The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsDid you have training wheels on your bike or did you go all out and not use any training wheels. I didn't use training
wheels.

SheltieLover
(72,992 posts)Now they have balance bikes for toddlers. Guessing those kids won't need training wheels.
debm55
(50,233 posts)bike tipped over.
Hope you weren't injured.
CTyankee
(66,893 posts)I know. I have some old black and white pictures of me on each.
debm55
(50,233 posts)
SheltieLover
(72,992 posts)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
(66,893 posts)SheltieLover
(72,992 posts)been much, much worse for sure.
ihaveaquestion
(3,973 posts)I don't remember falling, but I probably did.
debm55
(50,233 posts)
IbogaProject
(4,830 posts)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 toddlers feet are flat on the floor. There is nothing complicated to confuse, so the rider simply starts walking the bike along. Initially, they normally dont 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
(50,233 posts)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
(16,746 posts)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
(50,233 posts)
Harker
(16,746 posts)Thanks, Deb!
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
(16,746 posts)" I can jump that... easy!"
randr
(12,576 posts)At the bottom a tee in the road and a tall hedge. I only ran into the hedge once.
debm55
(50,233 posts)learn.
viva la
(4,243 posts)They also neglected to teach me about BRAKES! I went hurtling screaming down the street until I hit the curb and fell over.
debm55
(50,233 posts)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
(4,243 posts)I would put it in third gear (or something-- sort of the middle), and then never change.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(24,287 posts)... before the bicycle, there was a tricycle. I suppose that counts as training wheels.
debm55
(50,233 posts)
doc03
(38,293 posts)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
(16,746 posts)As soon as I was able, I made the transition to a Pontiac, though.
debm55
(50,233 posts)
PJMcK
(24,140 posts)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
(50,233 posts)
AllaN01Bear
(27,174 posts)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
(50,233 posts)
pandr32
(13,336 posts)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
(50,233 posts)
electric_blue68
(23,390 posts)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
(50,233 posts)adult tricycles would be great.
electric_blue68
(23,390 posts)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
(39,046 posts)I taught myself to ride my Pops 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
(50,233 posts)
kimbutgar
(25,858 posts)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
(50,233 posts)
ProfessorGAC
(74,084 posts)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
(50,233 posts)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
(792 posts)Dad ran behind me holding the back of the seat until he felt I could do it alone. Learned quickly.
debm55
(50,233 posts)
Figarosmom
(7,914 posts)debm55
(50,233 posts)
KitFox
(365 posts)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
(50,233 posts)