Recreational & Family - Any lightweight 18" bikes for a five year old?
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Jerry in So IL
09-05-08, 10:00 AM
He wants to bike with us more. I have a tagalong bike now, that he "rides" with us, but he is wanting to ride his own bike. He is just about too big for a 16" and all the Xmart store bikes we have seen are just too heavy for him. He can pedal them, but they weight a ton and we just want to buy him something better and lighter. He still uses training wheels, but they are coming off pretty soon.
Jerry
HardyWeinberg
09-05-08, 10:15 AM
How big is he? You can jack the seatpost out and push the bars forward pretty far on a 16" bike. Raleigh does have 20" coaster brake single speeds: http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/youth/atomic/
18" tire bikes are hard to come by. Back in '01 my older daughter was too large for the 16" tire bike, but had trouble handling the 20" bike (6 speed) that I had waiting for her. I ended up with a Kent 18" from Toys-R-Us that she used for a year or so as a bridge bike. Weight wise, it wasn't terrible.
I don't know if it's worth getting one of these over to the States:
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn20.html#
We have a Cnoc 14 and it's great.
ThomCat
10-04-08, 03:02 PM
I found a nice 16" Redline pit bike for my daughter. She started riding it when she was six, and is almost eight and about 6-8 months from her next bike. It's all-aluminum, freewheel with handbrake, and weighs about half what your average mass-market junk does.
This is the current bike:
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bmxracing/bikes/proline-pitboss.html
Next bike will likely be either the http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bmxracing/bikes/proline-mini.html or the http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bmxracing/bikes/proline-junior.html, with a 24" Felt http://www.feltracing.com/09/order.aspx?pid=8 that I found used waiting in the wings for when she fits it.
badmother
10-06-08, 01:17 PM
This reminds me of when my son was in this age. Heavy bad quality childrens bikes. I one day calclated the weight of my son`s bike related to his veight. Cam to that If I had to do the same it ment riding a 50 kg bike.
Maybe you could buy him a folder? I think "too big for 16" and too small for 20" is a bit strange since I some time ride a 16" folder, this is about framesize.
Is it possible to get a longer stem and seatpost? Maybe also cranks? I did a lot of work on my sons bike in those days.
Maybe look for a second hand bike? Maybe get more than one and swap parts? I found childrens bikes often has got steel rims, cranks, steel handlebars and racks. Change to alloy or remowe.