Teaching a child to ride a bike is rewarding. The emotions of seeing your kin pedal off down the block for the first time is amazing. Making sure their first few attempts on pedals are successful is essential. As a parent, you can set up your little one up for success by picking the right first bike.
Assuming the child has mastered a balance bike and has no physical impairment, the transition to a pedal bike can be achieved very successfully at 3-5 years of age without training-wheels/stabilizers. We really don't recommend training wheels as they become a crutch for the child and delay proper cycling skills from being developed.
Pedal Bike Sizing
Kids Bikes are generally sized by wheel diameter. You can assume a general age range of the following:
| Wheel Diameter | Age range |
| 12 inch | 2-4 |
| 14 inch | 3-5 |
| 16 inch | 4-6 |
A better way to ensure proper fit is to measure the child's inseam. This is best accomplished by having the child stand flat feet back against a wall and place a book in-between their legs. Move the book up until firmly on crotch and measure to the nearest inch from top of book to the floor. This inseam measurement can then be compared to minimum and maximum inseam recommendations or seat heights from the manufacturer to ensure a good fit.
Unfortunately, kids grow fast and may need to move up a size in only a year or two. Don't fret, as we discussed in another post, the re-sale value of a quality bike is high and makes the move up an easy choice.
Geometry
Unfortunately, most 12 inch bikes on the market suffer from poor geometry. Creating a machine that the smallest or riders can handle with a proper Bottom Bracket height/placement, crank length and handle-bar reach is very difficult in such a small frame. There are more options for 14 and 16 inch bikes with a solid kid friendly geometry.
Weight
A quality first 14 or 16 inch bike should be an aluminium or steel frame and weigh under 18 lbs. Some forks on quality bikes will be chromoly steel as it is strong and has good dampening properties while others will be alloy. I weigh over 150 lbs and ride a 29 lb, 6 inch travel full suspension mountain bike. To me, it only makes sense that my 45 lb son ride a sub 18 lb bike. The lighter the better for these little ones.
Hand Brakes
As stated in our say no to coaster brakes post, we are firm believers that kids 3 and up are more than capable of using and should be using hand brakes. The international bike fund suggests most children lack the coordination or strength to use handbrakes until at least 5 years old. This is BS...in our experience, ages 3 and 4 have no problems activating quality handbrakes. Plus, the freewheel makes initiating forward momentum much easier. It can be very frustrating for the little ones because they tend to engage the coaster brake when trying to push off and pedal. When's the last time you tried jumping a curb with a coaster brake? It's freaking scary!
Gearing
This is not really and issue for 14 and 16 inch bikes as they tend not to have a geared drive train. It is more of a debate for 20 and 24 inch bikes. What is important is the single gear ratio or gain ratio on a kids first bike. It needs to be able to get the kids up small hills yet allow for some speed on the flats. A quality first pedal bike will have this dialed for the little ones. And should you need to manipulate, the front chain rings and rear cogs can usually be changed to fit individual needs.
Recommended 14 inch Pedal Bikes
Recommended 16 inch Pedal Bikes
Im trying to figure out what would be a good bike to buy my 3 year old twins, they are pretty short and have mastered their balance bikes. They couldn’t reach the ground on a 12 inch pedal bike. Is there anything out there 150$ or less that is easy to pedal with a hand brake?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088WRXHMJ/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thbida06-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B088WRXHMJ&linkId=d50ffa58f73c6cf2cca4b57f3cc27942
I’m shopping for a bike for my newly turned 3yo son. We made some smart choices with him after learning from mistakes with my daughter and we avoided training wheels and tricycles and pushed his balance bike and he really loved it and learned quickly. At 2.5 he was able to ride his older sister’s 16” bike! Over the summer we knew he was ready for his first pedal bike, but most quality bikes were sold out so we bought him a cheapie Joystar Totem and immediately removed the training wheels. He can ride it and gets excited to ride his big boy bike but we’d still love to get him a quality bike as he has really taken to riding. We’re trying to decide between a Woom 2 and a Prevelo Alpha One. The main use will be our paved street neighborhoods and a flat rail trail. No real mountain bike trails in the immediate future. I lean towards the Woom 2 because I like the upright riding style and it has a higher seat height range so it should last him longer (and it’s lighter), but his inseam is currently only 15.6” so the Woom 2 is just a tad high whereas the Alpha One seems like the perfect height. But it’s late November and will be too cold and snowy here in New England so really I’m buying for next spring/summer and I’m sure he’ll grow a bit. If you were choosing based on all of this info, would you recommend getting him a Woom 2 or Prevelo Alpha One?
Honestly, in COVID times…with these two bikes just get either if in stock, 14 inches typically only last 12-18 months for fit so grab one quickly. If he is already managing his sisters 16 inch he will be fine on any bike on our 14 inch page. Reach or top tube really defines fit in addition to seat height and bar height but the latter two can always be changed. The Woom and Prevelo are among the top 3 bikes in the category and will both work fantastic.
Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving!
I bought a Bobbin ginger snap after a recommendation from your website. it absolutely was horrendous. Far too heavy for a tiny low child and poorly built with the pedals barely able to turn. I had To slice all the mudguards and chainguards off which wasn’t an easy process because of a “fussy” make style then rebuild the bike myself so as for the pedals and cranks to show without resistance. The bike still weighs quite my son’s bike which may be a 16” wheel Wiggins. Very disappointed with the merchandise and also the fact you recommended it.
HAHA…wasn’t are sight. What the heck is a Bobbin ginger?!!! Are you a Russia bot?! LOL
Cleary Gecko Geometry is sadly terrible. Frame length is fairly long and the bars are flat. So kid leans over like he’s on a crotch rocket.
Yeah, that was our concern with this bike. I think you can get a riser bar for it which may help. Check out the 14’s mentioned, they fit the bill!
Our little guy is short so the Cleary Gecko has been a great first pedal bike for him. The geometry is better than any other 12 inch out there and we were able to convert it to a freewheel.