My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very young unicyclists learn?
I learned on my own at about age 10. When I think about the uni I learned on it makes me cringe. It was an old childrens tricycle with a 12" solid rubber tire (that was mostly rotted away). I removed the frame of the tricycle and mounted a seat in the front fork. This thing was pitiful. It originally had plastic bushings in place of real bearings. These bushings were mostly gone. The cranks/axle were just a bent metal bar. By the time I got to it it had no pedals, just the metal bar. But, with great determination I learned to ride it. Of course it was so clunky that I had very little control. But it was a start. Since that time I’ve owned several commercial unicycles and built a few from scratch. Which brings me to my latest project. It’s a cut down 16" unicycle for my daughter. Her legs are too short to reach the pedals of the standard United 16" (the smallest commercially available uni that I’ve found). So, I cut the fork legs down (reducing the tire clearance) and cut the seat tube and seat post down. This reduced the distance between the seat and the pedals by about 3" thus allowing her to reach the pedals.
Well, enough rambling.
Suggestions on how to best help my little girl learn to ride are greatly appreciated.
> My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a > unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very > young unicyclists learn? > > I learned on my own at about age 10. When I think about the uni I > learned on it makes me cringe. It was an old childrens tricycle with a > 12" solid rubber tire (that was mostly rotted away). I removed the frame > of the tricycle and mounted a seat in the front fork. This thing was > pitiful. It originally had plastic bushings in place of real bearings. > These bushings were mostly gone. The cranks/axle were just a bent metal > bar. By the time I got to it it had no pedals, just the metal bar. But, > with great determination I learned to ride it. Of course it was so > clunky that I had very little control. But it was a start. Since that > time I’ve owned several commercial unicycles and built a few from > scratch. Which brings me to my latest project. It’s a cut down 16" > unicycle for my daughter. Her legs are too short to reach the pedals of > the standard United 16" (the smallest commercially available uni that > I’ve found). So, I cut the fork legs down (reducing the tire clearance) > and cut the seat tube and seat post down. This reduced the distance > between the seat and the pedals by about 3" thus allowing her to reach > the pedals. > > Well, enough rambling. > > Suggestions on how to best help my little girl learn to ride are greatly > appreciated. > > -mg > > – > mgrant Posted via the Unicyclist Community - > http://unicyclist.com/forums
> Suggestions on how to best help my little girl learn to ride are greatly > appreciated.
Has she learn’t to ride a training bike yet, that might help? Or are you a
one wheel purist?
You could attach a stabiliser / training wheel in some way to the
unicycle?
Or make a rail for her to hold onto and ride along? Maybe even a pair of
rails with a little space between them to ride along so she could hold on
with both hands? For such a small uni it wouldn’t need to be too long, if
you’re clever with tools you could probably make up some kind of frame to
hold the ends of the two rails.
Mainly though, I guess it’d could be done the same way as teaching riding
a bike to a kid, first teach them to ride along with you holding onto them
and moving along with them, then with you holding the back of the seat. On
a unicycle it might make sense to exchange holding hands for holding the
back of the seat as that would screw up the back to front balance needed.
Thinking about it, what would be really good for teaching unicycling from
scratch (assuming you believe in stabilisers) would be two sets of
stabilisers, one with a wheel behind and in front of the unicycle and one
with a wheel either side of the unicycle. You’d need a wheel both in front
and behind the unicycle rather than just one behind it otherwise you’d
develop a too leaned back riding position. You could ride first with all
stabilisers, then once that was easy, remove the side stabilisers, then
try just the side ones, then finally remove all of them.
Great photo here of the cycle Chris Reeder made for his daughter when she
turned 2: http://www.reeder.unicyclist.com/12/ There’s even a video of her
opening the package. I have heard that the youngest ever unicycle rider
was 18 months old, but the youngest I’ve seen is 4 years old.
—Nathan
“mgrant” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:9q4e7a$1r4$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a > unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very > young unicyclists learn?
>You could attach a stabiliser / training wheel in some way to the >unicycle?
John Foss just posted this url (but for another reason): http://www.unicycling.com/garage/special.htm
He also asks on the web page how many training wheels a unicycle would
actually need. Well, “zero” would be an obvious answer. Another answer is
that three is enough to stabilise in all directions but you can’t do this: >You could ride first with all stabilisers, then once that was easy, >remove the side stabilisers, then try just the side ones, then finally >remove all of them.
Klaas Bil
(BTW My favourite answer to “you’ve lost a wheel” is “I don’t need the
training wheel anymore” but it works out a bit less funny in Dutch.)
–
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “Waco, KGB, Sudan”
My girlfriend thinks I have a mental age of three whenever I am near my
unicycle, so any age will do.
But seriously, having learned to ride a uni as an adult, I think kids have
it way easier as they are not scared of falling. My biggest stumbling
block was not committing to actually riding, because of that fear. Oh, to
be young and fearless again!
“mgrant” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:9q4e7a$1r4$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a > unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very > young unicyclists learn? > > I learned on my own at about age 10. When I think about the uni I > learned on it makes me cringe. It was an old childrens tricycle with a > 12" solid rubber tire (that was mostly rotted away). I removed the frame > of the tricycle and mounted a seat in the front fork. This thing was > pitiful. It originally had plastic bushings in place of real bearings. > These bushings were mostly gone. The cranks/axle were just a bent metal > bar. By the time I got to it it had no pedals, just the metal bar. But, > with great determination I learned to ride it. Of course it was so > clunky that I had very little control. But it was a start. Since that > time I’ve owned several commercial unicycles and built a few from > scratch. Which brings me to my latest project. It’s a cut down 16" > unicycle for my daughter. Her legs are too short to reach the pedals of > the standard United 16" (the smallest commercially available uni that > I’ve found). So, I cut the fork legs down (reducing the tire clearance) > and cut the seat tube and seat post down. This reduced the distance > between the seat and the pedals by about 3" thus allowing her to reach > the pedals. > > Well, enough rambling. > > Suggestions on how to best help my little girl learn to ride are greatly > appreciated. > > -mg > > > > > – > mgrant Posted via the Unicyclist Community - > http://unicyclist.com/forums
I was involved with teaching a 3 year old. We started her with her back
on a wall just like we do anyone else. We used a 12 inch wheel. The one
problem we had was on the turns, if the turn was too sharp her toe would
catch on the floor. After she was able to ride away from the wall a ways
we moved on to the floor and she would place her hand on the top of the
spotters hand. The rider has more control of the situation that way and
doesn’t depend on the spotter as much. After awhile the rider “takes off”
without the spotter. When the riders are so small, after they get their
balance, the spotter can hang onto both hands if needed. About the time
the rider rides faster then the spotter can walk, it is time to encourge
the rider to try and go farther without the spotter. I would have the
rider on the wall and I would stand in front of her and have her ride to
me, sometimes walking backwards to have her rider farther. Attention
spans for 3 year olds are short and we tried to keep it interesting. Barb
K. Barb K.
Hi, Chris Reeder wrote up an article with instructions. It can be found @: www.reeder.unicyclist.com I think it’s called “12” unicycle". There are
pictures, too.
Jeff (my unicycle is the big red one on the above webpage)
On Thu, 11 Oct 2001 15:35:06 +0000 (UTC) mgrant
<forum.member@unicyclist.com> writes: > My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a > unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very > young unicyclists learn? > > I learned on my own at about age 10. When I think about the uni I > learned on it makes me cringe. It was an old childrens tricycle with a > 12" solid rubber tire (that was mostly rotted away). I removed the frame > of the tricycle and mounted a seat in the front fork. This thing was > pitiful. It originally had plastic bushings in place of real bearings. > These bushings were mostly gone. The cranks/axle were just a bent metal > bar. By the time I got to it it had no pedals, just the metal bar. But, > with great determination I learned to ride it. Of course it was so > clunky that I had very little control. But it was a start. Since that > time I’ve owned several commercial unicycles and built a few from > scratch. Which brings me to my latest project. It’s a cut down 16" > unicycle for my daughter. Her legs are too short to reach the pedals of > the standard United 16" (the smallest commercially available uni that > I’ve found). So, I cut the fork legs down (reducing the tire clearance) > and cut the seat tube and seat post down. This reduced the distance > between the seat and the pedals by about 3" thus allowing her to reach > the pedals. > > Well, enough rambling. > > Suggestions on how to best help my little girl learn to ride are greatly > appreciated. > > -mg > > > > > – > mgrant Posted via the Unicyclist Community - > http://unicyclist.com/forums >
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My 7 & 10 year olds learned to ride in about 3 days. The only assistance
they seemed to need was lots of encouragement & a handy supply of
sticking plasters.
My 5 year old is quite keen but I haven’t got a small enough uni
for her yet.
Keep us posted please. //\
“mgrant” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:9q4e7a$1r4$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > My three year old daughter told me she wants to learn to ride a > unicycle. Can anyone give me suggestions on the best ways to help very > young unicyclists learn?
>What are “sticking plasters”?
I think what Mike meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive
“tape”, used for superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of
those with daring kids venturing on unicycles!
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “Dick Cheney, terrorist, El Shifa (Sudan)”
On 14 October 2001 00:36, Klaas Bil,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl wrote: <snip> I think what Mike
meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive “tape”, used for
superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of those with
daring kids venturing on unicycles! <snip
On 14 October 2001 00:36, Klaas Bil,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl wrote: <snip> I think what Mike
meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive “tape”, used for
superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of those with
daring kids venturing on unicycles! <snip
On 14 October 2001 00:36, Klaas Bil,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl wrote: <snip> I think what Mike
meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive “tape”, used for
superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of those with
daring kids venturing on unicycles! <snip
On 14 October 2001 00:36, Klaas Bil,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl wrote: <snip> I think what Mike
meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive “tape”, used for
superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of those with
daring kids venturing on unicycles! <snip
On 14 October 2001 00:36, Klaas Bil,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl wrote: <snip> I think what Mike
meant are small bandages with integrated adhesive “tape”, used for
superficial wounds. I can imagine you need quite a few of those with
daring kids venturing on unicycles! <snip
