Sixty Fiver

My daughter is 8.5 years old and has been riding solo for less than a month and two days ago I upgraded her ride from a 16 inch single speed bike with a coaster brake and hand brake to a 20 inch hardtail with a five speed, dual hand brakes, and a grip shift.



It took her all of 15 minutes to get comfy on the new bike, a long evening ride got her using the gears efficiently, and yesterday we went on the biggest ride ever.

With her older sister we rode 20 km to my shop (round trip) and back and along that route there are a couple of good hills... this picture was taken when she was climbing what is a 10% - 12% grade and she did most of this out of the saddle... and was singing the whole way.



We averaged 13kmh on the ride and on the return leg we had to ride into a headwind and she kept the hammer down on almost the entire return trip... I clocked her at 20 kmh going into the wind and she can crank it up to 25 kmh with the extra gears on her new bike.

After we got home her sister crashed and while her sister caught some z's she spent another hour riding out front of the house on the sidewalk.

So in a period of about 8 hours she spent more than 6 hours riding her bike, had no complaints of being tired or sore, and spent a few more hours riding at home today.

She';s been lifting small hand weights and doing sit-ups because she says she wants to be really strong for cycling, wants to go and hit the trails with dad, and wants some of those shoes and pedals that make me climb hills so well.

I have been joking about the force being strong in this one but damn... she's doing tricks, jumping up and down curbs, will do one handed passes so she can high five me, and I've seen her trying to pop wheelies and bunny hop the bike.

Is this normal ?

BKXray

My older girl was like that. She learned to ride without training wheels one day and the next day she rode7 or 8 miles. Two days later she rode 13 or so. By the time she was 11, she was doing the Elletsville, IN Hilly Hundred and making it up all the hills. Her younger sister didn't take to it nearly as well. It has taken her much longer to get into it.

Creakyknees

cool!!!!

sure it's normal, it's what kids used to do all by themselves before we enslaved them with tv's and video games.

oh to be young again.

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dingster1

Amen Creaky!!

twahl

Way to go Dad!

My daughter rode her first metric century at 10, and she's a drafting animal. She'll pull in behind me no more than 12" off my wheel at 25 MPH and just sit there, no problem. My guess is that your daughter will be doing the same, or achieving comparable mountain biking feats by the time whe's 10.

DieselDan

There is such a thing as natural talent. She's got it. Encourage it. Find some smoother road going tires for her bike.

cleansheet

Ahhh, a Raleigh Rowdy. Picked one up for my 7 year-old's birthday last week. We did a nice 7.5 mile ride without any problems. Seems like a nice kids bike despite it being a little heavy.

Sixty Fiver

"There is such a thing as natural talent. She's got it. Encourage it. Find some smoother road going tires for her bike."

I think it's natural talent and a good work ethic... I can see how much fun she has when she is on her bike (which is whenever she's at home) and can see her practising manoeuvres like stops, standing on the pedals, and now she is working on wheelies so she can hop curbs.

The bike has Kenda hybrid tires (semi slicks) which seem to be pretty good for road / trail and I will probably upgrade some things to lighten the bike and expand the gear range... she thinks it's pretty great that her dad is a "super bike mechanic" and can do these things.

I think she is eventually going to need a road bike which is what her more sedate and cautious sister now rides and has already said she wants to come with me when I ride across Canada in 2015... she will be 15 then.

HardyWeinberg

Outstanding. I think that is the exact bike that a neighbor got for his 5 yr old. He got his 7 yr old a 24" bike and 5 yr old a 20" bike. Both kids kinda need to be propped up onto the bikes until they can get the pedals oriented so they can take off but once they're going they go.

My almost 7 yr old has pretty clearly outgrown his 16" bike (not sure if the seat post has a 'do not extend past here' line but I think I am getting close to it. Not sure if I want to move him to a 20" which would be his size, or push him to a 24" which he would grow into. Actually I am pretty sure that knowing his basic conservativeness 20" would be the way to go.

He does like to ride, though!

Sixty Fiver

Hardy - You have some cute kids.

I think that children need to be put on proper sized bikes... when I rode as a kid I was always jacking my older brother's larger ride but it was not optimal.

My youngest daughter rides with her seat set to a proper pedalling height and can touch her toes when she stops or straddles the top tube but pretty much always leaps onto the bike when she takes off.

My older daughter is in that just between phase where a 24 inch bike is a proper fit for her height and reach but the altitude, speed the of the larger bike, and different handling are things she will have to get used to.

She is an extremely cautious and conservative rider but is also pretty confident in her bike handling skills, this is her new commuter (which is now sporting a rear rack for paniers).

I brought home several stems from the shop so we can adjust the bar position to best suit her preferred riding style and as always... upgrades are in the works as it's a really nice old bike that can be made much better.

HardyWeinberg

Very nice norco. I like to see all the pics of kids on bikes.

I guess a bike like that one will be 2 bikes down the road for my son. He is generally conservative and can control his bike down way below walking speed but he prefers to just bop along around 5 mph. He can do a virtual track stand at corners waiting for traffic to go. All his big mileage has been on the trail-a-bike which he enjoys. He finally started letting me pedal going down some hills (progressing through the continuum from riding the brake down hills through coasting down hills...).

My daughter is still too small for the t-a-b so she rides in the trailer for distance. She's a total daredevil, she will absolutely want me cranking hard down hills when she's on the trail-a-bike. When she got her 2-wheeler home (w/ training wheels) she hopped on it and pedaled half a mile uphill to my son's school, which some of his classmates still wind up getting off and pushing their bike up. Kids are funny.

rugerben

I would be honored to have a monster like that some day.

st0ut

Sixty fiver that is awesome my son was wondering when he could start doing the 12 mile loops on our club rides on his bike not the tab

knatchwa

to think of the excitement the future holds, good to see pics and stories on kids who grasp biking so well. Sixty Fiver: That is great to see and hear makes the day a bit better.
hardyweinberg: that is good to see, to look forward to one day I may have me one of those kids

st0ut

we think this is cute now when our kids ride at a good level at an early age..
are we going to think it cute when they are 14 and want a $4000 Carbon bike

remember she may want to be with a Prince soon Prince Paranello

atbman

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Boy, are you doomed, my friend. We've had kids like yours in our Saturday Bike Club. Before you know where you are, she will:

Prove to be a speed/skills/jump/endurance demon
Require a full stable of road/mountain/cyclo-cross/maybe bmx bikes
Have your lungs coming out of your mouth trying to keep up with her up hill
Have your heart coming out of another orifice going down a technical descent
Have you trekking across country to take part in kids/teenager/junior/senior/international races
Have you taking a coaching course so you can help her with the above
Do all the above because you knew how to coach her

Etc., etc., etc.,

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

atbman

In short, yes.

HardyWeinberg

Article from yesterday's paper:

https://www.theolympian.com/sports/to...ry/467323.html

coldfeet

No, it is not normal,... by today's standards.

Yes, you have created a monster,

















A GOOD Monster!

Way to go!

I'm with atbman on what the future holds for you though.

Kotts

Wait just a second here. You are a cyclist, and you are asking if your kid is normal?!?

Normal for what?
If you're asking "Normal for a cyclist's kid" then the answer is "Heck, yeah"!
If you mean "Normal for today's overweight, underexcercised, videogame playing kid", then the answer is "No."

My daughter got a similarly equipped Trek 220 for her 8th birthday, because when she was 7 she went with me on a 17 mile (27 km) charity ride. Same results.

Enjoy it!

knatchwa

Keeps this one interesting, nice to hear about psalts that is good to hear.

chephy

Nope. We're all in a lot of trouble. The kid will be taking over the world in a few years. *gulp*

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WAY TO GO!

Sixty Fiver

Last night was our first night ride (as a family) and we took a trip into the river valley to watch a "ride in" movie...

The distance was 8 km and included a long descent into the valley which the girls handled really well and both the girls were really cautious on a descent where I can easily hit 50 kmh on my own with little effort.

On the return we had to climb back out and my little monster stuck to my back wheel the whole time and sang her way to the top while her older brother, cousin, and sister struggled a little.

She already understands the concept of drafting.

And when we hit the last leg of the trip she kicked it up a few notches and with her headlight blazing and blinkies blinking, was hitting 25 kmh which stunned my friend who was riding home with us.

JoelS

That's fantastic! My 6 year old has a toy store BMX type bike. It's pretty junkie, but he rides it well. He does 11 and 12 mile rides with me during the week. Speed is pretty slow, those rides usually take about 2 hours.

Last week we went to a local bike shop looking for a better ride for him. He got on one that was the right size, with 6 speeds (I think) and handbrakes. He took off like a shot on the test ride. The bike is exactly the right size for him. When he has the next growth spurt, it'll be too small. So we're going one size up. It's a hair big and I have to help him get started and catch him to stop, but when he's on it, he's moving. By the time his birthday rolls around in September, he might just be able to get it going on his own.

Sixty Fiver

I have a solution for growth spurts...



I got my 10 year old daughter a beautiful Raleigh Saffron which is the non folding version of the Raleigh Compact... it has an SA 3 speed (which I have geared down), fenders, generator lights, and will be a good ride unless she reaches a height of six foot 4.

With the seat and stem adjusted I can ride this bike although the Saffron is really set up as a ladies bike with a more compact tt than my Twenty, short reach brakes, and the very low step over is great for anyone.

She is very utilitarian and wants to join me on shopping trips and for that I do have some small paniers to fit her bike although am looking for nicer ones.