adulttricycles' Journal

Teaching my brother to ride
I always wonder if there is a best way to teach a 30 plus year-old man to ride a bicycle. By this I mean my brother, who had been encountering balancing issue since young age. Knowing the health and transportation benefit a person could gain from cycling, I want to help my brother learn how to ride a bike, things like maintaining balance, pedal and turn, plus gear switching and so on. My brother was once a mummy boy and had never own a bike or trike since young. Thinking about this, I might as well get him an adult tricycle to solve the problem. However, pride is a huge concern to my brother; therefore any model of adult tricycles is a big nono to him

Some friends suggested to me let my brother scoot around on the bicycle with no pedals at first. According to them, this way the rider would be able to pick up balancing skill without depending on other gears like training wheels. As much as my friends want to help, I’m not sure this suggestion will be going to work on my brother.

I did a little research online and managed to gather some information on teaching an adult to ride. What I had learnt is try to keep less stuff on the bicycle as possible. For example choose a single speed bike, without basket, etc. On the rider himself, he would need to dress in long sleeves, long pant and also hand gloves for protection purpose. The training lesson consists of 2 important parts- how to go and how to stop the bicycle.

Some experts suggested new rider should learn how to stop their bike at first. They should learn to know where to apply the bike brakes, lean aside and put their foot out to stop the bicycle. However, new rider must be able to understand they should not lay their foot on the ground while moving the bike. When rider able to cycle in a straight line, it is time for him to learn to make turns and steering to recover balance. During the training, having someone to hold at the back or saddle is always advisable.

It is always a great thing for an adult to learn how to bike. I hope my brother would be able to combat his fear factors in my training for him next week. Although teaching an adult on cycling is totally different from teaching a kid, but hey, with the positive energy we both have, I’m sure my brother will not let me down.