For the past six years I’ve worked as a cycling coach in West Cork, training children how to cycle and develop core balance skills on the bike. And I hate stabilisers. I see stabilisers as the greatest way to
start our children off at a disadvantage. I think they teach them awkward movement skills; and under-mine their balance skills that they need to develop to cycle.
- They hinder children developing balance skills rather than encourage them. Unfortunately stabilisers work against the existing geometry of the bike, shifting the child’s balance from their core to behind them along the line of the stabisiers’ axle- an extremely tenuous place to balance from.
Usually when we’re on our bikes we’re leaning forward, leaning our bodies into the bike to move and turn. With stabilisers, children often get quite used to leaning back and assuming a more upright position. Because of the two extra wheels at the back they steer in a wider arc; this isn’t how we handle a bike in the real world. - They stifle play (the best part of cycling?)
Stabilisers make a bike stable (even when no one is on it) but don’t teach balance, at all.
I love cycling because it enables balance, engagement with space, quick thinking and peripheral
awareness. We can explore with a bike by being aware of our surroundings. We must learn to
track things so we can move through space well. Because you are always balanced on stabilisers
you don’t learn to move dynamically in space. That’s a poor start. - Falling is important
Stabilisers don’t teach us proper manoeuvrability skills that you will need on the bike. Learning
on a balance bike will teach those skills. A child on a balance bike can better use their gross
motor skills. For cycle skill development we want children to be able to scoot, stride, and glide
on their bike. None of these skills are needed on a bike with stabilisers. Disaster!
This is a great disservice to the child. Their poor understanding of control, balance, and tracking
make them so vulnerable and liable to fall of their bike when conditions change or when the
stabilisers are gone. - Unrealistic balance expectations
Time and again I see the same dynamic when a child comes too close to an obstacle, a wall,
another cyclist, a kerb …
… they throw their arms up and pull their torso back to recoil away from the threat, their feet
come off the pedals. The bike with stabilisers never taught them control, and so they’re never
learned to engage with the bicycle well enough to respond to change.
A bicycle can be a wonderful thing, and our children can learn so much from cycling. But a bike
with stabilisers is just an impediment to their movement through space. It is not really a bike.
Instead the bike can be seen as our friend, stimulating balance, movement, confidence, a way to
travel, a way to have fun and adventure.
- Importance of balance- the bike as a tool to promote fluid movement
Instead of stabilisers we need to encourage our children to learn and engage better balance. Let’s
teach them better major movement skills and control, how to change direction, adjust speed, stop,
and restart. - Conclusion
Bin your stabilisers. Take the pedals off when your child is still learning to balance (you just need a
15mm spanner to take the pedals off- the left pedal is always counter-threaded, i.e. righty loosy,
gottit?)
Some Coaching Tips
Encourage your child to run their bikes… to walk like giants… to jump frog their bike… to touch their
frames with their feet when they’re moving… ask them to wave and cycle… and tell them to look UP.