Need help choosing kids first bike

I've got triplett grandsons who turned 7 in October.

For their first bikes I rounded up 3 16" garage sale bikes, painted them black, threw the training wheels away, and took off the pedals. We showed them how to push the bikes with their feet and they learned to balance by pulling their feet up. As they demonstrated that they could coast a good distance with their feet up, I'd install the pedals, raise the seat, and they'd pedal away.

This summer I bought 3 Redline Junior 20" bikes from the bike shop that I work at. I looked at Treks and actually could have gotten Raleighs a little cheaper. The Redlines are more basic bikes with round tube frames. They don't have any funky fenders and stuff to rattle loose or get in the way of needed repairs. They just seem like they're a little more solid.

For a first bike you're probably going to be looking at something with 16" wheels. Your kid is going to outgrow it in a year or so so what's the point? I'm glad that I stepped up to Redline for my grandsons' second bikes. I'm thinking they'll be happy with these for 2 or 3 years.

For the kiddies, the bike will always be just treated as a toy. As long as it works ok, they'll be happy.

Your local additon of Craigslist should have some viable alternatives to Wallmart at even lower prices.

You basically have covered all your basic dilemmas with bike shop v. Wal-mart

IMO and exppirience working in a shop, te major sacrafice comes down to price v quality & safety. I have seen a number of Walmart bikes that arent put together right, and if they try to ride them as is, the kids may get hurt and not want to ride anymore.

So even if you decide to go the Walmart route, get the bikes to a shop and ask them to make sure its safe and ready to ride!

Thanks for everyone's input. I thought about the craigslist route, but remember, I have twins, and everything has to be EXACTLY the same or one of them will be better than the other one. It might be hard to get two bikes that are the same on there.

I think I've decided to go with toys-r-us. They have a pretty good selection at reasonable prices. They have some Schwinn bikes, which I remember always being a good brand, but I have some doubts whether or not they are "real" Schwinns or just have the name. I'm pretty good with tools and how to follow instructions, so I feel pretty good about putting them together correctly.

davteague said:

I think I've decided to go with toys-r-us. They have a pretty good selection at reasonable prices. They have some Schwinn bikes, which I remember always being a good brand, but I have some doubts whether or not they are "real" Schwinns or just have the name.

The original Schwinn Bicycle Company no longer exists. It pretty much went the way of the original Raleigh or the original Motobecane. Schwinn went bankrupt and three times after, different companies tried a go at using the brand name and each failed. The last one was bought at auction by Pacific Cycle in 2001, and Pacific Cycle was aquired by Dorel Industries in 2004. The Schwinns that you see in department stores are about as far from the American Made Schwinns as you can get. They are manufactured for the most part in Tiawan and China. They are probably great bikes for children who are only going to be able to use them for a couple of years. Some adults even like the Schwinn road bikes that Wal-Mart markets, though thier decision is usually based upon price rather than the "quality" components used on it.

p38lightning said:

Your local additon of Craigslist should have some viable alternatives to Wallmart at even lower prices.

Couldn't of said it better. Recycle, recycle! Most kids outgrow their bikes long before they're worn at that age and most (of us) parents just want them out of the garage!😄

My sons first bike was a 12" Specialized at age 2. $90 from LBS. His second, which he still rides is a 20" Haro F3 for his 4th Bday. At 7 we added a Trek MT220 24" mt bike. This past year at age 10 he took over my Giant Warp DS1 mt bike. My daughter used the same bikes but got her own MT220 at 5. At 8 she has taken over my wifes GT Timberline hybred. Buy good bikes and they will be safe and learn to love to ride. If you are going the cheap route, at least go to Target. I know several parents that buy cheap bikes, but the kids on thier third or fourth where my sons are one time. His Haro is in excellent shape, I even occasionally ramp ride with it. The main reason they have used as many bikes as they have is our ridding usually involves 15 to 30 mile rides with the kids so they needed bikes capable of those distances at reasonable clip, usually 13 to 15 mph. Yes its slow for my wife and I, but for an 8 and 10 yr old, its pretty good and its a family activity we all enjoy. Last year we rode over 100 miles on Cape Cod over the course of the week. They shouldn't need any bikes for years now. I on the other hand now need a new mt bike, darn the luck. A friend of mine, the cheapest man alive, used to buy his kids bikes at garage sales or even Wally World rejects......he finally saw the light and bought his son a Specialized. His son now rides more than twice what he used to. Amazing what a good bike can do.

davteague said:

I have 2 4-year old twin boys who are getting their first bike for Christmas this year. I am having trouble deciding whether to get a retail bike from Wal-Mart, etc., or get one from a bike shop.

Kids of that age rarely wear a bike out by riding it, so quality requirements are a so-so issue. But with that said there are still some areas where even a kid need full functionality despite low durability requirements.

My main objection with low-end kids' bikes would be handbrakes. The levers are rarely designed with the reach of their fingers in mind. This combined with floppy stamped metal calipers can easily make it impossible for a kid to control even a very moderate descent. I'd recommend coaster brake bikes, unless the bikes you're looking at have really solid brake set-ups.
The next objection would be the cranks. Frames and wheels seems to be available in a considerably larger variety of sizes than cranks, and I do believe that too big cranks can make riding really awkward..

dabac said:

My main objection with low-end kids' bikes would be handbrakes. The levers are rarely designed with the reach of their fingers in mind. This combined with floppy stamped metal calipers can easily make it impossible for a kid to control even a very moderate descent. I'd recommend coaster brake bikes, unless the bikes you're looking at have really solid brake set-ups.

Do I agree with that! The front brake on my son's bike (bought at a major LBS) was damned hard to operate. You need adult hand strength to operate it fully. The leverage just isn't there.

Just as well there's coaster brake on the bike, otherwise the bike can be deadly.

sogood said:

Do I agree with that!

Last week on my commute home from work I saw a kid rolling "uncontrollably" down a slope. Both hands clenched at the levers he was doing some pre-emptive bawling before finally getting off the saddle, plonking himself down on the frame and braking with his feet against the ground in order to save himself from rolling into the trees lining the road.

It would actually make good sense to set a child's bike up with disc brakes. Not that they need it in terms of wear and dissipated energy, but what other brake system would let you set the lever sufficiently close to the bar and still get enough braking done with such a limited travel?

sogood said:

Do I agree with that! The front brake on my son's bike (bought at a major LBS) was damned hard to operate. You need adult hand strength to operate it fully. The leverage just isn't there.

Just as well there's coaster brake on the bike, otherwise the bike can be deadly.

Our LBSs set the bikes up for the kid riding and make sure everything functions properly, thats one reason you go to a LBS over Wally world. Good handbrakes on reputable kids bikes have adjustable reaches for proper adjustment for the child. All of our kids bikes have had it. We have never had braking issues on any good bike.

stlblues said:

Good handbrakes on reputable kids bikes have adjustable reaches for proper adjustment for the child.

Trouble is, the system slack is dependent on system components rather than user size. Adjusting the levers inwards is only half of the game, you still need a really tight setup to get good braking before the lever bottoms out.