For the Autistics Who Cannot Cycle

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Where are you in the world? There is free training in the UK.

Any advice for those of us who live in hilly terrains? I learned how to ride at age 19 in a flat part of the country but moved to a much more hilly area and couldn't manage. Uphill, I had trouble shifting gears, pedaling and balancing at the same time, so fell over. Downhill, I had trouble with getting nervous and braking too hard, so fell over. And I can't afford a fancy bike, just a rusty old one from the thrift store.

Are there any community bike workshops or proper old school bike shops near you? These would be the best places to look for a bike to suit you, obviously I don't know what bikes cost there or your budget. They would have loads of boxes of old parts and should be willing to change parts around to suit your riding.

An old, scruffy bike with good components is a much better machine than a newer supermarket special. One of my bikes has it's original equipment from 1988 and still works perfectly, although well maintained, and still functions better than the cheap crap on modern low-end bikes. So you really want low ratio gears for the up and powerful brakes for the coming down, the best option is to go for a test ride. I can't really go through all the different equipment options as there are too many and they change/upgrade so often and it would probably sound like a foreign language to you?

If you are going on picking the bike yourself at the thrift store. Pick the bike up, heavy bikes require more effort to pedal and are a sign of lower build quality. Take it for a test ride, if parts don't work well and you think it can be fixed up then use it to haggle, obviously you need to find someone to do the fixing but a few minutes adjusting gear shifting and brakes goes a long way. If it feels and sounds, squeaks and groans, like a right old clunker then there is little promise in it. A reasonable quality bike should still ride okay even if not perfect. If the saddle is the wrong height (^Details in post on previous page^) make sure it is height adjustable before you buy. The seatpost can seize solid inside the frame if it has not been moved for a long time.

There are two pedaling styles "mashers" and "spinners". Mashing is more common and puts a lot of effort into every pedal stroke, usually accompanied with a bobbing head. This is bad as it unbalances the bike and is also bad for your knees. Spinning means riding in a lower gear, a lot of fast, light pedal strokes much more efficient and balanced. Try to ride with your first two fingers on the brake levers all the time you are moving, reduces the reaction time when you need to slow down, and you can drag the brakes before it gets away from you.

Bigger wheels roll better than smaller wheels but we getting into little details here. If it has knobbly mountain bike tyres and you're mostly riding on paved/hard packed tracks and roads then get some smoother tread tyres instead, saves a lot of energy. Low pressure in your tyres again makes it harder to pedal and gets you more punctures. So keep your tyres pumped up and a little oil for your chain. Dry rusty chain = hard work. Too much oil is a dirt magnet which wears the chain, when it gets too filthy, rubber gloves, rag soaked in white spirit or petrol. Rub the worst of the clag off and re-oil. Every few rides, clean the wheel rim where the brake pads touch, dirt here makes your brakes less efficient. If it has disc brakes never touch the disc at all, if the disc needs cleaning use surgical alcohol only.

Did I mention I like bikes.

Or the Torker Tristar, much better quality, smaller back wheels for a lower center of gravity. I want to get one then add a 33cc 4-stroke engine kit from Staton.

I own a recumbent trike and it is low to the ground. I wouldn't ride in a city but I do in SOME suburban areas. I definitely will ride in traffic out in the sticks. That said, I probably have around $600 invested in lights and what not.

It's fairly expensive and I'm over $4000 in. That excludes things like the lights, bags, pumps, tools, etc.

So did I. Multiple times I fell off my bike and either scraped my knees or bruised my shins. As much as I'd like to learn how to ride a bike again, I don't know if my balance will be any better.

Also, there is the so-called "Pedestrians VS Cyclists" debate, in which people have debated this question; Which is better, Walking or Biking?

I didn't learn how to ride a bicycle without training wheels until I was 8 years old, and the reason for that was because I was afraid of falling off and hurting myself. Once I learned how to do it though, I loved it. It's a shame bicycles are practically useless in our winters, otherwise I would likely use one as my main means of transportation. It's one of the few forms of exercise I actually enjoy.

I will admit though, back then I thought I was kind of pathetic for learning how to ride when people almost half my age already knew how.

I was 22 before I successfully road a bike. I had a brain injury at 11 that caused balance issues, but even before then, I couldn't ride, despite trying. Two years later, I bike every day to graduate school. I save time over walking, and I save so much on gas.

I'm pretty much the only person I know who can't ride a bike, it starts getting depressing when You watch Your little sisters starting to learn at 7 and I can't do it at 14. :/

What parts are you having trouble with?

I had trouble learning to ride when I was younger. It took me a lot of tries to ride without training wheels. I think that riding bikes has really improved my balance over the years. I'm pretty good at biking today, as last year I would sometimes bike where I lived (large urban area that's pretty dangerous for inexperienced riders) and I sometimes like to ride on dirt trails at the local park area.

Cycling is really fun if you become pretty good at it. There's a large variety of terrain you can ride on and going off road with a mountain bike isn't a problem if you want to ride through the woods or something similar. Just make sure to look up online what you need on your bike to make it street legal and on what roads you can ride your bike. The laws vary based on your location, even states in the US have different laws. Also make sure you have the right tools to fix/adjust your bike.

For what bike to get, I would recommend something that is sort of mid tier if you are getting a standard bicycle. I would also recommend to get a mountain bike instead of a street bike, but not a huffy or something similar that is going to be low speed. A bike that is good for trails would probably be best for riding anywhere.

if you are using the one that came with the bike this is why, they are awful, same as everything made today, cheap as possible

I replaced mine with one specifically for the female pelvis (they also have male and unisex) mine was $50 at amazon the go for anywhere from $20-$250+ just read the ratings and see which one you want. Minne has some springiness in it and gel cushion in the seat part. It was easy for me to install with the tools I already had, you may need to get some or take it to a shop.

I'm a competitive cyclist. neilson wheels knows his stuff. Follow his advice.

Or her as the case may be.

if the bike starts to feel like you will fall then just slowly turn into the direction it feels like you will fall in, and suddenly the bike becomes a lot more stable.


Something most people fail to mention when teaching someone to ride a bike.

once people know the above they tend to just be a bit wobbly but won't actually fall

This is all good advice! I was deprived from two wheels when I was a kid and it shows!

I can't trust myself on a bike. However, I have a better chance maintaining balance when I'm on a train in Japan...for some reason...