Glider Rider™ - The Ultimate First Bike!
Rated • 1 review • bicycling, cycling, cycling activism, bicycling activism, bicycle manufacturing • gliderrider.com
I first was introduced to the Glider Rider, by Randy Eady, in December 2006, and since then an adult version of the bike had been developed as well as the popular child version.
The website describes the original bike this way:
"The Glider Rider is a fantastic new toy riding vehicle that gets tykes on a bike SOONER THAN EVER BEFORE! The Glider Rider teaches balance, self confidence and frees children & parents from training wheel dependence. One ride and you'll never understand why training wheels were ever designed. Once gliding, you and your youngster will experience the ultimate joy of effortless accomplishment"
Gary once sent me a copy of a letter he sent to to Bicycling Magazine, that he was never sure was published, and i will share here, as I did on my blog, The Cycling Dude:
"Dear WORLD's Leading Bike Magazine,
As you are the globe's preeminent authority on all things two wheeled, I was caught by surprise when your How to Raise a Cyclist article recommended starting 2-4 year olds on "a training wheel equipped bike." Perhaps a broader glance around the world may have better grounded your essay writer's instruction.
European cycle enthusiasts have recently recognized so-called, yet mis-labeled "training wheels" were the construct of clever marketing nearly a half century ago. (They offer little benefit in the way of balance training and generally instill fear/doubt in a rider's natural balance capability.)
By using a new form of pedal-free bike for the past three years on the continent, the application of outside stabilizers has become the exception and the average age of newly self-supported bike riders is now about four and a half.
Though this may seem a minor point, when the underlying issue for "raising a cyclist in the U.S." is actually countering the influence of a sedentary lifestyle and a culture of obesity. Shockingly, health organizations like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Heart Association and American Medical Association report balance ability now peaks at about the age of 10, that 18% of adults (18-55 years of age) report being non-bike balance capable and that childhood obesity is expected to reach the 25% level in the U.S. population by 2010. It's no wonder the NIH predicts one out of three (one out of two hispanic) children born after 2000 will contract diabetes. It's also no wonder the bike industry will be facing lower and lower rider-ship levels if more and more children get stuck on training wheels and aren't weaned off before they're drawn to the virtual fascination of a screen-based substitute."
In the 60's I was still riding a bike with training wheels, at age 5, or 6!
Today there are kids riding bikes with no training wheels by as early as age 4, after learning to bicycling on a Glider Rider.
Gary told me that "We're an American-German company ;-)
Here's why: We see our product "cycling" between the US & Europe, i.e., children's version started in Germany and migrated to the USA. The adult version will start in the USA and migrate to Europe in 2009-10."
I've seem pictures of the adult version, and it is a very cool looking bike!
To learn more about my initial correspondence with Randy, a follow-up in 2007, and other articles he shared with me, go here...
cyclingdude.com/2006/12/raising_a_cycli.html [cyclingdude.com/2006/12/raising_a_cycli.html]
And here... cyclingdude.com/2007/11/raising-a-cycli.html [cyclingdude.com/2007/11/raising-a-cycli.html]
