Riding a bicycle: learning to pedal

Your child should learn how to balance on a bicycle before learning to pedal.

Signs your child is ready to learn to pedal

Your child may be ready to learn to pedal a bike when they:

• are able to propel a balance bike confidently and freewheel for long distances
• can handle their bike downhill without choosing to put their feet down
• can manage to avoid obstacles and steer around paths freely
• want to move to the next stage

Converting a balance bike back to a pedal bike

If you are converting your bike back to a pedal bike, place one pedal back at a time.

Each pedal is specific to right or left and an ‘R’ or ‘L’ is usually stamped onto the pedal.

Teaching your child to use a pedal bike

Putting on one pedal first, encourage your child to place one foot onto the pedal. They should keep their other foot on the ground. Ask them to stay in this position without losing balance, staying still for the count of 10.

Your child will need to learn to lean the bike slightly to keep balance. Try this with the pedal set at different positions (e.g. high up or low down)

Start with the pedal at the lowest point in its revolution. Encourage your child to leave their foot on this pedal. Tell them to scoot along with their other foot along the ground.

As their confidence grows in this stage, they will be able to gain speed and maintain balance.

Second pedal

Once they are comfortable, they should be able to leave the foot on the pedal and freewheel with the other foot off the ground.

At this stage, they are ready for the second pedal to be put on.

Encourage them to repeat the stage before. But as they gain speed, they can place the ‘scooting’ foot onto the pedal and start pedalling.

As they gain confidence they may want to start off by:

1. having their foot on the pedal at the ‘2 o’clock’ position (forwards from its upmost position)
2. pushing down hard to start moving forward
3. placing their second foot on the other pedal when they gain enough speed

Independent rider

As your child becomes a more independent rider, you will need to adjust the bike.

You'll need to raise the seat height. You may also need to adjust the handlebar height.

Your child may even need a new bike in the next size up.