Advice on a bike for a small 7 year old Boy.

[Diode100]

My grandson has just learned to ride without stabilisers on an old clunker. I'd like to get him something better for his birthday, but he is quite small for his age, 17 inch inside leg measurement. Any advice / suggestions ? I always think kids get palmed off with rubbish when it comes to bikes, which hardly encourages them in the long run. I've looked at the bikes in the local shops, where most of them seem to be the fashion of the day models, and pretty heavy too boot. Do any of the likes of Trek, Specialized etc make conventional bikes, single speed, reasonably light, fun to ride, with some measure of adjustment, & ship to the UK ?

All observations & insights gratefully received.

David

[masiman]

I think there is some difference between the Xmart bikes and the major manufacturers you mentioned but not much. These bikes all weigh more than my road bike and that is several times bigger than these. All bikes in the 20" rim and under size I have found to be heavy and have cheap components. The only thing I have found to be very well done on this size bike is the kid fit systems. They will have adjustable stems that can place the handlebars closer to the child. They also can have cranks that have multiple pedal positions that allow the crank circle to be better sized to the childs legs. We have a Giant with these features but I can't find Giant's locally since Performance stopped selling them.

I am not a fan of the geared 20" bikes currently available only because they ALL come with shocks. A really useless item for kids just learning to ride on an already overly heavy bike. With the single speeds, I don't think I have seen any that have a shock. Don't waste your money on the shock. Weighty and poorly made.

Hopefully you can find something local. If you are getting a new bike, it would be good to have a shop help you fit your grandson to the bike. Avoid getting a bike too big for them especially if they are just learning to ride. It can be very frustrating and scary when they can't put their feet on the ground. It makes starting and stopping much more difficult for them. Give them as much control as you can.

We have had the Trek Jet series of bikes and have been reasonably satisfied with them. They have gone through at least 1 kid but some through 2 with a 3rd and 4th coming behind. I think they will last well.

[lesterdog]

Recently was in same situation, bike for my light 7 year old. Didn't like the junk I saw available or the heavy faux-mountain bikes with shocks etc.. Didn't want to buy a 35 lb bike for 47 lb kid. Ended up getting him a GT micro bmx racing bike, no gears, unbelievably light @15 lbs. He's ridden 30+ miles on it with us more than once.

I got mine mailorder from harborcountrybike.com, but since you're in the UK, you might check out
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/
Their Beinn 20 is geared, but it looks fantastic. shipping to the US was prohibitive for me however.

[masiman]

I wish someone made kids bikes like that here. They seem like exactly what I would look for in a kids bike. They don't have multiposition cranks nor articulating stems but they sure did build probably the best quality kid geared bike I have seen. What was the shipping to the US lesterdog?

[lesterdog]

Nice right? Shipping was around £100, which turned a $300 bike into a $500 one! Ah well.....
Still, kid's happy as a clam on his GT.

[Diode100]

Lesterdog, thanks for the tip on Isla Bikes, they are just what I was looking for, and the UK price (110 pounds for the 16 in wheeler) is very attractive, not much more than some of the 35lb fashion bikes in the discount stores. I'll see what I can find on the micro BMX, but I think the Isla is the way to go. The woman who runs it was the boss of the bike division of Halfords, probably the UK's largest seller of cheap bikes, so she obviously saw a hole in the market and went for it. many thanks.

[masiman]

Nice right? Shipping was around £100, which turned a $300 bike into a $500 one! Ah well.....
Still, kid's happy as a clam on his GT.

I am extremely impressed actually. I think the components are slightly, but not much better than the big manufacturers here. Although, I am not completely familiar with the components typically used on kids bikes, Isla's do look better in some areas. I am now thinking of ways that I might get one. I have 4 kids so $500 for a bike that will last me 10 years is relatively cheap. Although I am pretty happy with our current Giant 20" (no shock). I don't think I can justify that much for a 16" since they are single speeds and not much different from our Trek Jet (except the frame of course). Plus they move on from the 16's relatively quickly. The 24" might be the ticket for me. Hmmm, maybe if my friend has room in her luggage when she comes over from England. Probably not, she would be traveling with at least 2 kids.

Most kids just want to ride and beat up bikes. There are a few who like the road, but the majority start doing tricks with their friends. The GT sounds like he has the hottest bike on the block :).

Thanks for the link lesterdog.

[chephy]

Most kids just want to ride and beat up bikes. There are a few who like the road, but the majority start doing tricks with their friends. Agreed. And when they do actually ride to a destination, most ride rather slowly and are unconcerned with performance. They can't get much performance out of their rides anyway because most kids' bikes are set up so they can touch the ground with both feet when sitting on the saddle. This is a very inefficient position.

[lesterdog]

Diode, glad the link was useful. If you end up getting one, post a review.

Masiman, if I were passing it through 4 kids, I might have bitten the bullet myself. Only a pair, however. When the girl gets the GT micro in a year or two, I'll probably have to paint it pink.
Isla is pretty slick in that regard as well, they've thought out the details. Offer a set of removable purple decals for the moment of transfer.

[andymac]

If you do look at the BMX race bikes as an option there are some things to keep in mind. These bikes are purpose built so things like chain guards, front brakes, reflectors, etc may not be included as race rules prohibit their use. A mini or junior sized race bike will have high pressure (70 + psi) 1 1/8 tires that may be slightly knobby or semi-slick. These are a little trickier to balance on than the wide tires that come on most small bikes and they do not provide much suspension. Mini's sometimes come with an 18 inch wheel, where most race bikes are a 20 inch, it is harder to find 18 inch tires. The seat is not meant to sit on, usually the seat on the smallest bikes is an integral part of the seat post and it is all about being light not comfortable. In a race the riders are standing the whole time and they use the seat to move the bike around with their legs, they will only sit on it as they glide back around to the start gate. While these bikes are fun to ride on the road, really light and fast, they are not ideal for all circumstances, for instance you could not reasonably ride one on a real mountain bike trail. My 8 year old son has been racing BMX for 2 years and he does not ride his race bike on the road.
I would also suggest that the statement about front suspension not being useful on a kids mountain bike is a generalization that does not apply to all kids. You have to make sure that the fork works when you buy the bike, some are too stiff to be of any use to a child but there are some that work fine. If the child is just riding on the road and going over curbs then it is unnecessary weight, but when he is riding in the Whistler bike park a rigid fork is going to beat his hands up enough that he will not be having any fun. Not every kid will be doing that sort of riding so make the choice based on what sort of riding you expect that the child will be doing. Gears are also a feature that should not be dismissed until you consider the type of riding that the bike is going to get. Single speed is fine for flat areas and mild hills or sprints around the BMX track. If you are expecting to go for rides in hilly areas or on mountain bike trails then you may want some gears, if you wouldn’t want to ride it without gears why should he have to. I chose a mountain bike for my son with only a single ring in the front and a 7 speed rear, that simplifies the shifting substantially. The derailleur and brake pads that come on most kids bikes (including the isla ones) are just nasty so if you do opt for a geared bike you may want to consider upgrading those pieces. That said, if your grandson is really small it is unlikely that he will be able to reasonably manage a 20 inch wheel mountain bike and I am unaware of a 16 inch wheel one worth looking at.

[lesterdog]

Andymac all good points for those unfamiliar with race bmx. It really depends on how & where your kid will ride. In our case, it's long, flattish rides, road & path.

The single rear brake made for an easy transisition from coaster. All the components on the race bike from wheels to cranks were better than what I saw elsewhere, the skinny high pressure tires are perfect for what he does, and the weight, sublime. There is something to be said for pushing 15 ungeared lbs up a hill vs. 30 geared.

I have swapped and added a few things and that tiny seat/post combo may be next. Still, he didn't complain about the seat after 50 + miles of NYC Five Boro ride a few weeks ago. His butt is REAL skinny and apparently durable.

I have contemplated figuring out if I could add a derailleur, but I think I'll let it go. Wait til he grows to the next size up where hopefully it'll be easier to find a decent quality ride.

[andymac]

Watch the seat and post combo, they are usually just a lightly padded plastic shell on the small race bikes and are riveted to the post. I am not sure how long one of them could last when it is actually being used as a seat. You wouldn't want to end up too far from home with just a seat post.

There is no way that a derailleur could be added to my son's race bike (FMF) as the dropouts are a CNC'ed piece where the axle ends up fully contained within a sort of shroud. You would also need to run a full length derailleur cable with some sort of clamp on cable stop as there will not be one on that frame. If you have a flip-flop rear hub (most do) you could run two different freewheels (they take a different type on each side) so that you could flip the wheel around to choose the gearing that suited the terrain. The issue with this is that when you change the gearing the wheel will move either forward or back in dropouts so brakes will not line up. This means adjusting the brakes whenever you do this, it is not hard to do, just an extra step.

If he is mostly doing street riding and not attempting to defy gravity (as my son is prone to doing, I think in an attempt to make his mother feint) then you might want to take a look at the road bike offerings that Trek and Kona have for kids, they both have some really small "real" road bikes now (34 cm with 24 inch wheels).

[Diode100]

In the end I got my grandson the 16'' Islabike, and quite superb it is too. It was delivered 7 days after phoning in the order, they are made in Thailand, but assembled in england, to order it would appear. It's quite light and feels very solid and well put together, and best of all he loves it ! Thanks for the recommendation.

[lesterdog]

Glad it worked out! They do look sweet those Islas....

[masiman]

Good to hear from someone who bought one.

Let us know in a few months your thoughts on the bike.

[HardyWeinberg]

This is an interesting thread. My 6 yr old I think has finally graduated from his 16" training wheel bike that weighs about the same as him (43#). He covets a 20" wheel single-speed crank-forward electra bike. It has a lot of flame decals on it. I'm just glad he wants a bike w/ fenders! He will certainly be able to ride it to school and back (4 blocks), and round and round and round and round the neighborhood.

Should I aim for something different? More 'functional'? Or should I just plan to put him on a trail-a-bike for rides out of the neighborhood when he has well and truly outgrown the trailer he shares w/ his 30 month old sister?

It seems like going to school and zooming all over the block is about the highest best function you can ask of for a 6 yr old's bike. I am also hoping the crank forward townie will help w/ his current bugbear, standing over the stopped bike and starting it up. But I'm open to the suggestion that he should be on a standard/real bike by now after having escaped the pernicious influence of training wheels. Any voices of experience would be great.

The 20" wheel cruiser should have the potential to be cool enough through middle school, and by then he can have already had a mtn bike or bmx bike on the side if he's really into it.

[masiman]

This is an interesting thread. My 6 yr old I think has finally graduated from his 16" training wheel bike that weighs about the same as him (43#). He covets a 20" wheel single-speed crank-forward electra bike. It has a lot of flame decals on it. I'm just glad he wants a bike w/ fenders! He will certainly be able to ride it to school and back (4 blocks), and round and round and round and round the neighborhood.

Should I aim for something different? More 'functional'? Or should I just plan to put him on a trail-a-bike for rides out of the neighborhood when he has well and truly outgrown the trailer he shares w/ his 30 month old sister?

It seems like going to school and zooming all over the block is about the highest best function you can ask of for a 6 yr old's bike. I am also hoping the crank forward townie will help w/ his current bugbear, standing over the stopped bike and starting it up. But I'm open to the suggestion that he should be on a standard/real bike by now after having escaped the pernicious influence of training wheels. Any voices of experience would be great.

The 20" wheel cruiser should have the potential to be cool enough through middle school, and by then he can have already had a mtn bike or bmx bike on the side if he's really into it.

The only insight I can offer is that your timeline may be off with respect to how long he could potentially be on the bike. You said it could be cool though middle school. I would guess he would use the bike until maybe 9? The bike will start to be getting too small, he'll have alot more confidence and be a more aggressive rider than he is now. I.e., he'll probably need a more specialized bike (trick, bmx, mtb, road). Take a look around your neighborhood at the 8 and 9 year olds. That is probably the type of riding that your son will be doing.

Tough call on whether to get that bike. I find crank forwards to be comfortable and interesting but not my type of riding. It would not have been a good choice for my 8 year old, more aggressive rider. I don't think it would help my 6 year old (not very interested in riding). The 3 year old will ride anything the older ones have. And so forth.

Is it possible to let your son try out both? If you can get them into the right frame of mind they can make rational decisions. With my kids it can sometimes be hard to remove the advertising or it looks cool factor from their decision making. If he still wants it and you think he somewhat understands the differences and the limitations, I'd say go for the crank forward. The time spent talking about and trying bikes out to get to the purchase will have him that much more excited about the new bike.

Good Luck. Glad you have an interested rider.

[HardyWeinberg]

Those are all good points, thanks. I think he might think he wants to go fast (and the flame decals should certainly help him w/ that) but deep inside I think he's all about taking it easy, stopping to smell the roses, etc... so the townie style might be a better fit for him than he even realizes. But you're right, I need to get him back to the REI and have him try it side-by-side with a mountain bike or some such, see if he can feel a difference that is meaningful to him. It is a lot of fun watching how happy he is w/ finally getting it all to work.

[masiman]

Those are all good points, thanks. I think he might think he wants to go fast (and the flame decals should certainly help him w/ that) but deep inside I think he's all about taking it easy, stopping to smell the roses, etc... so the townie style might be a better fit for him than he even realizes. But you're right, I need to get him back to the REI and have him try it side-by-side with a mountain bike or some such, see if he can feel a difference that is meaningful to him. It is a lot of fun watching how happy he is w/ finally getting it all to work.

My 6 year old is along those lines, except that he has no fantasies about being fast. For example, on our recent vacation I took his bike. My idea was that I would make him ride the flat 100 yard road to the beach a few times. He did okay riding except that he goes almost agonizingly slow, brakes coming down speed bumps. It's really quite funny to see a 6 year old on their bike riding alongside of you and they say to you as you walk by "slow down, you're going too fast".

In my above comments I should have said above he will likely be a more confident rider rather than aggressive.

You have some great areas to ride out there. Capitol Forest is really nice and the Peninsula has some really great trails and roads.

[HardyWeinberg]

I've been wondering about getting out to the capitol forest lately. I've stopped commuting on my mtn bike, so if I am to keep it I should probably try some mountain biking, see what I think. He would not be able to ride a hypothetical cruiser on trails I don't think. He does sound a lot like your 6 yr old. I'm used to doing 20 min miles w/ mine.