Bike Safety Rule # 1 – Always Wear Your Helmet!! Make sure it fits you; your parents have adjusted it properly for best protection, and wear it always. Kids can really be hurt badly if they fall off or collide with another cyclist and hit their head or other body parts. Make sure the bike you ride is not too high for you. This is not just to save your bottom end from injury if you slide off the seat, but sometimes you have to put a foot down, and you can’t do that if the bike is too big. Adult bikes are measured from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube, but kids’ bikes go by the wheel size. 12”, 16”, 20” and 24” are the standard sizes for kids’ bikes. Standing with your feet flat on the ground, you should be able to straddle the bike. With a slight lean of the bike you should be able to get your bottom back on the seat, put your foot on the pedal and ride away. Do not ride scrunched up with knees hitting handlebars, and do not ride all stretched out and not able to turn the handlebars easily. For early riders, and especially if training wheels are on the bike, steering is all done by the handlebars, so you don’t want to block the ability to steer. Most important bike part: THE BRAKES!!
Coaster Brakes – pedal backwards and it stops the back wheel from turning.
Hand brakes – squeeze the hand control and it stops the bike wheels. Most kids have coaster brakes, because their hands are not big enough to fully squeeze hand brakes. If you can’t stop your bike, you should not be riding it! RULE LIST - Wear your helmet always
- Know how to use the brakes
- Stay off busy streets
- Do not enter a roadway without stopping and taking a good look
- Ride with traffic
- Obey all traffic signals
- Do your own thing, not what your friend says
- At least one hand on handlebars at all times, two is better
- No riding at night
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