Teaching your child to ride: with or without pedals?
The best way to help is to have confidence in your child and to trust his/her skills, which just need to be developed. As with any learning process, it is preferable to separate it into stages. First of all, help your child to be comfortable with the pedal-less bike, a balance bike, which at BEMOOV we call a "balance bike". Then your child will be ready to start learning to ride a pedal-equipped bike. For this, it is essential to choose a quality balance bike that is light and suitable for your child's height, adjusted so that the child can touch the ground with his/her feet completely flat.
Develop your child's balance with a bicycle without pedals
A bicycle without pedals (a balance bike) will allow children to develop their sense of balance, and to discover the pleasure of riding on two wheels before learning to pedal a bicycle. The exclusive two-position footrest of our BEMOOV bikes will facilitate a child being able to balance while on two wheels quickly. It will even allow your child to become a little acrobat. We guarantee you and your child will have a wonderfully fun time! Don't hesitate to read our blog post to find out why a balance bike is better for learning to ride.
How to proceed?
It's very simple, in 3 steps:
1. Set the saddle as low as possible, let your child step over the balance bike. He/she will naturally take hold of the handlebars and start to move forward while walking. This will stimulate his/her balance and the dissociation of leg movements.
2. Sit your child in the saddle set at an intermediate height, so that the knees are moderately bent, with his/her feet on the ground. Let him/her push one foot and then the other to move forward, until the child feels comfortable.
3. You can now raise the saddle so that your child is only slightly bent at the knees with his/her feet on the ground. Your child will push harder and harder with the feet and gain speed. This will allow the child to discover quickly that he/she can place his/her feet on the footrest to fine-tune the balance, before starting to be able to stop using the rear brake.
When these three steps are fully mastered, balance on the footrests and use of the rear brake becomes second nature, your child can consider switching to a pedal-powered bike.
Your child's first bike with pedals
That's it, the time has finally come for your child to learn to use the pedals of a new bike, and without ever needing training wheels. Before your child embarks on this learning process, it is essential to make him/her aware of the road rules to be followed and to set safety instructions. The adventure will only be more fun!
Let your child get acquainted with the bike
Before the age of 3, it is quite normal for your child to lose balance easily. At this age, children's movements are not yet fully coordinated. This will be less the case in a child who has started learning with a balance bike equipped with a footrest. If this mastery of balance is not yet perfect, you can take the pedals off the new bike for a few days, so you can simply use it as a balance bike. As soon as your child understands that he/she can balance moving forward with his/her feet spread apart or resting on the pedal arms, it will be possible to put the pedals back on. As with all learning processes, don't allow your child to skip the steps. The main thing is for him/her to have fun and feel pride in progressing at his/her own pace. The balance will follow quite naturally.