Did you have training wheels on your bike or did you go all out and not use any training wheels. I didn't use training

[debm55]

wheels.

[SheltieLover]

1. I had training wheels.

Now they have balance bikes for toddlers. Guessing those kids won't need training wheels.

[debm55]

3. I had an adult sized bike. My parents did buy training wheels. for a kids bike. Needless to say it didn;t work, and the

bike tipped over.

[SheltieLover]

8. Oh no!

Hope you weren't injured.

[CTyankee]

2. I'm so old that we didn't have training wheels then. You just went off your trike and onto a bike and that was that.

I know. I have some old black and white pictures of me on each.

[debm55]

5. Thank you CTyankee. I did the same, And like me you did it without the helmet, shin pads, etc.

[SheltieLover]

10. I don't think bike helmets, knee & elbow pads were invented

in the stone age, Deb. I sure didn't have them & wouldn't have worn them anyway. Sissy stuff.



Ps - helmets are an excellent idea!

[CTyankee]

21. No. We were just lucky! Or at least I was, don't know about you!

[SheltieLover]

22. I was mostly lucky. Took one bad spill in gravel. Still remember mom picking gravel out of my knee, but it could've

been much, much worse for sure.

[ihaveaquestion]

4. No training wheels

I don't remember falling, but I probably did.

[debm55]

7. Thank you ihaveaquestion.for sharing with us.

[IbogaProject]

6. I used them in the 1970s.

They are now out of fashion, as there are better methods to teach riding the bicycle. They involve splitting their training between a three wheeler and a Balance Bike. The three wheeler is optional but I feel it helps until they are a little bigger as the smallest bikes can be hard for small kids to pedal. The idea of a Balance Bike is that it teaches them to balance first as the standard training wheels cultivate habits that don't align with free biking.

https://www.mffy.com/blog/i-am-a-huge-fan-of-balance-bikes

So why do balance bikes work in teaching a child to learn to ride a bike?
Balance bikes have no pedals. The toddler’s feet are flat on the floor. There is nothing complicated to confuse, so the rider simply starts walking the bike along. Initially, they normally don’t even sit down and shuffle it along. As the bike leans to one side, the rider will naturally bring it back up-right, in order to move forwards. Balance is being taught without even realizing it.

Stabilisers introduce the concept of pedalling first, but this is the quickest and easiest skill to learn. However once removed, we see children falling over to one side immediately, as they have not learned to balance. As the process of riding a balance bike is instinctive, the kids are simply having fun, gaining speed and confidence, without realizing they are learning. The little ones love the feeling of accomplishment, whilst having fun and they feel safe.

As confidence grows they start sitting down and picking up their feet for longer periods of time, and start moving quicker. This whole time, balance is being learned, motor skills and coordination improving and the child is having fun! It also allows you two free hands to push a buggy, carry shopping and get somewhere quicker.

[debm55]

12. Thank you very IbogaProject. I never heard of a Balance Bike before. That sounds very good for the kids using them. I

went up on my bike, while my father held the rear wheel, he told me to pedal. I was doing fine until I realized he was no longer holding the rear wheel.

[Harker]

9. My father told me he'd hang on to the seat while I pedaled and worked on balance.

When I heard him shout (from a long way off) ""by Jove, I think you've got it!" I immediately crashed into a roadside ditch.

[debm55]

14. Same here!!!! Lookin back. I wonder if that is how most of us learned to ride a bike?? Thanks Harker.

[Harker]

26. Yes, looking back in horror with my mouth agape.

Thanks, Deb!

[Rver]

19. Same here.

I'm sure that I wrecked too. I've been riding a bike ever since. I was a statistic to the emergency room during the Evil Knevil days tho.
Switched to a recumbent 10 years ago.

[Harker]

24. Old Knevil was the inspiration for more broken bones than anybody else, I'd bet.

" I can jump that... easy!"

[randr]

11. A slight decline in front of our house ran for a block

At the bottom a tee in the road and a tall hedge. I only ran into the hedge once.

[debm55]

15. Thank you very much for sharing that adventure with us, randr. I did a going through the hedges once also. Live and

learn.

[viva la]

13. I had older cousins, who scoffed at me using training wheels.

They also neglected to teach me about BRAKES! I went hurtling screaming down the street until I hit the curb and fell over.

[debm55]

16. Thank you very much for sharing with us, viva la. I borrowed my cousin's bike once. She had hand brakes. I had feet

brakes. Needless to say as I was going down the street, I went for the feet brakes. That's the day I crashed into a bush. Never did learn how to use speeds and hand brakes.

[viva la]

23. I've never learned how to use the speed either.

I would put it in third gear (or something-- sort of the middle), and then never change.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. I didn't use training wheels, but ...

... before the bicycle, there was a tricycle. I suppose that counts as training wheels.

[debm55]

39. Thank you very much for sharing with us. JustABozoOnThisBus.

[doc03]

18. No training wheels my dad held the bike

at the start. A little later I looked and I was all by myself, I got shook up and ran over a bank, I was lucky I didn't get hurt. I still ride a bike today at 77, rode 30 miles this morning.

[Harker]

25. We started off the same way.

As soon as I was able, I made the transition to a Pontiac, though.

[debm55]

40. It seems that most of us on the thread started with our dad's as training wheels. Thank you so much for sharing, doc03

[PJMcK]

20. Never had training wheels

When I was four, my best friend was an older boy from next door. he had me riding a two-wheeler in ten minutes.

When my son got his first bike, his mother insisted that I put the training wheels on the bike. I still had him riding on two wheels in a couple of weeks.

[debm55]

38. That's wonderful PJMcK. Thank you for sharing with us. You helped your son reach a milestone in life. Congratulations.

[AllaN01Bear]

27. yes

was a failure of ridingg a bike . parents kept nagging at me . one day after church,and on my own. opened the backyard gate , took off , no help from adults . kame back and told them what had happened didnt have training wheels thereafter..

[debm55]

37. Good for you, Bear. Way to go!!!!!

[pandr32]

28. My training wheels were my Dad.

I wish I could go back and give him a love trophy for the laps he ran up and down the street while bent in a weird angle holding the back of my bike. Then there was the last one when he stopped and I didn't know until I turned around.

[debm55]

36. Yes, pandr32, that's the way I learned too, Thank you very much for sharing.

[electric_blue68]

29. I learned to ride at my suburban cousin's town, not much traffic by them.

Adult bike.
I think I remember my uncle letting go of the back. I was OK.
In '66 or so. No helmets, let alone anything else.

Had an accident at some point (could of been worse) I turned on the pebbly, gravelly drive way on the hourse around the corner. Down I went with some little rocks part embedded in my right elbow.
I guess I walked back.
Red Mercurichrome. Ouchie!

Had a big scar for decades! I think it's all gone or very faint. and

At another cousin's, too, another burb town and there we went further; whether we had foot, or hand brakes I don't remember.

I even rented bicycles in Central Park, NYC.
Fun!

I'd love to have the sit back adult tricycle!

[debm55]

35. Thank you very much for sharing with us electric_blue68. I hated the red mercurichrome. Wow did it burn. PS one of those

adult tricycles would be great.

[electric_blue68]

44. Luckily I didn't need the red mecurichrome often....

A bunch of DU peeps won't know exactly what it is! lSince it goes back so far.

Did I see the adult tricycle (in photos) when I was in late my very late 50's?

[Brother Buzz]

30. Training wheels ? No way

I taught myself to ride my Pop’s 27 inch three speed English racer when I was three. I stepped inside the frame and reached up to the handelbars. Ridding was easy peasy, but the dismount was ugly. Brakes? I learned that part later.

[debm55]

34. HAHAHAHHAH. I love your sense of humor, Brother Buzz.

[kimbutgar]

31. Had training wheels but not for long.

Maybe a couple of weeks and then I made my Dad take them off and after a couple of falls finally got my balance and I was offf!

[debm55]

42. Thank you very much, kimbutgar.for sharing your story.

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Had Them

My dad kept raising them, so I kept riding the bike more slanted.
He could tell I really didn't need them, so he took them off.
I was pretty nervous, but I was riding the bike without them the next day.
Not sure why I remember that so clearly, but I do.

[debm55]

33. Thank you very much, ProfessorGAC . Riding a bike for the first time is a milestone in life. Like many milestones we

tend to remember them. I rode the slanted bike too. I went home thinking I would never ride a big girl bike. And like you, I did. Thank you for post.

[LogDog75]

41. Without training wheels

Dad ran behind me holding the back of the seat until he felt I could do it alone. Learned quickly.

[debm55]

43. Thank you very much for sharing with us, LogDog75

[Figarosmom]

45. No training wheels. 🚲....nt

[debm55]

47. Thank you very much. Figarosmom.

[KitFox]

46. We didn't have a bike with training wheels. I was still riding

my trike and one day my older sister made fun of me and called me a baby for still riding my trike. When she got off her bike, I was so mad, I grabbed her bike and took off riding it. I was all the way down the block before I realized what I was doing. I panicked and tipped right over! 😁A few weeks later, my folks surprised me with a bike of my own. Another fun post from you Deb! Hope you and your husband are both doing well!🩷🩷🩷

[debm55]

48. Thank you very much, KitFox. When you took your sister's bike, you joined the big kids world.