Re: Bicycle at what age? - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-25-2004, 08:51 AM

Jeanne Clelland <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...

> What's a good age to get a real bike (with training wheels)? My son is
> almost 4, and I'm thinking of getting him a bike for his birthday. My
> main concern is that we live on a hill with a fair bit of traffic, so we
> don't have a great place for him to practice riding without going
> somewhere else.

Another possibility is to get a trail-a-bike or similar contraption
([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]) and go riding
together. Using a trailercycle gives a kid a shorter set of list of
things to deal with -- s/he only has to hang on, and optionally pedal.
Other things, like balancing, and negotiating traffic are then largely
up to the adult captain. This is an excellent intermediate step
between tricycling in the driveway, and riding a bike on the street.
You are also modeling for the kid how to handle yourself sensibly on
the road.

If you weren't in Colorado but around here, I'd sell you our old
Trail-a-bike. Both of my kids have now graduated to tandems. We're
looking at doing Pedal the Pinchot ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ])
as a family -- that's going to be lots of fun.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky

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