Learning How To Ride A Bike – The Basics

By Author: Lincoln Davis
Total Articles: 14
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Riding a bike seems like a skill to some people, but unless there are any stunts involved, it's actually just a matter of controlling the bike's momentum. Still, there are a few people who do not like bikes. This is because they either had a bad experience with it as a kid, or they just didn't learn it when they were young and is embarrassed to do so when they're old. Either way, they believe it takes a while to learn how to ride a bike, which isn't so.

To start learning bike-riding, there are a few items that you need to have. Safety is of utmost importance, so you'll need to acquire helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads. It's going to feel really weird at first, wearing all of these while you're not even moving with your bike, but it's better to do it early so it becomes easy to turn it into a habit.

The next step will be balancing the bike without your feet touching the ground. Do a few drills where you lift both feet simultaneously and trying to keep the bike balanced for as long as possible. If you can get at least a couple seconds, then you should be fine. This is because it's a whole lot easier to balance the ...
... bike when in motion than stationary.

Once you've gotten the gist of the balancing aspect, you can start moving with your bike. If you're really not comfortable yet, begin with straddling your bike and "walking" with it. This should give you a sense of how to steer the ride. Start walking slowly and work your way into pushing yourself forward a little harder. Just put one or both feet on the ground when the bike is about to fall to stay in an upright position.

All those steps teach you how to balance and steer the bike in motion. For a little more momentum, do this on a road that's on a bit of a slope. Kick yourself into a slow speed and let the slope carry the bike. This makes for a good practice of steering as well as getting a feeling of how it is going to be when it is you who's pedalling the bike. At any rate, this is also a good time to learn braking. Brake when you need to stop, and balance the bike again during a full stop.

Once you feel you can control the bike when it's moving, start learning how to pedal it yourself. Dividing your attention between the pedal and steering the bike can be a little awkward at first, but will eventually become second nature.

Once you have full control of the bike, brush up on the rules of the road. In some cities in some countries, there are designated lanes for bikes. You can start practicing there if you wish. Also before you can actually ride or learn how to ride a bike, you're going to need one. There are a lot of different types of bikes, so prepare to do some research and asking around as to what type of bike will be your first. If you're looking for an internal gear hub bicycle, you can check out Chappelli Cycles online.