Recreational & Family - Change your kids tires!

I just changed the tire on my sons Transfomer Super Sore tank of a bike! It had 16 x 2.125 mega knobbies and I thought that wouldn't matter on his little bike but he is now riding 4 to 6 miles a day with us I swapped the old tires off of his old jogging stroller "that is shot" and he picked up alot of speed and rode the 4 mile loop with out asking for a brake!!! The new tires are 16 x 1.75 semi slickish!!! The defference is amazing!!

It is a pretty big difference. We have a 40-50 mile ride we do every year. I make the kids start off the season riding the stock fat, soft knobbies. We did 20 miles this weekend. I will be swapping the tires out this evening for their 1.2", 90psi slicks this evening.

When your son gets to a 20" wheel bike, look for tires classified for recumbents. The distributors group the tires such that if you tell your shop you want a 20" tire for your kids bike they won't find very many narrow, hi-pressure, slicks if at all because they won't be listed in the kids section. Tell them to check under recumbents for some better choices. 1" might be a too narrow for most kids rims so I err on the safe side and get 1.2-1.5, 80psi or higher, minimal tread. They will cost you ~$20/tire but are very much worth it if you plan to do longer rides.

It is a pretty big difference. We have a 40-50 mile ride we do every year. I make the kids start off the season riding the stock fat, soft knobbies. We did 20 miles this weekend. I will be swapping the tires out this evening for their 1.2", 90psi slicks this evening.

When your son gets to a 20" wheel bike, look for tires classified for recumbents. The distributors group the tires such that if you tell your shop you want a 20" tire for your kids bike they won't find very many narrow, hi-pressure, slicks if at all because they won't be listed in the kids section. Tell them to check under recumbents for some better choices. 1" might be a too narrow for most kids rims so I err on the safe side and get 1.2-1.5, 80psi or higher, minimal tread. They will cost you ~$20/tire but are very much worth it if you plan to do longer rides.


Thanks for the tip I will comit that to memorie for the 20" days that will be here sooner than later!!!

I was wondering about getting my soon-to-be 8 yr old a pair of these but not sure he needs 4# of tire (~8% of his body weight):

http://harriscyclery.net/images/library/catalogs/soc/p350X350m/TR2710.jpg (http://harriscyclery.net/page.cfm?PageID=49&action=details&sku=TR2710)

Would those kind of down hill tires do good for a kid? Or do they have them in kid sizes? I was thinking that might be good kinda of smooth in the center and then knobies on the outer edges for when they go off the pavement.

My daughters have their townies which are older three speed Raleighs fitted with slicks and their mtb's have more aggressive tyres for taking the trails.

A hybrid tyre with a slick centre and side lugs would be an excellent tyre for mixed surfaces.