My son is now 48" tall and ready for his next bike. He is 5. According to the size charts he would do well to have a bike with 20" diameter tires. Should I try for a single gear and coaster brakes? Should I get one with more gears and hand brakes? He's still on training wheels.
Trying to get something which is appropriate for his age/skill but also one which he won't grow out of in a heartbeat.
Thanks
F. B.
how well can he ride a bike? Can he handle gears and brakes?
If he's still on training wheels? I would wait until he can ride on his own to get him more stuff to concentrate on, unless you feel he's ready for it. He might be ready to the wheels off and soar!!!
Bikes are like shoes, it's best to take your kid in to the sporting/bike shop and just let him try a few out to see which size fits best.
We always took our kids to try them out and see what they were most comfortable with. I would do that.
Just looked at our 20 inch one. Has brakes at handle (one side only to squeeze) and you can also pedal backwards to slow/stop. So both options. No gears on ours.
Seems to me my kids don't get into the gears until more like 9 or 10 going up hills etc.
Seats are adjustable so usually you can get more than one year out of them if you go a tad big when you buy it, so long as kid doesn't find it daunting.
Sadly, they outgrow them so quickly. Most of the bikes now come with gears and hand brakes, which I think was a good transition for my kids, but until he is done with training wheels, make sure he can touch the ground to give him security while learning. have fun!
We got our daughter that size bike with gears and hand brakes at age 5 and she did great. Now she is 6 and we just had to raise the seat. I think he will do just fine with a "big kid" bike...there will be a bit of a learning curve at first but he will be proud to have a bike like that! She was obsessed with bike riding and learned to ride with no training wheels at age 4. So she handled the bike well from the start and was very excited to have gears and hand brakes!
I would take him to a store and try out a 16" and a 20" and see how they actually fit. My son is 48 inches at 4 yrs old. However, he has never had an actual bike. A 16" is perfect for him and I figure will be good for him next year because he will be able to put both feet flat on the ground as he learns to ride on his own. All of my older kids learned to go without training wheels on an old smaller bike without the trainers because they could easily put their feet down to prevent a fall.
My daughter is 8 and about 56 inches tall. She rides a 20". I am fixing up her older sister's bike which we just happen to have still.
both my 4 yr old and nearly 6 yr old have the kind of bike that Margie G describes. and nither are tall enough for a bigger bike. they still have training wheels and are learning to hand break as well as back pedal to break. once they are older, out of training wheels and ready for a bigger bike then we will search for one that does not break when back pedaling. so they get used to that before we move into a multi gear system. (i have owned a multi gear system for numerous years and i find that i rarely switch gears, i found one i like and pretty much stay in it unless i am tackling some major hills with a child in the seat on back then i will use an easier gear.)
