From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: Training wheels
Date: 8 Sep 1998 19:29:30 GMT

Adam Covington writes:

> My daughter got a new 20-inch, 5-speed bike for her 5th birthday.
> She still rides with training wheels, but on the new bike the
> derailleur gets in the way of mounting the training wheels.  The
> axle on the rear wheel needs about an extra 3/4" to clear the thing.

That's to your advantage, or I should say to hers.  Children are far
safer learning to ride a bicycle than to weave around on a pseudo
tricycle.  In fact tricycles, the upright variety that children used
to ride, were deemed too dangerous for and are no longer available.
In contrast the same people who found tricycles too dangerous are
promoters of training wheels for bicycles.

I have not met a child that couldn't learn to ride a bicycle in one
session.  Primarily parents who don't believe their children are ready
for bicycling prevent them from learning.

Jobst Brandt      <jbrandt@hpl.hp.com>