Teaching complete beginners

Offer a sense of achievement, independence and responsibility:

Facilitate cycling skills

Training for complete beginners is available in one to one or group sessions. We can even lend you a bike to take away and practice on. Most children and adults learn to ride within an hour! Even those who say they have no sense of balance have learnt to ride in a few hours, in a confidence building environment. Contact us for more details.

Here are some tips on how to teach a complete beginner at home:

About the Bike

It is best not to use stabilisers on a child’s bike at any time - once a child is ready to ride (age 3 or 4 upwards), put the trike to one side and try them out on a scooter. This allows them to develop their sense of balance, steering themselves and of controlling where they go and how fast etc. They can jump off easily on their own and their speed is self limiting according to how much they push (on a flat path or playground).
Make sure any bike used is a good fit (length and height) - if it is too big, it feels unwieldy and is more likely to add to any nervousness, if it is too small, it is harder to gain balance and the rider’s knees will be hitting the handlebars or their chin.
For complete beginners, ensure that the saddle is high enough for the legs to be straight when feet are flat on the ground, and when the new rider feels confident, the saddle can be raised to a height that allows their leg to be straight when their heel is placed on the pedal, with the pedal in its lowest position. (For riding, the ball of the foot should be on the pedals)

For complete beginners of any age (children to adult)

Ensure that the rider knows how to hold and control the bike while standing to the “clean” side (the side without the chain) or left hand side of the bike with one or both brakes on.
Ask them to tilt the bike towards them while holding the brake and get onto the saddle.
Ask the rider to set the pedal on the right side (pull it up in line with the frame of the bike in order to get plenty of power when they push off).
From this position they can try pushing off and putting both their feet on the pedals and pedalling, or simply continue on to the next point:
Encourage the rider to scoot using their bike - sit on the saddle and use their feet on the ground to "walk" along, so making the bike roll. As they gain confidence they will take their feet off the ground for longer periods of time - eventually they will feel able to put one foot and then the second foot on the pedal.
Once a child is ready to pedal along, find a sturdy rucksack that fits them well. Ask them to wear it when they are cycling (fill it with some favourite toys who want to come along for a ride). While they are pedalling along, you can hold onto the rucksack - if you pull up on it, you may lift them out of the saddle - that is great if they are actually falling, so you can give them a slightly gentler let down, but not so great when they are trying to turn a corner. You will need to be able to run along with them - they need a bit of speed in order to keep upright - the hardest thing to do is to cycle slowly - that is advanced cycling technique!
For adults, wearing a rucksack can help, or their bike can be held under the back of the saddle or on a sturdy pannier rack.
Encourage the rider to "weave" from side to side, to get the hang of how the bike moves - cycling in a straight line is actually a series of minute turns from one side to another, that we, almost imperceptibly, correct using our weight and the handlebars. Cycling is really a “controlled wobble”!
Once they can cycle along without much of your help, run along with them and encourage them to try using the brakes to slow down gradually to a stop, lean the bike over and get off. Once they have control of the bike in this way, they are going to be OK to cycle about along the pavement.
After that, the more practice they get the better and the easier it will be for you to walk to the shops or school, with them riding along with you. Once they are aged 9 or 10 years old, they can sign up for a Bikeability road riding course, where they learn the logic of the road, how to deal with various road junctions and situations, communicate with other road users and generally learn how to become a responsible road user. This is excellent grounding for using any vehicle on the road at a later stage.