[QUOTE=TigerMom;681897]I think that the class needs to be separated into 2-3 classes depending on ability.

The ones that CANNOT ride a bike at all. The ones that can ride a bike but do not understand gears. The ones that are fit and know how to ride a bike but want to advance faster (I don't know if you have any that belongs in the 3rd group).
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Absolutely. That's one of the reasons we want to be at least 3 instructors, so that we can split the group up according to prior skills.

Quote Originally Posted by TigerMom View Post
For teaching gears, I would keep the right hand gears in the middle for now. Yell out which left hand gears to shift to when you go up or down a hill (hopefully, these bikes have numbers for the gears). Once the students are comfortable with shifting gears on their own for the left hand front gears, THEN teach them the right hand rear gears. I would have liked it if someone had yelled out which gears to shift to in number form. The words "Shift to the higher gear or the bigger gear or the front gear depending on how you feel" did NOT help me at all. Instead, yell out to me..."we are about to go uphill. Keep pedaling and shift your left hand gear to the number 1. After your left hand gear is at 1, as we go up the hill, keep pedaling and shift your right hand gear to 1 slowly.".
We will only have three speeds on these bikes. But before I knew this I made the same suggestion - keep the rear gear somewhere in the middle, and only shift the front. Ideally I'd mark them "easy - medium - hard", or even "uphill - flat - downhill"... :-) I still have no idea what number gear I'm in, I go by looks.