Recreational & Family - Girls first gears (@ 7-years old)

My daughter is 7 years old and comes in at a shade over 48 inches tall. She has been without training wheels for a couple years now and sports a 20" Schwinn Toys R Us "Pedal Pusher". She has been interested in a bike with gears. She rides paths mostly and will do about 5 miles a pop without running into anyone or inadvertantly riding off the concrete. She is also accustomed to using hand brakes. I am not implying that she has mad skills, only that she can ride a bicycle.
She has been interested in a ride with gears recently as it can get pretty tough for her to get up the occasional hill.
Her mom and I are getting her a "nice" bike for Christmas.
I don't know if she is tall enough to handle a 24", but I am scared to spend a lot of money for a bike that she will grow out of in a year and a half.
We were looking at the Gary Fisher series. They seem to be good quality and not overly sissy and stylized like some of the other "girls" bikes out there.
Anywho, advice?

I picked up a used kent 20" tire girls bike with a 5 speed setup for peanuts. Like you say, the bmx style kids bikes are geared too high for hills and very rough terrain. If you're worried about spending too much for something they will soon outgrow, mebbe go used.

Another vote for used. Even get it for her now if you can afford it and get her something else for Xmas.

I think 2 of my kids are about 48" (hard to keep track), and they do not fit a 24". I took one out shopping to test out 24's but they were just too big. I ended up getting a second 20" with gears, the younger of the two was ready to move on from the 16" single speed.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/kids/2302/32238/

I think 2 of my kids are about 48" (hard to keep track), and they do not fit a 24". I took one out shopping to test out 24's but they were just too big. I bet by the time the new riding season rolls in the OP's daughter will be taller than 48". Unless she rides in winter (if so, more power to her).

One of my 7 yr old's classmates is ~9 months older than him and her dad got her a 24" bike he figured should last her into middle school; only catch, she can't really ride it now, and she rides her old 16" bike to school. I have seen her out on the 24" one, it's only starting/stopping/dismounting that cause problems. My son didn't want anything to do with that kind of hassle and was happy to move up to a 20" bike from his 16" one. That said, used 20 and 24" bikes w/ gears shouldn't be too hard to find. I got him to try out one 24" bike by just buying it for $20 at a yardsale and bringing it home for him. No go, so passed it on to a slightly larger friend.

I bet by the time the new riding season rolls in the OP's daughter will be taller than 48". Unless she rides in winter (if so, more power to her).

I just rechecked our wall chart. My oldest is 50.5" and #2 is 49". A neighbor has their 9 year old on a 24. I think he is maybe 54", and the bike is too big for him, long reach low saddle, difficulty mounting and dismounting.

A slim chance mine would be tall enough next year for a 24", but they are all different :).

My daughter is 7 and taller than 48"(not sure by how much). She is taller than her friends the same age. I too was concerned about buying a 'nicer' geared bike she would out grow. I talked her into a neutral color so my son can ride eventually. He's 3. Not sure if you have a younger, up and coming cyclist who could use the same bike but that is something to consider. We went with a light blue Specialized Hot Rock.

My girl was very tall for her age, but still wasn't ready for a 24" until 9 years old. I went with a used 5 speed 20" bike when she was around 7 years old. It was in nice shape, and she used it for two years.

I gave that bike away to a friend, but recently picked up a used Trek 6 speed 20" bike for daughter #2. I'm hoping that she will be ready for it at around 7 years old, but at 6 she is not yet 43" tall.

For their sake, don't push them into a bike that is too large for them. False economy.... Consider the emergency room deductable into the bike purchase equation!

I'm an adult male, 5'7" tall, and a toy store 24" kid's mountain bike fits me. I think it'd be hugely too big for a 4' tall real kid. Perhaps a 5' tall kid could manage it.

We bought our daughter a used 20" Specialized with 7 speed and hand brakes for $100. She did wonderful with that bike until she outgrew it. Her cadence is much better than her friends with single speed bikes. We rode the local trail and back roads regularly, and her longest ride on that bike was 15 miles. I don't think her endurance would have allowed that on a single speed (I might be wrong).

The one downside, she still doesn't know how to stand up and ride! She simply downshifts and goes over hills. Unfortunately she also inherited my klutziness, so it might not be the bike.

I prolly wouldn't spend $400 on one, but as others have said, if you can find a used one, go for it.

She didn't fit her 24" until about age 9-10, and she is tall for her age.

My 8 year old daughter is quite petite and has two 20 inch bikes...one is a 5 speed hardtail mountain bike that we use for the trails and her other bike is a vintage Raleigh Fireball 3 speed cruiser.

She has no problem with either gear system (except she says she needs more) and prefers the cruiser and I think part of it stems from knowing how much work dad and his mates put into building it for her.

She is a very strong rider and can handle trips in the 25-30 km range with a few small breaks.

One option you can have with a kid's bike is that they are usually freewheel equipped and one can swap the freewheel to get a better gear range which usually means a lower gear for climbing.

In the case of the three speed I re-geared it so that the overall ange was much lower than stock.

Ah, a new bike for Christmas! I remember the boundless joy in my older brothers face the years he got a new bike for Christmas. Of course, I NEVER GOT A NEW BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS - I JUST GOT THE OLD ONE HE HAD OUT GROWN - NOT THAT I'M BITTER OR ANYTHING. ;)

Anyway, perhaps an Electra Townie 7D-20 (http://www.electrabike.com/kids/)?

Best,
tcs

I bought my son a used 20" at a local cooperative just before he turned 7 (he is VERY tall). It had a bent derailleur that I replaced for $20. It was $80 all in. No suspension, but 7 gear with SRAM gripshifter and front/rear brake levers. It was absolutely perfect to introduce him to gears. I then got him a 24" with 14 gears.

I would strongly suggest buying a craigslist bike or hitting up a neighbor that has older kids. My son spent exactly 9 months on the 20" but he rode all the time. When I moved to the bigger bike, I sold the smaller one for $40.

Small kids are taught bad habits a lot on bikes these days. Get a frame that fits their size now but may not be perfectly new. Teach them to start from the pedals, not from the seat. Have them feel comfortable modulating their speed.

Then buy them the new bike for Christmas.

Exactly right, keep perfect fitting coop/craigslist/used bikes under them, and keep on selling them off as you buy the next size up. Works out better for the kid and easier on your wallet.

And if anything its better to have them on a too small bike rather than get a too big one in anticipation of a growing spurt.. at least this has been my experience. Worst thing parents can do is buy that toysRus 16" tire training wheel bike for their 2-4 year old. Stunts their learning curve badly. Our 2 year old can ride circles around them on his 12" tire non-training-wheel bike. From what I've seen an average sized kid aint ready for a 16" tire until they are around 5.

Best bike size chart I know is: http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/pdfs/sizes/Size_Chart08_web.pdf
Height can be misleading, so go on inside leg measuremet.

As for growing out of any bike you buy her, it's far better (I know, it's not my wallet ), to get one which fits pretty well as she will enjoy it more. There's also the question of resale/trade-in value to be taken into account when calculating future costs.

At age 7, 5 - 7 gears with single chainwheel works best as most youngsters don't really get hold of automatically using the right gear until going on 10 (yes, I know, there are exceptions), so having a double or a triple is money wasted.

Altho' it's unlikely that you'd buy a UK sourced Islabike, it's a useful site to visit as there's a good deal of very useful advice about kids bikes.

In any case, if you get her really enthused, the cost of her next bike will pale into insignificance compared with the long line of road/mtb/'cross bikes I see stretching into her and your futures.

Good luck

I agree with the 7-speed Specialized Hotrock above. My daughter has one and loves it.

I just bought a hotrock for my 6 year old. She loves it too. lots of bike for the money.