Son can ride a bicycle!

On 29 June 2014, last day of his P1 holiday, I was putting back a 12" steel kids bike given by a neighbour so that we can discard it for someone else to use. He hadn't had good time with this much heavier and taller bike while training wheels were fixed on, as he has been enjoying his wooden balancing bike much more. Thus, when he was asked a few days ago he said he didn't want this bike. However, as I put on the rear rack and the kick stand, without the training wheel, and asked again if he would like to ride on it, he said yes. So we went downstairs, to an open, flat and sheltered space.

There, initially I asked him to position the pedal so that he could start pedalling off. After some attempts, this didn't seem to work, partly because the chain kept dropping off with this sudden assert of force on the pedal. Ironically, another neighbourhood kid of his age, who hasn't yet able to ride a bicycle, suggested to push first then step on. So, he tried that and after some attempt, he could pedal and balance for more than 2 m. Upon see this, I concluded he has learned how to ride.

I think the short distance was mainly due to the chain was very loose and kept dropping off. Later, than I realized the problem was because when I fixed the rear wheel earlier, I didn't ensure the chain is taut, which is not necessarily when there is a rear derailleur, but this is a single speed bike, the first that I have ever meddle with. Now that this issue is resolved, I am eager to see him ridding a bicycle.

Update: Confirmed he can. The night this blog post was published, he showed his ability to ride a bicycle to my dad.