Five years ago, I volunteered a shift at the community bike shop and a grandma came in with her 9yo granddaughter looking for training wheels. I put her on the back of the tandem and did a few laps of the parking lot to build her confidence, them I took the pedals off a BMX and sent her out for a few more laps before putting them back on. Her grandma told me, as she watched her pedal around happily, that it was one of her best life memories.
@fbaum@HayiWena both of mine were riding on my xtracycle before they had their own bikes. We tried training wheels with the first, but I ended up taking the pedals off and the cranks completely out for it to be a scoot bike (also lowered the seat by re-installing the post behind the seat tube), only time that kid wore out a pair of shoes before outgrowing them. 2nd kid got a strider, nearly skipped that 12in, proceeded to steal 3y older sibling's 16 before I realized it was time, then the 20!
@fbaum@HayiWena yeah I wonder how much the ride on a tandem (or, in my case, xtracycle) contributed to learning balance, if it's just becoming comfortable with the feeling of leaning into a turn. The key seems to be learning that steering and balance are linked.
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