How young is too young?

General
1

I really want to teach my younger brother how to unicycle. Even thinking about buying him a small unicycle for his birthday. (which would means I wouldn’t be able to buy a decent trials uni for myself for quite some time) But my mom is totally against it. It was hard to even convince her to let me buy a unicycle for myself. My brother is 6 going to be 7, in my thinking, the earlier the better. Because of his head start he’ll be awesome by the time he’s my age and hooked for life. Plus I’ll have somebody to ride with. :smiley:

What do you think is a good age for me to start teaching him to ride?

3

He’s definitely old enough! Get him riding! Just make sure hes got a helmet on.

4

I’d say he’s old enough, I’ve seen younger… Go for it.

6

How commuted will he be? At 7 I wasnt sure unicycles existed. I’d say a no for now, till he gets older.

7

Here’s the thing, he has to WANT to do it. No one learns to uni reluctantly. Be sure that he would really learn and really appreciate it.

8

I agree with Kyle, think you should listen to your mom as well. If he is really really interested, I don’t doubt that he’s old enough. If he’s gonna fall off three times and then quit and go play Nintendo, well, you just wasted your money.

At that age (and size), practically any unicycle small enough would work for him, doesn’t have to be some $300 model.

Don’t be surprised if he learns to ride but has no interest in going with you, or goes with you at half your speed, or else you can’t keep him from going with you when you don’t want him to- things don’t always work out like you plan. If you do get him a unicycle, do it for HIM, not for you.

9

Heck, I’ve already got a 12" Sun modded down to my 2-year-old daughter’s size. She’s not ready to get on it but knows it’s there and knows she has a unicycle.

But that’s a whole different game than getting your kid brother to ride. It’s admirable, I think it’s great that you’re willing to put off your own upgrade to help him out. But he has to want to do it. He’s old enough if he wants to ride, but there’s no age that is “old enough” if they don’t want to ride.

10

There is a girl on my team who started riding when she was 2… (by the time she was 3 she could ride about 100m). She is now 5. 6 or 7 is nothing.

11

The youngest person to lear: 18 months.

I concur w/ boisei.

I’d get him a 16" off e-bay, and make sure everything stays tight. When and if he really likes it he could get a better on.

12

I think that is a pretty good age to start. My youngest student, Oliver, was 5 years old and he got a 12" for his 6th birthday and can ride it with the seat all the way down. I teach heaps of 7 year olds how to ride on 16" unicycles. It’s awesome to be able to ride with and share your skills with your brother- my little brother has been riding since not long after I started in 1996.

13

My mom said that I can teach him! :smiley: He said he wants to learn, hopefully he really enjoys it. Can’t wait to buy him a uni for his birthday! :smiley: Thanks for your comments

14

I would ask him if he wants to ride and if he does, get him a cheap Ebay uni and see how he goes that way he might not like it and its not going to scar your wallet.

15

theres a vid of a 10 year old kid on youtube and he’s very good for his age and hes got a 16" trials i think. cant find it :frowning:

16

Do you think it’s necessary for my 6 year old brother to learn to ride a bike before he learns to unicycle? It would probably make learning to unicycle much easier because then he already will know how to balance from side to side and will just need to sort out forwards and backwards.

I’ve asked him if he wants to unicycle and if he thinks it looks cool and sometimes he seems interested but if he’s not keen to ride I won’t push him too much.