My 4 year old son just started BMX racing. He sometimes is barley making it over the hills/jumps. The problem area is later in track , when he no longer has the speed from the starting gate hill. I was thinking of changing his gearing, but I’m unsure which way to go. He is riding a Haro CSX which came with 40/16 gears.
I was trying to decide between changing his chain ring to a 38 or 42.
I was thinking:
the 38 would make it easier to pedal up the hills, but would slow him down overall.
The would 42 would allow him to get more speed when pedaling before the hills and coast up, but 42/16 may be to hard for a 4 year old.

I need your thoughts or experiences, Because I don’t get much input from a 4 year old and this is all new to me.

Thanks for you help.

Maybe he needs to train more?

What would you recommend as a training regiment for a 4 year old?
He currently rides daily for a couple of hours on the trails around our house, but the are not as tough as the track. He has got a couple of seconds and thirds but is just really struggle over the final few hills.

Give him the smaller Chainring. He will have to spin faster to maintain speed, but if it is too hard for him to pedal up the hills in a bigger chainring he still will be losing time. If it is easy for him he will build confidence with his style and form, then worry about speed/time later. They will come with more muscle and training. What are the other kids running? What did they start out at and where are they now?

You have to discipline him. 4 years old and he can't turn a 40/16 uphill? Make him train more. 2 hours per day isn't nearly enough. Kids are too soft these days.

most of the other kids are running 40/16, 37/14 etc., but the are mostly 5 & 6 year olds.
He doing O.K. but is almost at a stop by the to of some hills and I would like to see him have a little more speed up the hills. I think I will try 38/16

Thanks for the advic

38/16 is probably a better ratio for him. Even if he spins more, that will just help him get smoother on the track. Also, make sure he's got the proper length crank arms too.

I thinks it's very cool that you are racing him. I started mine at 8. He just got his a bike a week before, never rode a BMX bike before and never over any kind of jumps at all. We watched other guys for a while then he geared up and took off. He crashed 3 times on the first lap. He still hasn't won, but took 2nd once. We don't try too hard to win, but enjoy just being there with the other racer and having fun. After some time off, we plan to hit race at least once a week next year. Our track has 2 races every week and practice night on thurs. Post a couple pics of your son, and good luck.

He has just loved riding his bike since he was 3 and would try riding over hills, jumps or any thing he could find in the neighborhood. I did some web searching and was surprised to find a BMX track less then 10 miles from our house. He loves it and has share of crashes but jumps up and keeps going.

I noticed your from Denver, PA, do you race at York?
I heard that is a pretty fast track. We race at Lebanon and maybe next year will try York a couple of times. I don't want to travel too much and make it too intense for him. I want him to just enjoy it first and then go from there.

Good luck
Jerry

36-16 is pretty easy for young kids to pedal. its really not worth going much smaller, maybe to 33-16 at the least, because you lose alot of your speed. correct me if i'm wrong, cuz i'm no racer.

33-16 is probably not enough for a little guy on a track.

And props to JerryL for getting his kid into racing early. I've found it to be the perfect family sport.