STRIDING TO RIDING

By Joy Burgess

When I took the leap and learned how to ride a motorcycle, I remember being told, “If you know how to ride a bicycle and can balance, you’ll have no problem.” Luckily, I’d learned to ride a bike really young, so the transition to a motorized two-wheeler was pretty seamless. But what happens when kids or adults don’t know how or are unable to experience bicycling?

Biking is an excellent pathway to riding motorcycles, especially among youth, but it’s been on the decline. Sports & Fitness Industry Association data from 2018 shows that only 16 percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 cycle regularly, a drastic decrease compared to numbers in the ’70s and ’80s. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has fueled bicycle sales in a way not seen in several decades, but this downward trend over the last few decades is a scary one for the motorcycle industry.

Back when I learned to ride a bicycle in the mid-1980s, all the neighborhood kids rode bikes. You could find the action by looking for the yard with most bikes tossed carelessly on the grass. We’d ride for hours in the summer until our moms shouted us home for dinner.

But today, far too many kids spend hours gaming, watching TV or scrolling social media. Many have never swung a leg over a bicycle, which makes it difficult indeed for OEs with floundering sales numbers to attract a new generation of younger riders.

Still, there are Sting-Ray- and Huffytinged rays of hope on the horizon.

But let’s rewind a bit, first. Balance is one of the fundamental skills needed to ride a bicycle (and, later, a motorcycle), and Ryan McFarland, the founder of Strider Bikes, found himself obsessed with finding a way to help his two-year-old son develop balance so they could share a love of riding together. After examining a myriad of learn-to-ride vehicles, from tricycles to ride-on toys to training-wheelequipped motorcycles, McFarland knew he had to build something better.

In 2007, McFarland built the very first 12-inch Strider Bike for his son Bode in his garage, not knowing his creation would change the path to riding for kids across the country…and the world. “One day,” he says, “I bought the smallest, cheapest, lightest bike I could find and started modifying from there,” all of which led to the creation of the very first customwelded, custom-painted balance bike.

“When [my son] started riding that prototype bike,” McFarland remembers, “everything changed. He was mobile, and we were trying to keep up with him. It was dramatic how our life changed…” But McFarland quickly realized that it wasn’t just his son that could benefit; kids across the world could experience the freedom and joy of two wheels.

As Strider began selling these so-called balance bikes, its next step was to create community, and it did so by creating Strider Events where kids could come together to show off their skills and share the excitement of riding together to grow their appetite for riding. Events grew quickly, and the very first Strider World Championship was held in 2007 in Sarasota, Fla.

“We were getting calls early on from parents desperate to get their kids to ride,” said McFarland, “and many times these were older kids, and we found out some had some special needs that kept them from learning or made them afraid to try. So we worked on designing a special bike for them.”

“We started with a 16-inch wheel,” continued Strider Bikes Marketing Manager Susie Marcks, “and we saw that suddenly instead of just going up to five years old teaching kids to ride, we could go up to kids that were 10 years old and they could learn to ride. But there were teenagers and there were adults that still didn’t have the opportunity; they were past the point of having the Strider when they were little to start out on … We really truly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to ride. So that’s when we developed the 20-inch bike for adults.”

By 2018, over 2 million Strider bikes had been sold, very likely positioning some (and maybe more) to become motorcyclists down the road. Meanwhile, I was struggling to teach my son how to ride a bicycle. While I’m not Ty’s birth mother – I didn’t come into his life

until he was 12 years old – he’s the son of my heart. Ty was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect that required eight hours of openheart surgery at the age of two. He also has pituitary dwarfism and was later diagnosed with autism.

Like many children with Down syndrome, Ty struggled with balance and motor skill development, and there were no Strider Bikes when he was small to help him learn to ride. After I came into his life and fell in love with two wheels myself, he wanted to learn to ride so badly...and I tried so hard to teach him. I tried on a regular bike with pedals and training wheels, and it was a disaster. Larger trikes seemed out of reach price-wise for me as a single mom. All I wanted was for my son to enjoy the magic of movement on two wheels, and no matter how hard we tried we only met frustration.

And then I heard about Strider Bikes. Ryan McFarland gave a presentation at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame in 2019, and my boss and colleagues happened to be there. In his presentation he’d spoken about another young man with Down syndrome who learned to ride bicycles and later dirt bikes by starting with a Strider. There was hope!

After contacting and chatting with McFarland about my son’s situation, Strider graciously sent me a 16-inch Strider early in 2020, and with the aid of their helpful instruction videos, I built the bike and got it ready for Ty to try out. He donned his motorcycle helmet – he’s always got one handy – and we were ready to ride.

Ty learns best visually, so I gave him a demonstration on the bike myself, and then he threw a leg over it for the very first time. Both scared and excited, I wondered, ‘Could this finally be the solution, or would it end in frustration for both of us?’

In just minutes he took off on the bike, a bit shaky, getting used to learning to balance the bike while creating forward motion with his legs. And he was grinning and I was crying because, finally, my kid

was mobile. And as he sped up a bit going down a hill with giggles erupting along the way, I felt like my heart would explode in that moment, finally sharing that joy of two wheels with my son who’d wanted to learn for so long.

Incredibly, our Strider story is only one of millions, as the company continues to see explosive growth, pushing forward with the goal to get more kids on bikes. The Strider Education Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, works to distribute Learn-To-Ride Programs to schools and organizations committed to teaching kids, individuals with special needs and the elderly how to ride.

The Strider Education Foundation launched All Kids Bike in 2018, which includes a Kindergarten PE Program that equips schools with everything teachers need to teach their students how to ride bikes. They provide training and certification for teachers, a curriculum, a fleet of Strider balance bikes, helmets and even a five-year support program. Their goal is for every child in America to have the chance to enjoy the physical and mental benefits – as well as mobility and freedom – of riding a bike.

“We know that All Kids Bike is gonna be something that kids will take in different directions,” said Al Rieman, President of the Strider Education Foundation and President of Black Hills Harley-Davidson, “and we hope they get excited about two wheels, and we hope that someday they come and see us to help them down that path. They learn so quickly with the Strider experience… it makes it almost seamless as [kids] step into the motorized world in a way that I was quite surprised by, but very encouraged by at the same time.”

Back in 2016, Strider Bikes – an AMA Business Member – also partnered with the AMA for the Go Ride with the Next Generation Week, a week that celebrates what it means to pass the love of riding motorcycles to the newer, younger generation.

“The first part of our mission statement at Strider is, ‘We love riding bikes, and we love inspiring kids to ride,’” said Strider’s McFarland, who’s excited about working with the AMA. “Getting kids onto two wheels with a Strider bike is the first step in a journey to becoming a motorcyclist. Amazingly, kids that start on Striders at two years old can be riding a 50cc mini without training wheels by the age of four. More riders mean more members, which means more moto goodness!”

“Building a solid foundation of young riders and enthusiasts has always been a key goal of the AMA,” says American Motorcyclist Association President and CEO Rob Dingman, “and the Strider folks are contributing to this effort in a significant way with their excellent bikes and programs. Spreading the excitement of two wheels to America’s youth can only help keep motorcycling healthy in the long term.”

Today’s kids, of course, are the future of motorcycling, just as many of us were back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Fortunately, Strider Bikes offers not only the vehicles that make it easy for kids to learn, but they’re also supporting programs such as All Kids Bike, which will help seed things from the bottom up, helping produce not only more riders, but better riders for the future.

Striding to riding. It’s one piece of the puzzle, and an important one, as we work to preserve and grow motorcycling for future generations. More moto goodness, indeed!