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Old 10-21-04, 09:09 AM
  #16  
alanbikehouston
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Originally Posted by tacomee
I'd never buy a kid's bike new-- plenty of them for less than 20 bucks at the local Goodwill. Of course all these used bikes are broken and you'll have to fix them, but you'd be fixing the new Wallyworld clunker you paid 50 or 100 bucks more for in a week anyway.

Kids trash bikes, so buy used and get used to fixing them.
Re-sale shops sometimes have some really good bikes. However, a brand new kid's bike can also be a good value. I gave my eight year old god-son a Giant BMX bike. It listed for around $300, and was on sale for $200. Built with 4130 steel. Wheels with massive aluminum rims and 48 spokes. Built like a tank, it weighs about 30 pounds, due its "beefed up" bearings, wheels, tires, and cranks.

My god-son's favorite activity on his BMX bike seems to be "demolition derby". He rides it fast up a ramp at a local school that sends him flying off a two foot high drop. He enjoys finding sidewalks with lots of breaks, bumps, and canyons and riding at high speeds over them.

And, after every distructive thing he has done, the bike is in perfect condition. The wheels are still perfectly true. After he gets two or three years of brutal use out of this bike, it will get passed on to another boy for another two or three years of hard use.

I have assembled some "Wal-Mart" type kids bikes. I bought several for kids in my neighborhood whose families could not afford bikes. They held up okay for a summer of cruising around the block...then their problems made repairing them more trouble than they were worth. My god-son's "Eviel Knievel" approach to bike riding would have destroyed a Wal-Mart bikes in two days.

A $200 children's bike is safer than a $40 children's bike from day one. And, because it will last six or eight years (or more), instead of just one, it is cheaper in the long run. And, much cheaper than the trip to the ER that may occur with brake failure or wheel failure.
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