The problem with training wheels

[Shevek]

But even if they don't know the term, they might still know they are manually leaning the bike using the handlebars, I certainly did.

I do wonder if this version is older than those balance bikes that have no pedals in the first place.

Bicycling Magazine, a big, slick effort from Rodale, actually ran a feature article saying that on a fast descent, one did not move the handlebars at all, one just leaned into the turns, apparently by sheer force of will.

 

[Myrtonos]

I am not sure what you mean. So you quote me and put something else below the quote that does not seem like a response!!!

 

[Shevek]

I am not sure what you mean. So you quote me and put something else below the quote that does not seem like a response!!!

I'm saying that you have more kinesthetic self-awareness than some "top experts." Sport is littered with practices that only make sense as a way to get the brain to shift attention to better places. In a high-speed turn, the steering is generally imperceptible, but the angle of lean has to be minded lest you slide. Anything called "Body English" is usually a useful myth. Most golfers are fussy about "follow through" but it is just a dance after the ball has left the club. One champion ignored it.

 

[Progster]

So you could balance it with your feet?

How are you supposed to use your feet to balance and move the bike with pedals attached?

Lowering the seat lowered the centre of gravity and made it easier to balance, and I just got it. I didn't use my feet to balance. I never had the pedals removed.

 

[Shevek]

Lowering the seat makes it easy to use your feet, but lowering the centre of gravity makes it harder to balance. Most people can balance a broom on their hand, but not a pencil, because the broom gives more time to react.

 

[Myrtonos]

If the pedals are detached as well as the seat lowered, then the pedals are not in the way of the feet, which can than balance the bike and one can walk the bike riding it.

 

[Shevek]

My thinking was that if the seat is low enough, the stance can be wide enough to avoid the pedals. However, if people want to take them off, know that the left pedal has a left-hand thread. You may need a special wrench for some pedals. They tighten themselves, so cheap tools may get wrecked.

 

[NB79]

i had wheels until i saw some kids my age without them, and i couldn't accept myself needing them, i remember i fell off the bike a few times, but it was not hard to learn.

 

[Myrtonos]

Well, I might have found it hard to accept others not needing them, or at least not needing them for as long as I needed them. But you might wonder why they don't just take off the pedals and lower the seat.

 

[Mary Terry]

I never had training wheels and my big brother taught me to ride down our long gravel driveway when I was very young. I recall some glorious crashes and skinned knees from falling.

I got my first horse when I was in the 5th grade. He was a Shetland pony, mean as he could be, and always tried to buck me off. By 6th grade, my legs were long enough that I could just lean over and rest one foot on the ground while he bucked so he couldn't throw me off. But I did learn to ride on that mean old pony. I got my first standard size horse in the 7th or 8th grade and was a capable rider from the beginning. I rode "Indian style", no saddle, and used only a halter with reins so there was no bit in her mouth.