Kids bikes are a major purchase &#; both in terms of cost, and the amount of excitement that comes with them. But how do you know you&#;re buying the best bike for your child, that will still be loved once the summer months are here? Fear not, here&#;s the Cycle Sprog guide to buying a kids bike.
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Cycle Sprog is an family run, reader supported, website. We belong to several affiliate schemes so may receive a small commission from sales made from links on our site. We do our best to be impartial and recommend products on their quality not whether they are in a scheme.1. Bikes can be difficult for a child to manoeuvre
Children&#;s bikes should be light enough to lift and handle easily. Generally, an aluminium frame will be lighter than a steel one. If you struggle to lift the bike, then think how hard it is going to be for your child to control.
It&#;s not just the material of the frame, but the design that is important too. A low step-through frame allows a child to get on and off the bike without difficulty. This is particularly important for smaller children who are on balance bikes and first pedal bikes, or for older children who are less confident cyclists.
Kidvelo balance bikes are one of the lightest balance bikes with air-filled tyres.
Top tube height is worth checking if you&#;re buying a first road bike or mountain bike &#; you don&#;t want a frame that is too high for them to get their leg over easily.
The Frog Road 58 is one of the smallest kids road bikes available. A road bike has a high top tube and this can cause issues for smaller kids, so make sure your child is ready for the move up to a road bike. You can read the Cycle Sprog review of the Frog Road 58 here.
2. Choose the right type of bike for your kid
I know this sounds obvious, but as your child gets older, the type of cycling they&#;re doing will influence the type of bike they need. From 20&#; wheels and upwards this choice becomes very important. Don&#;t buy them a mountain bike if they&#;re going to do most of their cycling on the road. Don&#;t buy a road bike with skinny road tyres and drop handlebars if they&#;re going to ride muddy trails or go to the BMX track!
If they&#;re going to do a mix of different cycling and you&#;re only in the market for one bike, then a hybrid, such as a B&#;Twin Riverside, Frog Bike or a Specialized Jett, is your best bet.
Alternatively, a mountain bike like the Cube Acid AllRoad can be a great all round choice even if you&#;re not going to be riding serious downhill routes.
3. Kids bikes need to be sturdy (not heavy)
Kids bikes are bound to get thrown onto the ground when it&#;s time for dinner, not to mention a few crashes here and there, so the sturdier the better. As mentioned above, sturdy doesn&#;t mean heavy. It means well made. If not protected steel will rust, so expect steel frames, seat posts, nuts and bolts to corrode quicker than their aluminium counterparts.
You can see the rust starting to form on the steel seat post on this balance bike. Read our blog on why the type of bike you buy for your toddler really makes a difference.
4. Gears and gear shifters can cause problems
The smallest kids bikes don&#;t need gears as they confuse young riders and just add weight. Our advice would be to avoid gears until they reach at least the 20&#; wheel size &#; and even then consider if they&#;re really necessary.
Once your child is tackling hillier terrain, then of course gears become important. Start simple &#; a triple chainset at the front, providing 21 or more gears, will just confuse a 7 year old and add unnecessary weight. By the time they&#;re riding a 26&#; wheel mountain bike, then you do need to think about the best gear ratios to get them up and down the trails and tracks.
It&#;s surprising how many gear shifters are difficult to operate. Good quality kids bikes will fit child sized components that can be operated more easily by small hands and thumbs. There are various types of shifter available, so make sure you know which type is on the kids bike you&#;re buying. The alternative is lots of moaning as they have to push up hills.
5. Brakes on kids bikes need to be useable
Again, brake levers come in different sizes. Some kids bikes come fitted with adult levers that are far too big for small hands to reach and operate. Check that the bike you&#;re buying has child friendly components, or there&#;ll be tears when they can&#;t stop the bike.
woom bikes in smaller sizes come with a green rear brake lever so you can tell your child to use the green brake and there&#;s no chance of them getting their left and rights mixed up.
6. Chainguards can save tears
A chainguard will protect little hands and legs from the bike chain, keeping your child from injury and reducing the chance of clothes being ruined.
This Cube Cubie 160 16&#; wheel kids bike has a chainguard to protect your child from injury and their clothes from oil stains
7. Stabilisers aren&#;t always necessary!
Fewer kids are actually using training wheels (stabilisers) these days, as they move from balance bikes straight to pedal bikes. However, if your child prefers to pedal earlier, but wants the stability that comes with training wheels then these can come as standard on bikes up to 16&#; wheels.
8. Accidents do sometimes happen
Most parents prefer that their children wear a helmet when riding a bike (although in the UK there is no legal obligation). Always ensure that the cycle helmet you&#;re buying meets a relevant safety standard, or it won&#;t offer the protection required.
The Hornit cycling helmets meet safety standards and provide some fun too!
For mountain biking, BMX and jump parks it&#;s especially important that your child wears a helmet as crashes are inevitable. Some kids also wear elbow and knee protection that help minimise cuts, grazes and knocks.
9. Remember little hands and feet get cold
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If you&#;re buying a kids bike during the winter months, it stands to reason they&#;re going to want to go out and ride it IMMEDIATELY! This time of year it can be really cold, so a pair of kids sized winter cycling gloves can be a useful stocking filler.
The Polaris Hoolie gloves keep small hands warm when cycling during the winter
Check out our post on keeping kids warm when cycling during the winter for more useful ideas on kids sized kit designed for winter.
The rest of the year a pair of fingerless cycling mitts is an excellent way to prevent scraps should they fall off.
10. Be seen, be safe
Remember, if your child is cycling in low light conditions they need to be visible to vehicles and pedestrians. Bike lights don&#;t need to cost a fortune, neither does a hi-visibility vest.
11. Lock it, don&#;t lose it
If you&#;ve spent your hard earned cash on a bike for your child you don&#;t want it getting stolen. Purchase a bike lock and teach your child how to use it! The weight and thickness of the lock you need will depend on how much you spent on the bike and crime rates where you&#;re riding (and locking) it.
12. A good quality kids bike should last for years
If you&#;ve bought a good quality kids bike then keep it clean and maintained and it should be grown out of and be in a good enough condition to be passed on or sold second hand to recoup some of your costs. Teaching your child how to look after their bike will reap you these rewards.
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Thanks so much for your support
Karen and Chris.
Buying a bike for a child can be fun. It can be a whole new world that you&#;re stepping out into and you&#;re worried about buying the wrong thing or being missold. We&#;ve talked to lots of parents and we&#;ve put the answers to the questions that come up time and time again below, to help you come to the best choice for your child.
No. Training wheels or stabilizers don&#;t teach a child how to balance a bike; they keep your child stable. That may sound safe, but balance is the most important step in learning to ride a bike, it is even more important than pedaling.
Once you remove the training wheels, you effectively have to go back to the first steps of riding and teach a child how to balance. That is why we, and the rest of the experts, recommend starting with a balance bike.
Balance bikes are preferable over training wheels that don't teach a child to balance or corner correctly.
The way training wheels balance the bike will also teach your child how to corner incorrectly. A skill they will then also have to relearn when you remove the stabilizers. Make cycling easier to learn and start with a balance bike, and they&#;ll also be a lot lighter and easier for your child to control.
To make it easy we&#;ll start with a chart and then give you some advice about when to size up.
Remember the age part of the chart is a rough guide; children don&#;t always want to grow according to the average child. You should, therefore, pay more attention to the height part than the age part.
The easy way to know if your child has outgrown their current bike is to watch them ride it. If their knees and elbows are sticking out, then they are trying to make themselves smaller to fit the bike. You can then either make height adjustments using the saddle or handlebar, but if you&#;ve reached the limit, it is time for a new bike.
What you want when your child is riding a bike is for their leg to be almost fully extended when their pedal is at the 6 o'clock position. If they are pushing their foot out to the side, then the seat height, or bike, is too small. The elbow similarly should have a small bend when your child is holding the bars.
A well-fitted bike allows for a slight bend in the elbows when reaching for handlebars and a slightly bent knee with the pedal in the 6 o'clock position.
When we were a child, we more than likely at some point had a bike we would grow into, and this fits into the &#;it never did me any harm&#; comment. The problem is, this is not a safe way to buy a bike, and you also run the danger of putting your child off cycling or causing harm to them.
The extra weight of a bike too big for your child is likely to make it heavy for them to pick up and they&#;ll have difficulty controlling it. The difficulty in controlling it will also be confounded by the bigger reach to the bars, by making your child stretch they won&#;t have as tight a grip on the bars as they should.
A well-fitted bike gives your child adequate control over it and helps them enjoy riding.
The stretch issue will also affect how they reach for the brakes, and whether or not they&#;ll even be able to pull them. These issues can be dangerous, and they also bring a high likelihood that by the time your child is big enough to ride the bike, they no longer care about their bike.
We also understand that you want to maximize your investment, that is why buying a bike from a recognized brand like Polygon and Marin is a good step. When your child is too big, you&#;ll find the second-hand market will give you a fair price. Cheaper bikes will take in less as a percentage of the retail price when it comes time to move them on.
The answer to this is both yes and no. If your child wants to ride skateparks, pump tracks, or BMX tracks, then yes as a child&#;s bike won&#;t like that abuse. If you want them to cycle to school or come on small rides with you then no. We have an article that goes into more detail on why and why not, give it a read.
The simple answer is the best that you can afford. That may seem like a typical sales answer, but we do have some good reasons why. The better the spec of a bike, the lighter it will be. Saving a few 100 grams doesn&#;t matter to an 85kg adult but saving a few 100 grams when your 20kg child is much more helpful.
The brakes will also operate more efficiently and will be easier to pull. As a parent watching your child ride, you&#;ll have a few moments where you&#;ll feel your heart is going to explode. Knowing your child can safely stop is both safer for them and a lot safer for your cardiac health.
Brakes like those on the Marin Hawk Hill Jr. help your child to stop safely.
Gears will also be easier to change if the bike has them. The easier they are, the more likely your child is to use them. If they are too hard for your child to change you&#;ve then paid for something you didn&#;t need. Keep an eye out for Shimano Revoshift gears, easy to use and intuitive to kids learning to ride a bike.
Some kids bikes, like the Polygon Relic 20 feature gears which make pedaling easier, encouraging your child to use their bike more.
The resale value of a good kid&#;s bike will be higher. We mean this as a percentage of what you paid, not just because the bike was more expensive. If cost is a primary concern a more expensive bike will save you more money in the long run. It will be less likely to break and need new parts, which might be hard to source for cheaper kid&#;s bikes. Your child is also more likely to keep riding as the bike isn&#;t a hassle.
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