My son turned 12 last May. He started out years ago with the typical little kid's bike. Everything went well until we took the training wheels off. He fell twice that day (he was 6) and refused to ever get on the bike again. Consequently, last year I bought him a KMX for his birthday. My husband was dead set against it: "too expensive", "he won't like it", "other kids will make fun of him", "he'll never learn to ride a real bike". In spite of the negativity, I bought it anyway. He LOVES it. Now, he rides frequently with me (I bought my trike so I could ride more easily with him), and we can all finally ride together as a family, without someone staying home. It WAS expensive compared to Walmart, but worth every penny. All the neighborhood kids think its really cool (and he loves the attention he gets from both kids and adults). As far as riding a "real" bike, well, my husband could be right about that one but I don't really care. I plan on buying him a nicer trike as soon as I can afford one but, in the meantime, we'll just keep riding and having fun. We have a regular 14 mile loop that we all enjoy and hope to expand upon this summer. My only regret is that I didn't find the KMX trike sooner.