soon to be 4 year old bike size

danlightbulb
danlightbulb Posts: 701
edited April 2013 in Family & kids cycling forum
Hi,

I'm getting my youngest son a new bike for his 4th birthday in about 4 weeks.

I've been really disappointed with the heavy bikes I ended up getting for my older son, so I'm looking at used Islabikes. My older son is 5 years 8 months old, and has a 16" wheel bike which I brought him last year when he was about 4 years 8 months old. At the time I got it for him, it was a little big and he was on tiptoes, but a year on and its fine now.

I'm really struggling with what size to get my younger son. He is just on the minimum height / inside leg size for a 16" wheel according to Islabikes website, but I tried him on the 16" offering at Decathlon (which they promote as being 4+) and it just looked too big with him stretching for the bars and on tiptoes. However if I buy him a 14" it might not last long before he grows out of it.

Anyone with youngsters out there that can help?

Thanks

Comments

  • baudman
    baudman Posts: 757
    danlightbulb wrote:
    He is just on the minimum height / inside leg size for a 16" wheel according to Islabikes website, but I tried him on the 16" offering at Decathlon (which they promote as being 4+) and it just looked too big with him stretching for the bars and on tiptoes.

    This shows what makes Islabikes great. Their frames have much better geometry than most of the kid's bikes out there. If you think of it, it's not the size of the wheels that matter, it's the frame and where the child sit's 'within' it. So, better-designed kid's bikes tend to have larger wheels, and longer wheelbases than the cheaper bikes.

    Consequently, measuring like-for-like kid's bikes by wheelsize doesn't work when you are comparing a good bike with a crap one.

    The Islabike (or other quality manufacturer) bike for a child of a particular height would likely look a lot bigger (bigger wheels/longer frame), but in fact have lower centre of gravity than the similar low-end bike.

    So yes... 16" Islabike would more-likely equate to a 14" (or smaller) regular bike. Hence the disparity.
    byk_comparison_with_text.jpg
    Image from Australia's ByK bikes... coz we don't get Islabikes here :(
    Commute - MASI Souville3 | Road/CX - MASI Speciale CX | Family - 80s ugly | Utility - Cargobike
  • jp1970
    jp1970 Posts: 134
    Danlightbulbs... Pm sent with pics
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,706
    baudman wrote:
    danlightbulb wrote:
    He is just on the minimum height / inside leg size for a 16" wheel according to Islabikes website, but I tried him on the 16" offering at Decathlon (which they promote as being 4+) and it just looked too big with him stretching for the bars and on tiptoes.

    This shows what makes Islabikes great. Their frames have much better geometry than most of the kid's bikes out there. If you think of it, it's not the size of the wheels that matter, it's the frame and where the child sit's 'within' it. So, better-designed kid's bikes tend to have larger wheels, and longer wheelbases than the cheaper bikes.

    Consequently, measuring like-for-like kid's bikes by wheelsize doesn't work when you are comparing a good bike with a crap one.
    He's right.

    The geometry on most kids' bikes is rubbish. Ditto the bars (too high and too wide), grips (too fat), brake levers (too far & too long and naff brakes), cranks (too long), seat (too wide) and so on. You get what you pay for. When you sell the Islabike you'll get a large percentage of it back, unlike most others.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Used Specialized Hotrock 16". Has a pedal brake so easy to use. Then sell it on for very little loss in a year or two on eBay and get him an Islabike 20"

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