Kids Sizing

[garrilla]

I know that, in reality, size guides are just a rule of thumb.

I'm buying a new bike for my daughter who will be 6. She's definitely come to the end of 16" wheel bike - the seat is raised a lot, but she looks so awkward on because its just too small.

Most of the size guides say 18" for 6+, but I'm not sure the extra 2" on the wheels and maybe an inch on the seat-post will be enough. IN addition, the excellent Isla bikes, start there 20" at 6+

Too much information is confusing me.

Any thoughts?

 

[summerdays]

My kids went from 16" to 20" wheeled bikes, but all 20" bikes are not equal depending on the frame. We had an apollo for our first child but the lowest height of the saddle was very high, and in the end we bought a Giant 20" for our youngest when we were getting fed up waiting for him to grow into it. The better brand names tend to come with better fitting bikes, with Islabikes being my favourite (the bike he moved upto after the Giant). They probably made the move from between the bikes around about 6 or 7 ( a couple of mine are short for their age).

Islabikes do two different sized 20" bikes so you could always go for the smaller one - though it would be best to speak to them. Or even visit - I went not expecting my son to fit the 24" bike but wanting to see how far off he was to being able to ride it. They took one look at him and got out the 20", and I explained that I wanted to see whether he would be likely to fit the larger bike by Christmas as we already had 2 20" bikes. She took another look, said he might just fit, and was he a fairly confident rider? - stuck him on it and away he went - absolutely no problem, through all the potholes in the car park etc. So he managed to get the bike in the summer instead of the Christmas or following birthday that I was thinking about. They also have plenty of growing room on the bikes as well. (You can tell I'm a convert).

 

[garrilla]

Thanks Summerdays for adding to my confusion

She loves riding her bike, but I know that getting that is too big will hard for her because it will make handling harder. But its hard to come across a 18" with gears, which she is definately ready for.

 

[tokwitney]

I've got the same problem to,my nearly 6 yr old is getting to big for her 16..
we went today to Halfords & tried a 18 but she would have outgrown it in a couple of months .So after trying a couple of bigger bikes we went for a 20inch raleigh Krush which has quite a low step through,6 gears(which she is ready for) & a pink handbag (which was the deal clincher in her eyes).
Ordered it online with an extra 15% discount...

One very happy little girl,& dad.

 

[summerdays]

Thanks Summerdays for adding to my confusion

She loves riding her bike, but I know that getting that is too big will hard for her because it will make handling harder. But its hard to come across a 18" with gears, which she is definately ready for.

Well take her and try out a few - make sure she can touch the ground and reach the handle bars without stretching too far. For us one of the reasons for going for the Islabike is that the sizing is different to the traditional bikes and so he wouldn't have fitted on most 24" bikes, and this was a way of bumping up the size of the tyres to help him keep up with the rest of us better - being the youngest with two older siblings.

 

[Hacienda71]

Took my six year old to Decathlon at the weekend, They have a few different 20" wheel bikes with quite low frames he could ride them easily with the saddle at a low level. They have a hybrid type utility bike with gears and a mountain bike style. Seemed well made and v good value as usual from our friends on the other side of the channel.

 

[garrilla]

I like the bTwin bikes that Decathlon do for kids.

Thanks all for your info.

 

[garrilla]

In the end we settled for a 20" Wheel on this b-Twin from decathlon, which is great size wize. Nice little set-up too inc 6-gears Shimano mech and grip shifter, lights F&B, see-thru mudGuards, bell, bag (girl's deal clincher) and power-link on the chain (dad's deal-clincher)

Thanks once again, for you comments.

One little comment though, Decathlon do a '80 point check' on the bike, the front brake was too tight, I don't suppose they checked that