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Teaching a child to ride a bike – Patrick’s first bike!

Adjusting the seat height on a childs bike with Simon at the little bike company

Patrick being fitted for a new helmet at The Little Bike Company showroom in Berkhamsted! We’ll soon be filming this little 5 year old (a friend of the little bike company!) having his very first go on a pedal bike! We have removed the pedals off his new little bike, the Orbea Grow – find out why this will help him learn to ride!

Fitting a childs cycling helmet at the little bike company

First of all we tried a few helmets on – it’s important that a child likes the helmet so that they feel good about wearing it – Patrick was not keen on this one!

Fitting a cycling helmet with Simon Timlett

This Uvex helmet got the thumbs up, here’s Simon ensuring that the helmet fits correctly and adjusting the straps.  We have a really useful post about sizing and fitting a childs cycle hemet, well worth a read if you don’t have an expert like Simon available!

Adjusting the seat height on a bike

Patrick was very taken with this bright green Orbea Grow bike (his big sister doesn’t look quite so sure!).  The Orbea Grow is a great choice. It’s a lightweight bike and it actually grows lengthways as well as the usual saddle height and handlebar height adjustments, potentially giving an extra year or more of use as he gets bigger.  Here’s Simon adjusting the seat height, to ensure a good fit – your child should be able to place both feet on the ground when they are first learning.  Once you can ride a bike reasonably well you can adjust the seat so it’s just your tip toes that reach which will help with adding more power to your pedalling.

Adjusting the seat height on a childs bike with Simon at the little bike company

The seat is still a little high for Patrick, so needs lowering a bit more along with the handlebars, but this height would be perfect once he gets confident with his cycling.

Taking the pedals off a bike to help a child learn to balance

Simon now takes off the pedals.  Patrick was a bit miffed (my new bike needs pedals!!!), but we explained that as he hasn’t ridden a balance bike before (which we would recommend for kids from around 3 depending on their size) by removing the pedals he can learn to coast on his bike and get a feel for balancing without pedals knocking his shins – and no need for stabilizers.  Read our post on Stabilizers vs Balance bikes!

kids bike without pedals for easy learning

Here’s the now pedal-less Orbea kids bike, Patrick can now enjoy learning to ride his new bike by getting to grips with balancing first.  We have a really useful guide for teaching your child to ride a pedal bike .

We asked Patrick (and his Mum) if it would be ok to film Patrick having a go on his new bike and putting into practise some of our tips (including showing on film why having a lightweight kids bike is so helpful when they first learn – because they can just pick it up themselves with no help and have another go!)

We’ll upload the film very soon, just waiting for some sunny weather! Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some footage of Patrick pedalling off on his very first bike! (fingers crossed, but as everyone knows filming kids never quite works out as you plan!!!)

Call us or email for advice on teaching your child or finding a suitable kids bike for your childs needs, we stock bikes that fit from toddlers to teens, all selected because they are both lightweight and great quality (no toy bikes allowed!)

Simon will be happy to help or simply use the ‘Find my bike’ option to find a lightweight kids bike on our website that fits your childs inside leg measurement, much better than guessing by wheel size alone.

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Turnaround for bike orders for delivery or collections are up to 3 working days.