>tfw 24 and don't know how to ride a bike I grew up

>>1057488
Not fucked at all. You just need to get the balance down, and that's just a manner of keeping your speed up. I personally finally learned how to balance without training wheels by riding my bike down a slightly inclined driveway.

Don't worry. Once you get it even once, it clicks for life.

It's generally easier for adults to learn to ride bikes than for kids - as an adult, you've probably learned to be at least somewhat patient and persistent and logical.

Start by learning to coast down a slight incline with the saddle lowered so that your feet can touch the ground - as you coast, practice turning by shifting your weight from left to right, not by turning the handlebars. Once you've learned to coast, you can add pedaling.

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>>1057493
>>1057495

I just got back from my neighborhood park and started to coast down a small incline, and I think I'm getting the hang of it. My seat was lowered all the way, and I pushed off like I was riding a skateboard.

The incline leads to a left curve, but I started to lose balance once I tried turning, but I'm making a habit of using the handbrake.

I tried pedaling a bit but my seat was way too low, so that wouldn't work. I'll go back tomorrow and keep coasting down that hill and hope for the best. Thanks a lot for your advice, anons.

>>1057505
Perhaps counter intuitively, the faster you go, the more stable the bike. So the trickiest parts are starting and stopping for sure. To make it easier to get started, rotate the pedal into a prime pedal stepping spot while you're stopped. Keep at it anon

>>1057505
You are probably focusing on your wheel or on your bars. Focus on the road, specifically where you want to be turning to, and don't overthink the exact position of your hands or the turning of the wheel. You'll make it.

Also to the fred faggot in this thread
>>1051703
Look, op is out there, in midwinter, risking his ego to learn to ride a bike after a disadvantaged life, and you're stamping your feet and whining about your stationary bike and how a mean trainfag who probably don't even have a real Di2 won't leave you alone because your handsies got a little cold. Op is more of a cyclist than you could ever hope to be, and I hope you end yourself.

>>1057505
As already mentioned the faster you go the easier it is, at least when you're not pushing 100 km/h. Also keep your eyes on where you want to go. Another counter-intuitive tip is counter steering. Though for that you'll need some speed for it to work.

Your front brake is also what stops the bike. Learn to use it and it'll be your friend.

Keep at it anon, you'll get it eventually.

I learned at the age of 25, my biggest regret is not teaching myself earlier. A few years later and I can't get enough.
Keep at it op and don't worry about potential embarrassment or whatever. You got this!

Tfw 27 and not knowing how to drive a car

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>>1057505
lean into it like this

>>1057505
I think i can help you.
Step one: watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZAc5t2lkvo
Step two: go back to small incline to fix that death grip on handlebars to allow bike to stay upright by itself.
Step three: gently push away right handlebar to make right turn, vice versa for left one.
Step four: add pedaling.

>>1057488
I came to make this exact thread. Age 22, done a bunch of sports, never rode a bike. Figured it's about damn time.

>>1057571
As with op you got this, just follow the advice given and practice.

It's more uncomfortable to tell someone you don't know how to ride a bike than it is to say you just learned and are improving.

>>1057516
you have some serious issues man

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>>1057510
>>1057516
>>1057518
>>1057519
>>1057521
>>1057524

OP here. I didn't get to ride today since I got off work late, and it's raining right now, I didn't want to risk sliding on wet pavement or anything so I'll have to take a crack at it tomorrow.

I hope missing a day won't fuck up any progress on made yesterday, even if it wasn't much.

Thank you, kind anons. For all the advice, words of encouragement, and support.

I was pretty damn embarrassed to make this thread, not gonna lie. But you all have me motivation to keep at it, so I won't let you guys down. I'll be back at it tomorrow night.

>>1057571
Fuck it, you're learning sooner than I am. Let's go for it, anon!

>>1057750
when you fall (you will fall. eveyone falls. it's part of the package deal bro), don't fall like a lump or stiffen up and slam. try to roll your body in the direction that you're falling, let your momentum carry the roll out. much better to avoid serious injury. i've rolled out of shit that would have busted me up bad if i'd have taken the full impact right into my shoulder or hip.

>>1057488
>How fucked am I?
Barely, if at all.

Parents tried to get me biking when I was a kid, but never got the hang of it.
Distinctly remember going straight on a flat road, then falling into the ditch somehow.
Fuck bikes, I thought.

Didn't even try it again before I was 21 or so, where I found a beater bike and rode back and forth in the backyard about five hours total.
Started out practicing starting, stopping and going straight, then went on to figure out the whole "turning" thing.
Once the basics were down, I went out on the quiet roads during low-traffic hours (3 AM summer rides are great) - at this point I buy my own bike.
Getting more comfortable with the bike, I went on to ride in gradually more trafficked areas - eventually moving on to regular commuting.

I found that a big motivator for getting on the bike (once I'd learned how to) was the sense of exploration.
It was fun to aimlessly go through the neighborhood areas.
Simply looking on a map and thinking "Never been there: that's the next destination" was very enjoyable.

>>1057488
once you learn, you NEVER forget

The better question is WHERE am I going to go to learn to ride? I don't want people to look at me and be like haha that fag can't ride a bike

>>1057891
who gives a shit?

Better for them to see you learning to ride than getting put on the spot and having to admit that you've never tried. One of the nice things about riding is that if you're not trying to compete in some kind of event nobody cares about your "skill" as long as you're riding.

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OP here. I did it you guys! I was with some friends hanging out in an empty lot, and I fucking got it.

I was pedaling for a good 3 minutes and turning and everything, I even coasted for a good minute. I'm still getting the basics of turning down, but holy shit it felt so good to ride.

I can't thank you anons enough, I'm still excited.

>>1058539
well done

>>1058539
Congrats man.

There's quiet a few late learners on here, I'm OP's age but I learned to ride at 7 years old and then I thought it was embarrassing because the other kids already knew and I didn't. They taught kids how to ride bicycles in elementary schools back then, do they still do that now?

Or is it just part of living in the ghetto that they don't bother with or have the funds to teach kids bicycle safety? I grew up in a middle class area by the way.

>>1057891
Go to a park before schools are out, only children are evil/petty enough to care about that kinda thing.

>>1059200
Thank you, anon. Haven't had a chance to ride since then, but I'm hoping to hop on tonight or tomorrow. I'm determined to get turning down.

>>1059202
Thank you. I grew up in East Los Angeles, and the only time we had bikes in school was in preschool and kindergarten, and they were just tricycles. After that, I assume the school wanted to leave it up to the parents to teach us.

I moved and currently live in Huntington Beach, so it's definitely a lot safer and nicer here. I see people riding bikes all the time, while I rarely saw anyone riding where I grew up besides cholos on lowrider bikes.

>>1057488
>I grew up in a bad neighborhood
Not bad enough it seems,never nicked a bike?

>tfw 24 and don't know how to ride a bike

>I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and every bike got stolen

It's easy, my mum learned how to ride in about 3 hours.

One mistake most people seem to make is that they want to go slowly. While I can understand that, you need to be going at a decent speed to have any kind of balance.

>>1059591
This. If you're still too paranoid or embarrassed, try practicing at night in an empty parking lot or something.

>>1060632
Solid advice, riding slowly is actually a lot more difficult than going at a moderate pace, as it requires much more balance.
When you first start out riding going fast can be a bit uncomfortable and scary, just make sure you practice in an open area with few obstacles such as a parking lot like others suggested until you get comfortable. You're never too old to start riding, so keep at it until you get it, OP!

When to use the back brake vs the front one?

>>1062621
You should get into the habit of using your front brake as your primary brake - the front brake generates the most power, and when you need to do an emergency stop as quickly as possible the rear brake will either put the wheel into a skid or won't work at all because braking hard lifts the back of the bike off the ground.

The rear brake is still useful though, it helps you slow the bike down and you'll use a combination of both brakes in most situations.

The only exceptions are that when you're riding down a very steep pitch, or riding over a loose surface, then you have to slow down using your rear brake primarily, because braking more than a little with the front could easily throw you over the handlebars or cause you to skid the front wheel and almost certainly crash.

>>1062628
Not him, but I had no idea. Thanks for the advice, anon.

My bike only has a rear brake, unfortunately but it's been doing a good job.