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My nephew from another country didn't know how to ride a bike until he came here for a vacation one summer. He was 11 years old! We took his ipad and told him he can't have it til he learned how to ride a bike. Took him a day to learn. He was just not interested but without anything else to do he learned it quickly. My sons both learned around 6 years old. I don't think we helped them. They just did on their own.
I agree with the balance bike idea. Our neighbors had one for their son who had some muscle delays and he got the hang of balancing in no time all on his own.
My oldest daughter was probably six when she started learning to ride a bike without training wheels. She was very anxious and it took hubby taking her to the park and having her fall into the grass a few times, or twelve, for her to get the hang of things. The key was not giving up on her, lots of encouragement, and practice, practice, practice! My second daughter learned to ride a bike without training wheels when she was four or five. She just had the willpower to do it all on her own, with little help from us. She's always been one to try things, take a spill and get back up again.
This summer my husband's nephew who is ten came to visit us for a week. I spent some days thinking of fun things he could do up here with my girls, his cousins. He arrived and one of the days I had told the kids to grab their bikes and go ride. They said we can't mom because cousin can't ride a bike. I was taken aback. Turns out his parents never taught him to ride a bike without training wheels, he didn't even own a bike at all now. The high school here has a unit they do on bicycling and they ride through the town to the mountain and hike up to the star in seventh grade. How embarrassing it would be if you're one of the kids who didn't know how to ride a bike at age 14 or 15.
This is a skill that I feel should be learned early in life.
Our son was 8 1/2 but he has sensory processing disorder so not a 'typical' kid. I would wholeheartedly agree with the balance bike idea, or at least a scooter until they will take off on the bike on their own. Our pediatrician said a scooter is a great way to get them ready for the bike. This seemed to work well for our son but have seen several kids start on balance bikes and they seem to catch onto the regular bike way faster!
Son - practically an expert at 3.
Daughter - still waiting at 5, but mostly that's our fault for not working with her more.
The secret is never using training wheels. Go straight from BALANCE BIKE to regular.
My son was about 5 when he learned to ride without training wheels. I had made the mistake of getting him a larger bike because he was tall. He fell once with it while it still had training wheels, he didn't want to get back on it for a month.
My daughter who's 8 years younger then my son was a few months shy of her 3rd birthday when her training wheels came off. She wanted to be like the big kids. She had one of those smaller 1st bikes that they didn't make when my son was little.
My grandson just turned 6. He's as tall as a 9 year old. My daughter had taken his pedals off to make his bike into a balance bike. He was doing ok with it; then she went and got a bigger bike. He fell once with it, the training wheel bent a little, now he refuses to get back on. Hoping we can get him on the bike before winter comes.
He's also been learning how to ride a 2 wheeled razor scooter after riding a 3 wheeled one since he was 2. I don't know why I hadn't gotten him the 2 wheeled version when he was 4. His 2 1/2 year old sister is also trying to learn to ride the 2 wheeled scooter lol I have a feeling she's going to be like her mother, an early learner.
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