Recreational & Family - 12" bikes with handbrakes and freewheels?

Are there any 12" tire'd bikes with handbrakes and freewheels? I want one for my 2 1/2 year old but I haven't seen any.

i can't remember if it was 12 or 16 inches, but i did see a smaller one with a freewheel and at least a back handbrake. i don't recall what brand it was, but it was better than dept store quality. i'd ask at your LBS. they should know...

There's also the option of lacing up a wheel with a freewheel hub, and running brakes yourself. with wheels that small, it's not gonna be that far out of true just owing to it's small size.

I do not believe that handbrakes are spec'd from any manufacturers on 12" kids bikes.

1) You'll probably have a hard time finding a brake lever with a reach that your 2.5 year old can comfortably use.

2) The effective travel of the lever, given the childs hand size, will not be much. Meaning, you'll need to have the brakes very closely adjusted, which means the wheel won't be able to be much out of true

3) Your 2.5 year old won't have much strength to work a hand brake.

It does not make much sense to give a 2.5 year old a hand brake that they can marginally work and that will quickly tire their hand trying to work. Leg muscles are much stronger and have greater endurance than hand muscles. You don't see handbrakes until 16" bikes at the earliest. They become more available at 20" bikes.

Caveat: The above statements apply to average 2.5 year olds. I assume that your 2.5 year old is about average if they are on a 12" bike.

Hrms, I think I'll try lacing one up. I'll post up how it went.

I think the smallest you will find is a 16 inch wheel and you pay a hefty premium for those. In BMX racing they have an event called Pit Bike Racing just for laughs. Kids and adults race 16 inch wheel and smaller bikes over the track that is meant for 20 inch wheel bikes, it is a riot. My son has a Free Agent Lil Homie that he uses for this but there is a boy at the track with a 12 inch wheel bike built on a Redline Cassette hub, he has a front sprocket that is almost as big as the cranks arms, it is hysterical but his dad had a really tough time getting a brake set up as the little frames usually have no brake posts. I originally built one from scratch for my son and I used a hub that I got off a scrapped folding bike as it had a weird band/drum brake that worked pretty well. Another option may be something like an Odyssey 1999 caliper brake, they are pretty good and do not require a lot of hand strength if you use good pads.

I'll post this again as you have asked.... Internal hubs work fine in 16" wheels. You will have real trouble mounting a gear cluster and derailleur on such a small bike. You might be lucky enough to find a folder with a cluster as a parts source, but I haven't seen them below 16". My daughter learned to ride on a 12" tire bike, but those wheels are just too small for anything fancy.

I built up my own wheels with a S-A 3 speed hub, and added hand brakes. I modified (bent) the spring to reduce the hand strength requirement to the bare minimum so that my daughter can work them easily. It was a good project, but not a cheap one!

Right, I'm with ya Fib but I'm not interested in multiple gears for this bike. All I want is to ditch the coaster brake. I just laced up our toysRus 16" bmx with an bmx freewheel and installed a rear hand brake. The lever I used has an adjustment for travel. I cranked it down pretty far so the lever is very close to the bar. Works fine so far, kid loves it. The 16" cost me 20 bux to convert over, so wasn't too bad.

I'll try the youngest ones 12" bike next. I checked out the 12" frame and there is a mount for a rear rim brake. Also looks like the stock rim's profile will work with a rim brake so I wont need a new rim like the 16" bike did! Masi thanks, he's big for a 2 year old, but I'll definitely keep your advice in mind. I was told its better to be on a bike on the small side rather than one on the big side. I'm a believer after watching these guys. Grandpa wanted to get the 16" but I made sure he bought the 12" instead :p ..and the training wheels stayed in the box.

Andy, I'll look in to the odyssey. I'm interested in eventually getting these little guys bmx racing when they are old enough. I figured rather than just having them toolin around I'd keep them workin on something new every ride. I never was in to bmx when I was younger but hope I'll get to run side by side with these guys soon! Maybe this thread was more appropriate for the bmx forum.. oh well I'm new. Anyway ppreciate all the feedbacks guys. Bikeforums is pretty neato.

Ah, I think we all went off on the gear tangent when you said freewheel. I believe what you want to do is disassemble the coaster brake hub and take out the brake shoes.

The little 12" tire bike we had did not have the cross bar on the seat stays above the tire for mounting a handbrake. If yours has that, you can probably make it work. I found the handbrake set at:

http://www.huskybicycles.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=307-105&Category_Code=brk&Store_Code=hbs

Really low end stuff, but it worked great on a little kids bike once I tweeked the spring tension.

Seems like a lot of work for a bike that will not get much use. The kid will grow out of it quickly.

acks.

$20 bux in parts and a half hour of lacing while I watch TV? Everybody's different and entitled to their own opinion of course, but that doesn't seem too much for me. Anyway he's two. The seat is adjusted all the way down for him. I'm positive he could ride that 12er for several years if he really wanted to, because the next older kid jumps on his 12er sometimes.

shoot

I do not believe that handbrakes are spec'd from any manufacturers on 12" kids bikes.

1) You'll probably have a hard time finding a brake lever with a reach that your 2.5 year old can comfortably use.

2) The effective travel of the lever, given the childs hand size, will not be much. Meaning, you'll need to have the brakes very closely adjusted, which means the wheel won't be able to be much out of true

3) Your 2.5 year old won't have much strength to work a hand brake.

It does not make much sense to give a 2.5 year old a hand brake that they can marginally work and that will quickly tire their hand trying to work. Leg muscles are much stronger and have greater endurance than hand muscles. You don't see handbrakes until 16" bikes at the earliest. They become more available at 20" bikes.

Caveat: The above statements apply to average 2.5 year olds. I assume that your 2.5 year old is about average if they are on a 12" bike.

I saw a Tony Hawk Huck Jam 12" spec'ed w/ hand brakes, if anyone is looking and doesn't want to wrench.