Why is not being able to ride a bike such a bad thing?

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I live in a city where people ride bikes, trikes, scooters, all sorts. And yes I mean adult trikes.

However, most of my life, it's been seen as: kids learn to ride bikes then adults learn to drive.

What put me off learning when I was ready was that if you're over 10, you have to ride on a designated cycle path or the road. We didn't have cycle paths nearby.

I think teens and adults who are bad at cycling shouldn't have to ride on the road. It's dangerous. More dangerous than just getting off one's bike for a little while if you see someone walking towards you.

I kept riding on a bike with stabilisers til I was 14 and moved house.

I'm dyspraxic. I made the shift from trike to bike when I was about 9. I spent years without either.

It's a fast, environmentally friendly, independent form of travel. A nice option.

If you see bicycles on your city streets, I would also ride there. It is probably my favourite sport. An experienced rider can complete a route in a given time on HALF the oxygen of a beginner, even with the overhead of basic functions. Those include the brain, which is the key to knowing when to pedal and when to rest. When it is time to keep up with the cars, I forget all about how hard I'm working.
The worst thing about not being able to ride a bike is that it makes city life more expensive, and less convenient and healthy.

It's not SUPER important, but people probably see it as one of those basic developmental milestones that we use to judge how functional someone is. Kind of like the way parents freak out if their kid doesn't play like typical kids at the typical age because it suggests that the kid has developmental delays, even though playing with toys itself is not very important.

Being able to ride a bike is a fairly basic skill that almost everyone develops (in civilized societies), so it's a sign of developmental maturity.

My wife is a nurse. She never learned to ride a bike. She's not, in any way, "developmentally delayed."

I was a little late in the game. I was 7 1/2 when I first rode a bike without training wheels (stabilisers). The only reason why 4-5 year olds are riding without training wheels these days is because the location of the seat is lower than in past days. Back in the 1960s, nobody under 6 rode bikes---because the seat was just too high for a kid under 6. The "normal" age for riding without training wheels was 6.

I actually am unsure if I could ride a bicycle anymore. Something says it's a skill that one never forgets and this may be so except I am no doubt in belief that I would likely meet the ground rather rapidly. It's no big deal if you can't ride one unless you required riding it as a mode of transport rather than just a want for sake of doing so.. then I could see a potential dilemma. Pretty sure you can't double meerkats on them anyhow.

Of course it's not the end of the world if you can't ride a bike. Obviously there are advantages to being able to. It's a very cost-effective way of getting around further and faster than pedestrians can, and it's good exercise. Naturally if it's not safe to ride in your locality, that kind of rules cycling out.

I very much wanted to learn when I was quite young, but couldn't get it right, and was scared of falling over and getting injured. My dad used quite a clever trick to get me through the problem. He would run alongside me holding onto the saddle to steady the bike, which gave me the confidence to pedal and to get used to the steering. He did that a few times, and then one day told me that he hadn't actually been steadying the bike at all for some time, and so I realised I'd learned to ride.

My dad did the same thing.

I remember when I was 4. I learnt to ride on a lil red bike and crashed into a fence on our driveway. I made it a few metres down our driveway.. we lived in a duplex style place which is and the neighbours shared a driveway.

There was a man who made his living in NYC, teaching people of all ages how to get started on a bicycle. He didn't even run alongside like the classic dad. He just adjusted the seat so that people could straddle it and run, so their own feet were the training wheels. Then, he'd have them coast down a gentle grass-covered hill. They'd paddle with their feet a bit until they got the reflexes for steering to balance. Then, they'd get their feet up resting on the pedals, and finally pedalling to extend the coasting at the bottom. Then the seat went back up to not cramp the knees, and they were ready to practice on paths and work up from there.

I think that bicycles are particularly well suited to Aspies. You get to go where you want, when you want, without having to deal with other passengers, nor with anyone's idea of license and insurance. The low costs make life considerably easier. There are no problems over "fitting in" because every cyclist has their own strong opinions about the art. The exercise, etc, helps to prevent depression while actually saving time.

I was riding my bike until about 10 years ago. Then I didn’t have a bike. Bought one recently and to my horror, could not ride it! I can’t even tell what is wrong. I can’t get any forward momentum and if I do get forward momentum, I don’t seem to be able to steer.