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How to avoid a bad back when teaching your kid to ride their bike

Posted by Gav Grayston.
First Published Mar 2014; updated May 2023.

Teaching your kid to ride their bike is an important step, but all that stooping can give you a bad back. We've just bought a gadget that eliminates that problem, and wanted to share it here...


***Learning to ride a bike is an important step in your child's development - but it could give you a backache. Fortunately, there's a way to avoid it... ***

learning to ride a bike

How to avoid back ache when teaching your kid to ride with the Balance Buddy Bike Handle

Learning to ride a bike is an important step for your kid; it's another milestone in becoming independent. Once they can ride, they have transport that doesn't rely on Mum or Dad.

cycling is fun, and cycling is healthy

OK, so you may not let them go off on their own at a young age, but the first step is learning how to ride a bike. And besides, cycling is fun, and cycling is healthy.

The problem with teaching your kid to ride a bike

The problem is child bikes are small. This means to help your child balance, you will be stooped over.

You're in for a nasty shock

I've taught three kids how to ride a bike, and if you've not done it yet, let me tell you that you're in for a nasty shock: back ache!

Fortunately, we've come across a solution...

Avoiding back ache when teaching your kid to ride

We discovered this simple but useful gadget called a Balance Buddy Bike Handle.

attaches to your child's bike where the stabilisers fit

It simply attaches to your child's bike where the stabilisers fit ('training wheels' if you are in the US). You can even fit the bike handle with the stabilisers still attached, which is useful if you want a handle to push your kid around, although the handle is about helping you balance your kid.

The Balance Buddy Bike Handle is available on Amazon...

The handle can be adjusted to be longer or shorter. You can grab it firmly to push your kid along. Alternatively, I've been using it as a safety handle, only holding it lightly, but I can grab it firmly if our little one starts to lose balance (or forget to use his brakes, as he did just yesterday!).

Grab firmly if your little one starts to lose balance

The bike handle is available on Amazon or in your local bike shop. When we bought ours, they were generally between £15 and £20.

Here's a quick video we've created on the Balance Buddy Bike Handle, including how to fit it to your kid's bike.

YouTube Video Thumbnail

How to fit the Balance Buddy Bike Handle

Fixing the handle

Fixing the Balance Buddy Bike Handle

As you can see from our video above, fitting the Bike Handle is straightforward.

Fix the extension nuts to where the stabilisers were fitted, then fix the handle over the top and secure it with the supplied nuts.

Fitting the handle is something you can do with your little helper 😉