Comment by teekert

Comment by teekert 3 days ago

22 replies

View on Hacker News

This is spot on. I live in the Netherlands, both my kids could ride a bike at 2. Shortly after learning how to walk, many kids here get a "loopfiets" (walking bike) which is exactly this, a bike with no pedals (nor a chain etc) [0]. I never saw a kid that can't ride this instantly.

Now, the funny thing is that most parents, when their kids are ready for a real bike, they put them on one with side-wheels (support wheels?) [1, 2]... My wife and I were looking at kids doing this and were thinking the same thing: "Wait, this is unlearning the whole thing they learned about balance and steering on 2 wheels! Let's go straight to no-support-wheels!" And voila, there they were, within a couple of attempts (we ran along) they were riding around! While many kids struggle when their support wheels come off.

Since then we joke that we are part of the anti-support-wheel-club when we see kids steering uncomfortably on such a bike. Which is really awkward since the bike has to stay upright, the kids have to hang to one side for balance when steering. And yet, it remains the most (or at least, a very) popular way.

[0] https://www.babyhomepage.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Loopf...

[1] https://media.s-bol.com/qQv4Y69p8j33/1155x1200.jpg

[2] https://bike.nl/loekie-booster-kinderfiets-12-inch-jongens-g...

fortylove 3 days ago

The "walking bikes" you mention are extremely common in the US as well, and are referred to as "balance bikes" here.

Reply View 0 replies
efsavage 3 days ago

> I never saw a kid that can't ride this instantly.

As a data point, we tried this with my son, who is physically very capable if not advanced, and despite many attempts over months, it never clicked for him. We eventually went the training wheels route, which he instantly adopted, and once he was comfortable on that for a while, he learned to ride without them in a single session.

We've since met other parents who had similar experiences, so I think it's definitely not a universal thing that balance bikes are better or even useful.

Reply View 3 replies
  • dirtyaura 3 days ago

    Same with my daughter. We tried with balance bike, but she didn't adopt it and didn't find it fun to try. We went to training wheels and she was immediately motivated. And at the same time, I've heard success stories with balance bikes from my friends.

    Kids are different, try out different things.

    Reply View 0 replies
  • xlii 3 days ago

    This, in my opinion, proves that different people might need different things. And, in turn, many immensely able and skilled ones fail at standard route (e.g. successful writers fail at school).

    It’s fairy obvious but I like to keep this poka-yoke’ish concept in mind: it’s not about the person, it’s about the process.

    Reply View 0 replies
  • looofooo0 3 days ago

    problem is peadling, we used some 4 wheel thing to get this going.

    Reply View 0 replies
f1shy 3 days ago

I would never go to support wheels after a walking bike (laufrad in german). They learn to use instantly, and pretty fast are stable and balancing. Next step is to add pedals, but NOT pedals+support wheels!

Reply View 5 replies
  • dizhn 3 days ago

    The difficult part is not balance but looking ahead. When you are first learning to use the pedals, you instinctively LOOK at them. That's what makes it difficult. I learned on a standard bike but did not pedal until somone encouraged me to try. I was going downhill fast and everything without using the pedals. :)

    Reply View 2 replies
    • dowager_dan99 3 days ago

      I disagree; you don't balance on a bike, you adjust the balance point under the bike as it tips to one side and the other with pressure. This is why beginners "S" their way at the start, then get finer grain control. This is similar to skiing, where you don't balance on top but keep pressure applied to an edge.

      Reply View 1 reply
      • dizhn 3 days ago

        Your bike is upright and the handlebars straight. You add velocity to it. There's no tipping there. It will go straight forever. It's a self balancing system - unlike skiis. You only tip the bike over to turn and that (counter steering) only after a certain speed.

        I maintain that it's looking at the pedals. Looking itself doesn't do anything but a newbie will move the handlebar or lean while looking and or won't generate enough speed. Couple of days on the saddle and they can look anywhere while riding.

        Reply View 0 replies
  • teekert 3 days ago

    Yeah, this is the way. I don't know why the training wheels route is still so ingrained here. Probably also some kids start there, and not on a balance bike (wrong imo).

    Reply View 1 reply
    • 7thaccount 3 days ago

      I've seen some kids struggle with the pedaling if they've only done balance bike. A week or so with support wheels doesn't rob them of the balancing skills they learned and allows them to put the two skills together (balancing and pedaling) instead of having to learn to pedal for the first time with balancing. I'm sure any of these methods work just fine though including what many of us older folks did of just tricycle to bicycle.

      Reply View 0 replies
jansan 3 days ago

I learned riding the bike with support wheels. This was almost 50 years ago, but I remember that it sucked, because whenever a support wheel touched the ground it would pull you to that side. With my children we did the same as you, and they learned really fast. My younger son was a little bit of a hotshot on the walking bike, but that is an entirely different story.

Reply View 2 replies
  • wildzzz 3 days ago

    I struggled learning how to ride a bike. Training wheels made it difficult for me so my dad took them off and I struggled more because I didn't understand speed = balance. I gave up and asked for a Razer scooter for Christmas instead. A few years later, I'm at a family event (without my scooter) and I'm watching my cousins ride around the culdesac on their bikes making it look super easy. I hopped on one of their bikes and just started pedalling, it was so easy. Ran back inside to show my parents and they were happy for me but incredibly confused how I just learned how to ride a bike without any real instruction. Maybe a Razer scooter helped me with balance and not being afraid to go fast, I can see how a scooter is similar to a walking bike.

    Reply View 0 replies
  • dowager_dan99 3 days ago

    training/support wheels address the wrong part of what's "hard" about riding a bike. They also encourage the kid to sit down and look at their feet, limit where you can ride, make pedaling harder, provide false security (if you've ever seen a kid tip), and steal all the fun from riding a bike. Bikes are awesome because your body inputs have such an impact on what happens; training wheels make a bike like driving a car.

    Reply View 0 replies
astura 3 days ago

>when their kids are ready for a real bike, they put them on one with side-wheels (support wheels?)

In the US they are called "training wheels."

Reply View 1 reply
  • crest 3 days ago

    "Das sind Stürzräder, nicht Stützräder." sigh

    Reply View 0 replies
6510 3 days ago

When much older, after cycling thousands of km, I tried a bike with support wheels and it was absolutely terrifying! How is one suppose to take corners?

Reply View 3 replies
  • dowager_dan99 3 days ago

    Inevitably the rear end slides out, the bike tips over or the support wheel/brace fails.

    Reply View 0 replies
  • [removed] 3 days ago
    [deleted]
    Reply View 0 replies
deltarholamda 3 days ago

I took the pedals off for one of my kids (the others did the training wheels), and it worked quite well.

The only downside was that he figured out that if he got wobbly, he could stick his legs down and a bit out and it would help him stabilize by lowering the center of gravity. That seemed great at the time, but when the pedals were put back on, he would still use this trick when he got wobbly, which isn't a great instinct. Took a bit of time to train that out of him.

But in the end, it was faster than the training wheels, and it's cheaper than buying a specialized balance bike.

Reply View 0 replies
7thaccount 3 days ago

My kid did a bicycle with the support wheels for a little while just to get the mechanics for pedaling, then did a balance bike for a month or so. After that I put the pedals on with no support wheels and she was riding in no time. I do think the balance bike helps a lot.

Reply View 0 replies