Saturday, July 30, 2011

Teaching a Kid to Ride a Bike

I only started riding just before my son was born in February 2008. But when he was born I knew he'd be on a bike soon, judging by how much I loved it. There was no way I couldn't teach him to ride as early as possible.

When I was five, my mom threw my on my older brother's 20" dirt bike and pushed me down a hill. I remember it clearly. I learned pretty quickly, without any training wheels, but the way my well-meaning mom taught me scared the hell out of me.

So after my son was born I started looking for a bike he could easily learn on. I found the KaZAM at a local bike shop. It's a bike that doesn't have any pedals, so the child can focus on balance and steering.

I could really appreciate this bike - it had real wheels with spokes, nipples, tubes, tires (12"); a quick-release seat clamp, proper bars, and grips. 

The KaZAM.


I bought it right away and took it home. At 26 months my son could just barely touch the ground while sitting on it (with the saddle all the way down).

A few rides and he was propelling him self along, oblivious that between his strides he was actually balancing. He could ride.

Check out the technical skills he learned at 28 months in the video below. These will come in handy on the trail soon.

2 comments:

Alexander Patterson said...

nice skills!! hahah! good rider freestyle technique.

Andrew said...

Have you seen him on this bike? This video is more than a year old...Now he's got a 16" Trek (this is 12"). He gave this one to Elka.

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