How to explain bike gears to a child

With your child now a master of bike handling and balance, the next step forward is to teach them about bike gears. Having this knowledge will help them to maintain a comfortable speed whilst pedalling, depending on the terrain and gradient.

Having bike gears is not an indication of how fast the bike will go, but about the efficiency of the bike in different situations. Switching gears can make light work of hills, rough terrain and even descents, and knowing when to switch up or down a gear will make cycling for your child much easier.

This is what the experts say:

Tips from Bikeability:

Using the gears on your bicycle makes pedalling easier. The low gears help you pedal up big hills, and the high gears will help you ride back down.

The gear levers on your handlebar change the gear on your bike; the left lever changes your front gears (if you have them), and the right lever changes your rear gears. Most children’s bikes just have rear gears and a right lever to make it easier for them to learn.

• The lowest gear is shown by the number 1, and the highest gear is the highest number you can see. This will be different for different bikes and is normally between 6 and 9 on children's bikes
• Each click of the lever moves the chain into a different gear, but remember to keep pedalling as you change gears!
• Practice changing gears in a quiet place and on a flat surface while slowly pedalling your bike. How does your bike feel when you’re in the lowest gear? Now, try to pedal in your highest gear, and see how that feels!
• Keep practising until you feel confident with changing gears before attempting to cycle up big hills!
• How do you know what gear to use? As a rule of thumb, use your lower gears for going uphill, middle gears for flat paths and playgrounds, and higher gears for going downhill

@BikeabilityUK

Tips from The Cycle Coach

Understanding the gears is a core cycling technique.

Developing the skill of changing gear in the right place and at the right time takes time and experience to learn.

For a given speed, spinning the pedals quickly is said to be in a low (easier) gear than a rider who is pedalling more slowly in a high (harder) gear.

Here are a few of our tips for changing gear:

1. Pedal at a rate that best suits you and the terrain - a slightly faster-pedalling rate is best
2. Look ahead at where you are going, not down at the gears
3. Maintain a smooth pedalling technique, releasing pressure slightly on the pedals as you change gear
4. Stay seated
5. Shift through one gear at a time maintaining approximately the same rhythm

Twitter: @the_cyclecoach | Instagram: @thecyclecoach | Facebook: @thecyclecoach

Teaching your child how to change gear:

1. First of all, show your child how to use the shifters and explain you can only change gear when pedalling. Show that changing the gears whilst stationary won’t do anything

2. Then lift the back wheel off the ground, pedal the bike by hand and show them how to change gear

3. If it’s a grip shift teach your child how to twist forward for harder or twist back for easier. On shifters teach them it’s the big thumb for easy and the little finger for hard. (For more information on the difference between grip (twist) and trigger shifters, read the gear section on this blog: Kids Bike Buying Guide

4. Set the bike up in a middle/easy gear and forget about what number gear they’re in, keep watching how they are going, if you think they need a harder or easier gear just say “1 click easy/harder” and so on. This will get them used to changing gears

5. Once they are confident doing this and have been doing it for a while the next step is changing gears to the numbers i.e gear. Explain 1 is a low gear and super easy to get up hills and the highest gear i.e 10 is the hardest to go really fast down or on flat ground

6. Show them the numbers on the shifter. Whilst riding instead of saying easy or hard, start telling them what number to go to - go to number 3, number 4 and so on, and move up or down one gear at a time

7. Good practice is finding a slight slope and showing them they need the easier gears to get up and the harder gears to get down, get them to try different harder gears going up and easier gears down to help them realise what gears they need to be in and how it affects their legs

"Persevere with it, praise them every time they do it, it won’t happen overnight!"
Dylan, Frog Bikes ambassador @cari_liittle_ripper’s Dad

"It's taken me a while to get my head around gears! It's difficult to explain, and also difficult to get your head around when someone's trying to explain it to you! But once you get it; you just do it automatically without thinking about it!

For me, the biggest thing was remembering to shift back into an easier gear BEFORE you stop, hit a steep hill, or just after you've had to brake hard, so always thinking ahead and being prepared, that way you ride much smoother! So get out there and practice! Enjoy!!"
Leon Wilkes, Frog Ambassador

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The Best UK Child-Friendly Pump Tracks

A pump track is a small, looping trail that you can ride continuously without even pedalling! Eventually, your ability to gain momentum by simply ‘pumping’ out of any bumps or corners is what will deliver your speed on the track and negate the need to pedal. The origins of the pump track lie within the BMX bike trails of the 70s and 80s, but thanks to the fact they are simple to use, cheap to construct and can cater to a variety of skill levels they can now be found in back gardens and town recreational areas all over the world.

Over recent years more and more pump tracks have been appearing in our towns and cities and are great fun to ride. In addition to the smaller tracks found in local neighbourhoods, there are also bigger options, both indoors and outdoors with many offering technique lessons and cafes to make a visit to the track a family day out.

If you do not have a smaller track locally or just fancy trying one of the larger options we’ve compiled a list of family-friendly pump tracks all over the UK. There’s never been a better time to join in the fun, grab your bike and get pumping!

What are the Benefits of a Pump Track?

To Promote a Healthy Lifestyle

It's really important to have facilities in local communities that are actually fun for youngsters to use, after all, the more they enjoy something the more they are likely to do it! The pumping motion really is a great all-body workout, and once you master it, the speed you can generate is surprising! These simple little tracks are also a gateway to developing a lifelong interest in a sport – not only cycling but also other wheeled sports like skateboarding, scooters and roller skating, which will all help to keep your child active and healthy as they grow up.

They're Socially Inclusive

Pump Tracks are fun and beneficial for people of all ages and abilities. A good pump track or skills park is designed so that anyone can use it, the only thing you need is the basic ability to ride a bike, or maybe even a scooter, skateboard or roller skates. The process of generating speed and momentum through “pumping” means that you control the risk involved. Although it is scary to watch your little one fly around the track the first few times, just remember a high level of skill is required to get up to those high speeds.

Pump tracks have a similar appeal to skate parks in that they are small areas and promote fellow track riders to interact with each other, but are often less intimidating. They can be amazingly inspiring places, where it’s not unusual to find professional riders riding alongside a four-year-old on their balance bike. Everyone is having fun on the same track, and most importantly the facility is safe for everyone to use.

They're a Great Place to Develop Skills

Anyone and everyone can use a pump track. But the real benefit of a good pump track design is that it continues to engage riders as their skills develop. What you learn doesn't stop here either, it can translate to mountain bike trails, dirt jumps and increase your general cycling skills. A pump track is a place where people can turn a spark of enthusiasm into a lifelong passion for all things cycling.

Riding at the pump track can help older children to concentrate and focus. This type of riding has a steep learning curve, it might be easy to ride the track at first, but it's harder to master and ride fast. Once the pumping action has clicked, riding a pump track becomes almost addictive, it’s hard to stop going until you reach your limits! With each lap your speed increases but eventually you do reach a limit, to progress further you might need to learn to wheelie, or maybe even jump from one roller to another. It’s this continuous challenge and development that really engages and focuses kids (and adults).