Kids' Bikes

When grilled further on (Tue, 06 Sep 2005 01:06:00 GMT),
"Ferdinand" <[email hidden]> confessed:

Quoted message said:

My two sons - ages 6 and 8 - want to hit the trail with me. We gave it a try

Gee, with a 5 and 7 year old, I'm in the same position (next year). I'll be
interested in the responses.

Cheers,
Rob

Ferdinand said:

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Kids bikes tend to focus on price rather than quality. The best we could
find was a small Schwinn - this was a few years back when they still made
mountain bikes. All the kid's bikes were basically steel frames with the
lowest-level components available (Wal-mart quality).

Even though it was a small 20" bike, it outweighed my bike. Of course, a
small child couldn't really lug around a bike that weighs more than an
adult bike on anything but the very easiest trails. I replaced the brakes
with something that actually worked, and dialed in the gears as well as I
could.

In the end, she mainly rode it just on the road. She thought the trails
were "too bumpy", and when her mother joined us and shared the same
sentiment, she basically felt empowered to refuse to ride trails anymore.
Its not just that they're wimps; there isn't any singletrack in my area
that is open to bikes and not full of steep climbs, and the fireroads
are fairly rough. Oh well. She used it all the time in the neighborhood.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

"Ferdinand" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My two sons - ages 6 and 8 - want to hit the trail with me. We gave it a
try
recently with the Wally World BMX knock-offs that they have now and it was
readily apparent that these were not suited for trail use.

Yeah, there is that...

Quoted message said:

Most importantly,
with only a single speed, they couldn't develop enough torque to go up any
significant grade and pedal over rough ground. Perhaps a little front
suspension would help as well. We're looking at what appear to be better
grades of kids' bikes - Raleigh, Schwinn, Diamond Back, Trek. These brands
all offer bikes with 20 inch wheels, 6 speeds, front suspension (albeit
not
much) and stand-over heights that appear manageable for my sons.

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I've just bought my 11 Y.O girl a Specialized Hot Rock for less than $200.00
& it is SCHWEET!!! I expect it will last for many years...

My son is 8, and rather than buying one of those shiny bike-looking things
at Wally World, I bought him a used Trek 20" BMX bike from t5he local
LBS...fantastic deal, I gave 60 bucks for it, and that damn thing could
stand abuse from me... (6'0, 210#) he'll hurt hisself more than he'll hurt
this bike, but alas, he's seen his sisters bike and he wants gears....of
course he does...

Dave

"Ferdinand" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

My two sons - ages 6 and 8 - want to hit the trail with me. We gave it
a try recently with the Wally World BMX knock-offs that they have now
and it was readily apparent that these were not suited for trail use.
Most importantly, with only a single speed, they couldn't develop
enough torque to go up any significant grade and pedal over rough
ground. Perhaps a little front suspension would help as well. We're
looking at what appear to be better grades of kids' bikes - Raleigh,
Schwinn, Diamond Back, Trek. These brands all offer bikes with 20 inch
wheels, 6 speeds, front suspension (albeit not much) and stand-over
heights that appear manageable for my sons.

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they
riding and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be
appreciated.

My son, being 9, joined me on the trails 4.5 years ago. On a Wally World
steel 20" suspension bike. Heavy as hell, and quite rigid, but a 21-
speeder. I replaced the stock springs in the fork with softer ones which I
bought from McMaster-Carr and 2 months later the kid was able to ride any
uphill I managed to climb. Back then we were having 2 - 2.5 hour rides at
least 5 days a week, 10 months a year. The bike was built like a tank,
weighed 32# and did a great job on developing my son's legs and lungs.

The kid is a small frame type after his dad (I'm 5'6"😉, and finally grew up
enough for a smallish 26" Gary Fisher bike last fall. We decided to skip
the 24" bikes long ago, as such a bike would have served him for less than
a year overall.
Now, at 13, he has better technique than I do and is about to start kicking
my [censored] on the uphills by next year, I can see it coming.
The only domain where I still rule is the downhills, for now...

Ferdinand said:

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

To please all of the SS Nazis, start them young
with a Mini BMX. Light, strong, rigid and trail
worthy.

17 lbs:

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/d1.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/d2.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/b2.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/b5.jpg

p e t e f a g e r l i n said:

Ferdinand said:

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

To please all of the SS Nazis, start them young
with a Mini BMX. Light, strong, rigid and trail
worthy.

17 lbs:

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/d1.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/d2.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/b2.jpg

http://www.petefagerlin.com/images/ggp_poachers/b5.jpg

Totally sound advice. I'm on the cusp of getting my 8 year old nephew
a new bicycle and that's the route he's going. No gears to worry
about, just riding. He went from training wheels to ripping around the
neighborhood on the 16" wheel bicycle shaped toy he rides in about two
weeks. He's going to graduate to 20" wheels on a solid bicycle and is
looking forward to trailriding with his freakish uncle. He's lucky I
moved to SoCal, or he might still be futzing around on training wheels.
Now to convince his mom that a couple hundred dollars is worth it...

JD

"Ferdinand" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My two sons - ages 6 and 8 - want to hit the trail with me. We gave it a
try
recently with the Wally World BMX knock-offs that they have now and it was
readily apparent that these were not suited for trail use. Most
importantly,
with only a single speed, they couldn't develop enough torque to go up any
significant grade and pedal over rough ground. Perhaps a little front
suspension would help as well. We're looking at what appear to be better
grades of kids' bikes - Raleigh, Schwinn, Diamond Back, Trek. These brands
all offer bikes with 20 inch wheels, 6 speeds, front suspension (albeit
not
much) and stand-over heights that appear manageable for my sons.

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I bought my kids "real" bikes when they were 7, and 9 years old. I bought
the Specialized hotrock 24" It is light, has quick release wheels, and a
mega range 7 speed freewheel for climbing. ( It's a freewheel, not a
cassette.) The bike retails for about $290. We trail ride regularly. My
kids have riden some pretty technical trails. They are not fast, but are
getting there. My oldest son now 11 is on a Ti 26" wheel bike now. He
inherited my Airborne. I do not ride it anylonger. Once the kids had bikes
they could handle weight wise we had a blast. Heavy bikes suck. You can
count on the bikes fitting for a few years before you need to upgrade. Or
only upgrade if they like to ride. That's my two cents.

TJ

www.fatboy.s5.com

Lots of thought provoking comments here. Thanks all. Reading the comments
about SS prompted me to think back to my earlier days of riding. I raced
BMX and owned nothing but BMX bikes through high school. I rode many miles
of trails on them too. There is virtue to the simplicity of SS. However,
until my kids have a little more leg strength, they'd be hard pressed to
climb much of a grade on one. However, I'm sure we can find lots of fairly
flat trails to ride that will maintain their interest. The idea of front
suspension no longer seems as important to me. Weight reduction has become
more important to me, plus I checked out a Fuji and the FS fork was not of
much benefit.
Thanks again for the responses.

Ive got a 20" Daimond Back that was bought used and is now on it's third
boy. With regular Maint/Repairs anything that you mentioned should do the
stunt. My 15 yr old who started on thet little DB now regularly kicks my
ass and all three love to ride.
"Ferdinand" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My two sons - ages 6 and 8 - want to hit the trail with me. We gave it a
try
recently with the Wally World BMX knock-offs that they have now and it was
readily apparent that these were not suited for trail use. Most
importantly,
with only a single speed, they couldn't develop enough torque to go up any
significant grade and pedal over rough ground. Perhaps a little front
suspension would help as well. We're looking at what appear to be better
grades of kids' bikes - Raleigh, Schwinn, Diamond Back, Trek. These brands
all offer bikes with 20 inch wheels, 6 speeds, front suspension (albeit
not
much) and stand-over heights that appear manageable for my sons.

Do any of you have kids that accompany you on trails? What are they riding
and how do these bikes perform? Any suggestions would be appreciated.