What do I need to teach my child about using gears?

It’s important that your child only starts using their gears – if they have them – once they have developed good stopping technique. This is because using higher gears will lead your child to ride at higher speeds. You should teach your child to always try to ride in a comfortable gear for their legs, and so they should change their gears when they change their speed in order to keep their legs comfortable. You should also teach them to ideally not look down at their gear shifter when changing their gears but rather feel if the gear they are on is suitable for their legs. For most gear systems, your child will need to change their gears only when they are pedalling and they should avoid changing too many gears at once as this can put too much pressure on the chain.

You can also teach them to add another element to their stopping routine: They should normally change down to a low gear before stopping. This will enable them to easily accelerate off from a standstill, after which they will then need to immediately move up a gear or two to keep their legs comfortable after they start.

Gears can be a little challenging for children to understand but you should keep prompting your child to use their gears wherever they help them. Carrying out exercises where your child practices using their gears on a slope will really help them develop their understanding of how gears work.

When your child rides uphill, you can teach them to shift their body weight forwards and change to a lower gear. Equally, when they ride downhill, you can teach them to shift their body weight back a bit – this will give them more control.

Using Gears

Unii's Learning to Cycle Journey shares what to teach your child about using gears.