorry to hear you can’t find a spot for bike lessons. This is what we did with my (very fearful) kiddo. First we only took off one sidewheel, that way he could kind off ‘fall back’ on that side wheel. Once he had the confidence we took off both side wheels and he was only allowed to learn how to balance by putting both legs on the ground (but not pedaling) and just trying to keep his balance and moving forward. He did that for hours. And once that went well, he himself wanted to try to peddle. We stayed close to the grass, so he could fall on the grass and standby of course :) Good luck! 

My daughter is also 6 years old and hasn't learned to ride a bike. She'll be going to a week-long half-day summer program, Learn to Bike Camp run by Avid4 Adventure: https://avid4.com/summer-camp/california-oakland-pre-k-1st-learn-to-bike which was recommended to us by another parent. It looks like some weeks still have spaces available.

Here is the method my father used to help me ride, and I have used it successfully with both of my sons, as well as with friends’ children:

Once a child is comfortable with two training wheels,  remove one.  Initially the imbalance will be uncomfortable and result in an exaggerated lean to compensate, but little by little, the child will become comfortable with the single training wheel.  Eventually you will see them riding without regard for that single wheel being in contact with the ground.  You will know the right time to remove the remaining training wheel.

Hi!  I'm a parent of 2 kids who also struggled with transition out of training wheels.  Best advice we received was to take the training wheels off and have the child ride across a large grassy field.  Riding on grass helps the child balance more easily.  We now have a teen and pre-teen who enjoy riding!  

I also don’t have any recommendations for a class but wanted to tell you what worked for us for our three kids. We took our kids to a grassy hill, lowered the seat all the way down, and let them drift down. When they lost speed, initially they would fall over like a foot into the grass and were fine. After a few falls they figured out how to prevent themselves from falling over. Then they put their feet on the pedals while gliding. Then they tried pedaling a bit. And then they could just do it. They did “flying ninja starts” where they would run while seated to get their bikes started at stop signs for like a year.

Super bad practice but our youngest refused to try and it was driving us crazy. He loved pokemon so we told him one night we would take him to Target and buy him a big pack of cards if he learned to ride his bike. He woke us the next day before dawn to go to the park and could do it himself in about five minutes. It is the only time we have bribed any of our kids but it worked!

Not a recommendation for a class, but here is what usually works: Take off the training wheels and the pedals. Lower the saddle far enough that they can put both feet on the ground while sitting on the saddle. Have them use the bike as a push-bike until they get the balancing part sorted out. Add the pedals again and raise the saddle a bit. Done.

Hi there,

My son is a graduate of Wheel Kids. He’d ridden on a balance bike for a long time, but was tentative about taking the next step to a pedal bike. He wouldn’t let is teach him, even though he had the hang of balancing. He took the weekend class as a new 5 year old and was riding a pedal bike by the end of the 4-session class. There was a range of ages and a range of balance bike vs training wheel riders coming in to the class. Some more tentative kids may need to repeat the class to gain confidence. The class gives dedicated bike practice time with non-parent coaches. Our class was kinda big and a little unwieldy at times (it helped a lot that my kiddo took the class with a buddy, with whom he could hang during down time in class), but the counselors/instructors make their way to help each individual kid eventually during each class. Class is held on a blacktop adjacent to the parking lot at Heather Farms park in Walnut Creek. They set up some obstacle courses, play some games, leave time for a break, snack & sometimes, reading a story about biking.  At the end of the course the kids get a certificate & take a little ride around the park. It has the added benefit of being at Heather Farms, so we would often make a day of it & bring lunch, play in the park afterwards & sometimes get a treat from the various ice cream trucks that frequent the park. If your kiddo takes the class, I recommend bringing a lawn chair & sun protection - there’s no shade on the blacktop where class is held (if you plan to watch on the sidelines). Overall, it did the trick for my son. I have no idea how it compares to the REI class.  We are also a Woom bike family & despite the steep price tag, have found them great for learning to ride as the other responder mentioned. Good luck!

Hello! Get her a balance bike, or remove the training wheels AND the pedals from her current bike. Make sure that her feet comfortably reach the ground so that she can stop herself and is not scared of teetering up too high on the bike. Then have her go out on the balance bike around the neighborhood, so that she gets used to being on a bike and balancing. It may take a couple of weeks, or it may take a few months. The timeline depends on the child, but ultimately what you will be looking for is her comfort on the bike. Once she is clearly comfortable and confident (for my child, that looked like a lot of gliding and going pretty fast), either put the pedals back on or transition her to a pedal bike. Again it will need to be the right size for her so that she can comfortably reach the ground with her feet. 

We started my child on a balance bike around age 3 and he rode around like that for several months, then when he was clearly comfortable and confident and we were comfortable with the idea of him starting to ride a pedal bike, we gave him a pedal bike. He learned to ride it in just a few days and comfortably in under 2 weeks. 

Unfortunately, from anecdotal evidence, training wheels are not the way to go, it seems. I as an adult actually took a learn-to-ride class for adults a few years back and we also learned on balance bikes (e.g., bikes with the pedals removed). Just get rid of the training wheels and start from the beginning. Good luck! She'll be great!!

A second vote for doing it on your own. We took our kids to their school playground with their bikes (no training wheels) and my husband just ran with them while the got used to pedaling - they learned in an hour or two - it's really not a big deal - you can do it!!

I also don't have a class recommendation, but my kid learned how to ride using training wheels first, so I thought I would share. We initially tried with the balance bike, but they were way too cautious to do anything other than essentially walk it awkwardly while straddling it. Then they rode on a bike with training wheels for a while with no pressure to take them off. After a while with the training wheels, and for no obvious or particular reason, they asked to try without the training wheels. We took them off, and off the kid went on their first try. I think some kids just take longer to feel ready, even if we know physically, they shouldn't have a problem. Good luck!

Oakland public library sometimes has bike rodeos for kids where they learn skills. May be worth a phone call to the 81st branch.