Comment by bredren

Our kid started riding a pedal bike on their own at 3 years, 3 months thanks to the sheet method.

We started on an indoor bike-like ride along, thing.

Then a balance bike outside, then a small kids bike with no pedals, then pedals with freewheel, (no coaster brake) but two hand brakes and the sheet.

I used a muslin baby blanket for the sheet.

We did not take the support away suddenly at any time though.

We jogged with them a lot, constantly ready to catch her. I did, a handful of times save her from wrecks. This took a fair amount of athleticism, attention and reflexes.

But it also allowed us to talk about core bike safety and new nuances like “watching your white circles” (the handle bar ends were white) and make sure not to let them touch anything while riding.

Our kid got really comfortable pedaling and toward the end of the sheet use, I mostly just let it hang jogging along. It was the sense of security that allowed plenty of practice in advance of going without.

One day they just picked up their bike and started riding across the playground. Plenty of miles since then no wrecks yet.

We were not going for precociousness, but it was really great to get it down so young. I can ride my old coaster bike alongside when it’s dry, and we’ve done night rides.

We did not push any step of it, but did have the next bike available to them to see and look at and talk about. It was very smooth, I wish something like this process was available when I was a kid.