"Training Wheels" for Starters After numerous attempts to ride my cruiser bike without falling, I have ordered a set of "training wheels" for my bike.  Yes, I took the pedals off and practiced on grass and all that, but just could not get the hang of it.  The very last time I had training wheels on a bike, I was 7 years old, so this was not an easy decision for me. I am 59.

My question is this: How will I be able to tell when I no longer need the training wheels?  When I was a kid, the training wheels actually lifted off the ground after awhile, indicating that I wasn't even dependent on them (so my parents took them off).  I became quite proficient at riding and hope to be again, so this is important to me.  Any ideas?

Please do not write in and tell me not to install the wheels - I agonized over this so long, and am only doing it as a last resort.  Please just advise based on the assumption that these wheels are going on the bike.  Thanks.
Please do not write in and tell me not to install the wheels - I agonized over this so long, and am only doing it as a last resort.


I know you don’t want to hear this, but at least for children there has been a trend in recent years to skip training wheels completly. It just leads to children trusting in them and never learning to balance. Where did you find strong enough training wheels for a grown adult anyways?

Just like Daniel R Hicks in the comments I suspect the bicycle for being at least partly responsible. I’ve never ridden one of those cruiser bicycles myself but the seating position generally looks horrible.

Can’t you borrow a more normal bicycle, adjust the saddle height (hiiiigh!) and ask someone to assist you i.e. keep you steady so you can reach speed? (it’s much easier to balance a moving bicycle)