My 6 year old daughter is on line for being junior female xc champ in a few years time (or so I reckon...) the way she batters her schwinn bike about. Its a good bike that'll still do sterling service for her little sister. But she's growing out of it, needs some gears... so a new bike's in order to help her on the way.
If I was getting myself a new bike I'd know where to start looking for good suppliers, bike reviews etc. But children just seem to be stuck with 30lbs of whatever a shop decides to stock which is a real shame - these are the customers who need great bikes to get them hooked.
Does anyone out there know of either: a good site for reviews of childrens bikes; a good supplier of a wide range of children's bikes ready to advise; or of any recommendations for particular brands and models?
My daughter, who's seven, has had a Specialized Hotrock for about a year and a half now. Seems easy to ride (I'm a bit too big to check this out myself) and very reliable. Only maintenance its ever needed is some lube and the tyres pumped up despite the usual abuse kids subject it to. The other kids who have £70 bikes out the local toy superstore are always having mechanical problems of some kind. The one criticism of the Hotrock is its a bit heavy for the size
I know you mentioned gears, however IMO the best bikes for young kids of BMX's. Less resistance for young legs, easier to ride, lighter than the average MTB and generally easier to handle. My 8 year old lad loves his.
If you are interested in making one up yourself it might be worth looking around a few of the recumbent bike shops. There is a tendency to use shorter cranks, smaller wheels, etc in recumbent design. For that reason they might be able to resource some quality components for you. Also folding bikes, again specialise in smaller quality components.
Thanks for all the replies so far and keep them coming! At the minute I'm heading for Specialised Hotrock 20. There doesn't seem to be anything better spec'd on a 20" wheel. Looks like I'll have to wait til she's about 9 before investing in 24" wheel a bike that's going to last her more that 2-3 years
Specific responses - on your suggestion on keeping rigid, sam - yeah I'd steer completely clear of a full sus bike - kids bikes weigh a ton as it is and at the price bracket you're looking at for 20" wheel bikes, the suspensions gong to be so crap anyway. And I wouldn't fuss about front suspension for the same reason - but as with adult MTBs, as soon as you get out of total bargain basement land you don't seem to be able to avoid front suspension.
Thanks martin - your recommendation helps me head towards the spesh. On being a bit heavy - has anyone found a kids bike that isn't? Why does my daughters 16" wheel schwinn weigh about as much as my £250 knock about ATB? Obviously someone half the wight isn't going to have a bike half the weight because there's going to be the same range and weight of components - but surely manufacturers could take a lot of material out of the frame to support 3-4 stones instead of 10-15?
Had a look at Evans thanks Mike - best range of kids bikes I've seen on the web so its great for comparison.
And thanks Dom - yeah for knocking about, one of the important functions of bikes for children, a BMX is going to be perfect - but I want to drag my daughter out for rides down the road and off it, and living in the Yorkshire Dales, you can't get far without some gears.
I guess they are so heavy because they are built to a price point. Even though it is smaller, the R&D to develop a light kids bike might be the same as developing a 215 quid bike, but you still expect to pay less for a kid;s bike.
Also, kids bikes get knocked about and imagine the lawsuits if frames started snapping on a major manufacturer's lightweight kids bikes and kids started getting hurt...
Didn't stop GT from selling GTs to adults that snapped though did it :)
