what size for my 6yr old first bike

chrisski

Hi
does anyone know what the best size of bike i should get for my 6yr old boy (who cant ride a bike yet) should it be a 16 or a 20" wheel bike?

thanks

Andy B

Depends, I've sold 16" 18" 20" & 24" wheeled bikes to kids of a similar age

You really need to get him on some to get the right size.

If it's supposed to be a secret you could tell him you want to buy some bike bits and get him to play on (try) some bikes whilst you 'buy' your bits

bartimaeus

Depends on how big he is... and it depends on the geometry of the bike.

My kids now have Islabikes, and they make small frames with comparatively big wheels, so wheel size alone is not the answer. See http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/p ... rt_web.pdf - this sizes the bikes by inside leg and height, and is spot on. It is only valid for the Islabikes of course. BTW these bikes are great - light and snappy.

When my youngest was 6 he was riding a Ridgeback MX16... also a very nice bike. Which reminds me I now need to get round to selling it!

See also the Bikeradar Buyers Guide

And, of course, if he can't ride yet - don't forget to take the pedals off till he gets his balance. There's a thread here about that - and it certainly works.

chrisski

hi thanks for the reply! wheres the thread on here for the pedals being off?

bartimaeus

Here's one... there may be another, I'll look. http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12718046

bartimaeus

The one I was thinking of was a link in that one... so http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12694331

bigwheel-leader

Take him to a store that will let him try a few bikes on. Get him the one that he looks most comfortable on. It is sometimes hard to help them pick the one they will do best on and not the one they think looks the coolest.

bartimaeus

bigwheel-leader wrote:

Take him to a store that will let him try a few bikes on. Get him the one that he looks most comfortable on.

Yep - definitely a good idea. But if you do I would invest in a set ofluggage scales and weigh the bikes. Some kids bikes, especially ones with suspension, are surprisingly heavy... so for example we had a second hand Trek MT60 which is a very nice bike on the flat, but at 29lbs it weighs more than my Anthem, and was no fun on anything with any uphill. We bit the bullet and replaced it with a Beinn 24 and the results were amazing.

For what it's worth, IMHO suspension is a waste of time till they are teenagers as it will be heavy and ineffective no matter how cool it looks... unless you can afford top quality forks e.g. air sprung, and then you are looking at £500+

GhallTN6

My boy has loved his ridgeback MX 16 for the last couple of years, we got it when he was six, and now he's coming up to nine, so good in fact that I'm sticking with ridgeback for the 24 Inch version and my young un has the 14" version.

Brilliant bike, havent had any problems apart from the odd brake adjusment and tyre replacement, at £110 brand new it has been worth every penny (there's always a few on e-bay).

cooldad

Bartimeaus makes a good point. Go for low weight.

GhallTN6

Basically don't buy a cheep and nasty steel Argos/Halfords/toysRus excuse for a bike, go for an aliminum frame, cost you more, but will last you so much longer.

bartimaeus

I have an MX16 if you are interested.... it's in pretty good nick, and I can throw in some stabilizers too (though, as I said, I think you are better off going for the 'scoot bike' approach). I'll post some pics in a bit to keep the mods happy - if you are interested you can have first shout before I post this in the 'for sale' section.

bartimaeus

These are from a while ago... but this bike has seen little use. We used to have 2 of these which is why we have one in such good nick. I will post a newer pic when I get round to listing this properly.