I initially learned to ride a bike on a grassy area (much softer falls, I highly recommend this). As I got much better my dad graduated me to the road. Everything was going great during this transition until I saw a kid a couple years older than me pop a wheelie. I thought this was awesome and being very confident in my new found skills, I immediately decided that I should give it a shot. I yanked up and back hard on my banana seat bike, I don't think my dad had any idea I was going to do this, and we both quickly learned my mistake as I tipped over backwards and my face met the asphalt. With my front tooth laying on the ground and my dad likely standing there wondering what the hell happened, I bolted home in search of my mom with blood streaming out of my mouth. I was probably about 4 or 5 at the time. So my advice is make sure the person/kid is wearing a helmet and possibly even a mouth guard those first few trips out and beware of the pop a wheelie.
How Doug Engelbart taught kids to ride a bike (without training wheels)
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Re: How Doug Engelbart taught kids to ride a bike (without training wheels)
#22They're called "balance bicycles" or "run bicycles" and they're readily available from dozens of manufacturers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_bicycle I don't know why anyone cares that Doug Engelbart discovered something already known by millions of people - that pedaling isn't the important part of learning to ride, balancing is - but hey, here's my golf clap for him. {clap clap}
I don't know who you are, but I came within a hairs whisker of meeting the man and it is one of the few things in my life that I honestly can say I regret.
That he 'discovered' something is a strawman, that's not what this is article is all about, if you had actually gone further than skin deep (say past the title) you would have seen that for yourself. That's not a claim Engelbart made, that's just something his daughter said (last line in the article).
And anybody that has driven a recumbent knows this too, but that doesn't mean you get to belittle all of them for pointing this out.
If you got nothing out of it because you already knew all of it then good for you, I've been riding bikes since I was 3 (hard to avoid when you're dutch) and only in my late thirties I finally fully grokked the dynamics of riding a bicycle, they're anything but intuitive.
The most interesting thing about bicycles is how we got them to be so 'right' without knowing that theory, it's a classical case of evolution in progress, nobody with the physics knowledge required ever sat down to design the thing, tons of weird designs were tried (and are still being tried) which led to a nearly optimal shape. And lots of the bits and pieces in that near optimal shape were used long before they were understood.
Incidentally there seems to be a disproportionate representation of the ability to juggle and ride the monocycle amongst mathematicians, why is that?
Re: How Doug Engelbart taught kids to ride a bike (without training wheels)
#23They're called "balance bicycles" or "run bicycles" and they're readily available from dozens of manufacturers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_bicycle I don't know why anyone cares that Doug Engelbart discovered something already known by millions of people - that pedaling isn't the important part of learning to ride, balancing is - but hey, here's my golf clap for him. {clap clap}
If anyone is interested in building one of these for their toddler, there is a great pattern located here: http://crumleydotorg.chattablogs.com/archives/038834.html I used the above pattern to build 2 of them for my 2.5 year old twins... they love them and have great balance now. Here's how mine turned out: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113513/bikes.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113513/bike1.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11351…
That's a good job you did there. And so much more satisfaction making your own than just going out and buying one.
What better gift to your child than something made with your own hands and on your own time.
Re: How Doug Engelbart taught kids to ride a bike (without training wheels)
#24Apparently a much simpler way is to just take the pedals off the bike: http://www.sandcanyoncyclery.com/index.php?option=com_conten...
I recently helped somebody (adult) to learn to ride a bike, and I'm pretty happy with how I did it. The first and only thing I insisted on was how to stop, i.e. how to come from both feet on the pedals and bike moving (mostly pushed by me) to a proper stop with one foot down. Once he could do it from a reasonable speed on both sides... it was pretty much over.
I took the idea from a friend who once got on a motorcycle without a good idea of where the break was, with rather funny results. First concern should be how to stop. The rest can be trial and error.
Re: How Doug Engelbart taught kids to ride a bike (without training wheels)
#25I wonder if there's an equivalent see-saw for inline/roller/ice skates. The only training wheels I had were knee/elbow pads.
The way I was taught to ice skate was to try and walk on ice with the skates, not actually try to slide along. I suspect this too is the minimum amount of complexity that still lets you get a feel for the situation and develop the ability to stay upright. I think it worked pretty well for me, I don't have any bad memories about it. (I was 6)
Learning to cycle was less successful. I distinctly remember crashing into a tree; in fairness, my dad's decision to teach me in the middle of a forest on uneven ground was probably not the smartest move.