recommend bike for 6 yr old

[jules21]

my brother is looking to buy a bike for his son - he's 6 (or 7 - i forget..!)

any recommendations? they're looking for something new and mid-range - not cheap crap, but don't want to spend $500 either.

a BMX is an option, but possibly also something with gears. I think a BMX would be fine.

can anyone help? i'm guessing something $250-350 would be ideal.

[Mulger bill]

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bik ... 998/77435/

Won't be the lightest but no kids bikes are.
First decent bike for the lad and grew with him until he was large enough for a 26er.
Onsold to Christopher for his youngun, hopefully still going strong.

[rodneycc]

The byk brand bikes are supposed to be pretty good. Bike bug sell them if you wanted to take a look.

http://www.bikebug.com/m/search.php?keywords=byk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MattyK]

Scroll down to the kids bike forum. My vote is with the Byk bikes also. Choice if size and gearing depends on the riding terrain and rider ability, but I like the 3 speed.

[jules21]

thanks guys. I've forwarded on to my bro.

[djw47]

Given how quick kids grow at that age, I'd not be spending much on a bike for him. My kids (both under 7) get $50-$60 Target/ebay bikes that do them absolutely fine. Introducing gears etc at that age seems like overkill, as long as they can pedal and stop safely and you can adjust seat height then it's appropriate for a kid of 6/7.

[bychosis]

I'd rather go second hand quality than new dept store bike. Because kids grow they are very regularly for sale. I've now gone through two 20" and onto 2 24" and got them less than half retail. Two were in excellent condition, two a bit less so but still perfectly functional just looked a bit rough around the edges. My kids weren't fussed about the appearance, only that they could ride them.

Edit: I'm not worried about them being damaged either when inevitably they get dropped or generally not looked after.

[NewStew]

As someone who has two boys and has had a range of bikes (the oldest one has just moved up to a 26" bike which will last him for a few years) I would make one recommendation - as soon as the child moves beyond a single speed (usually a 16" bike) and into something with gears go for proper derailleur gears with a freewheel and hand only brakes.... I had two 20" bikes (one for each) and one was a three speed internal hub with back pedal brakes and the other was a 6 speed derailleur with only hand brakes. It wasn't until the older one moved onto the hand only brakes that his awareness of riding started to come together, back pedal brakes make it too easy and if they can actually get a decent clip of speed up they need to know how to stop without thinking so best they learn the proper way to do that while they are still on a small bike.

I would also recommend second hand until they can get a full sized bike which they will get some mileage out of.

[Paddles]

For most kids for general use you cannot beat a 20 inch bmx, buy a quality brand second hand and it will be virtually unbreakable and you will not lose money when you need to sell it.

[The_Eggman]

Byk. End of discussion

[barefoot]

My daughter had a run bike, then a $35 Aldi 12"er, then a couple of $5 garage sale 16"ers.

Last Xmas just after her 6th birthday, we got her a Specialized Hotrock. It's a 20" hardtail MTB with 6-speed derailer gears.

It's a very good bike. Sure, the suspension fork is a pointless gimmick, but it impresses her and that's the main thing.

She's now using the gears like a boss, and doing >10km rides (although she still struggles on hills). At first, I just set the gears into 2nd for her and left it there, but after a while (on long flat straight off-road bike paths) she started getting adventurous and learning to shift a bit. I still sometimes suggest what gear she might want to be in (eg for upcoming hills), and she does it. Gears are certainly not essential on a bike for a kid of this age, but they're not complete overkill either for a kid who can already do the basics.

Only having hand brakes was a bit scary for her at first, but she got the hang of it. Lots of practice on flat paths.

One of her friends has a Trek that's almost identical, I think her cousin had a comparable Giant 20"er, and I suspect most major brands have something similar.

They are probably at or beyond the top end of your friend's budget if bought new, but they can be had in as-new condition for reasonable prices second hand. There are a couple on Gumtree in bayside Melbourne at the moment for ~$200-250. I think I paid about that for ours.

As for growing out of it... it has a standard 1.125" threadless headset, with about a 60mm stem; I have a box full of stems out to 130mm to swap in if I need to. It has a standard 27.2mm seatpost; if she gets too tall for this one, I can swap in a longer one. There's scope to grow the bike under her. And then in a few years, when the time comes to move her up to a bigger bike (24"? Or skip straight to a XS sized 26"er?), we can sell it on for a price nominally less than what we paid for it.

[Jean]

Byk. End of discussion

Meh. I was attracted to these and sought them out for my kids, but thought they were overpriced in comparison to the kids bikes of Giant and Trek, which seemed just as well thought out and executed. My son got a Trek and my daughter a Giant.

[jules21]

thanks everyone for your suggestions. i've passed on to my brother. if i or he have any further questions i'll post them here! cheers

[The_Eggman]

Byk. End of discussion

Meh. I was attracted to these and sought them out for my kids, but thought they were overpriced in comparison to the kids bikes of Giant and Trek, which seemed just as well thought out and executed. My son got a Trek and my daughter a Giant.

They are more expensive. The reason being they aren't simply adults bikes that have been scaled down. They've adjusted the wheel base and wheel diameters to be a far more stable offering for kids

[bychosis]

Byk. End of discussion

Meh. I was attracted to these and sought them out for my kids, but thought they were overpriced in comparison to the kids bikes of Giant and Trek, which seemed just as well thought out and executed. My son got a Trek and my daughter a Giant.

They are more expensive. The reason being they aren't simply adults bikes that have been scaled down. They've adjusted the wheel base and wheel diameters to be a far more stable offering for kids

Which makes me wonder, Giant, Specialized, Trek etc have massive design departments. Surely they have thought about kids bikes a bit more than the ones on offer in kmart and big w and designed them from the ground up for kids. Byk are probably more expensive becuase they are a 'boutique' brand.

[Jean]

Byk. End of discussion

Meh. I was attracted to these and sought them out for my kids, but thought they were overpriced in comparison to the kids bikes of Giant and Trek, which seemed just as well thought out and executed. My son got a Trek and my daughter a Giant.

They are more expensive. The reason being they aren't simply adults bikes that have been scaled down. They've adjusted the wheel base and wheel diameters to be a far more stable offering for kids

Don't doubt that Byk has done their design work, but when I was shopping the Giant and Trek kids bikes I saw seemed just as well designed and thoughtfully put together. They struck me as proper kids bikes, particularly the Trek (and I'm generally no fan of Treks, I wouldn't be in a hurry to buy one for myself).

When I was looking there were a lot of fairly unimpressive kids bikes, even in LBSs. I would rate the Byk range as good kids bikes, but would I also rate the significantly cheaper Treks and Giants I saw as good bikes too, that's all. Byks are good, but I didn't think they were the end of the discussion.

[acw]

I looked at the ByKs as well but landed on a giant animator for the 4 yr old and a specialized hotrock for the 6 yr old girl. Both a bit cheaper than the ByKs - and I learnt to ride on a bmx so I think the kids will be ok on bikes that may not have been specifically designed for kids.

[The_Eggman]

I looked at the ByKs as well but landed on a giant animator for the 4 yr old and a specialized hotrock for the 6 yr old girl. Both a bit cheaper than the ByKs - and I learnt to ride on a bmx so I think the kids will be ok on bikes that may not have been specifically designed for kids.

At the end of the day they're kids and these are bikes. A Kmart special will adequately do the job. I also learnt on a dept store bmx - the Blue Devil - woohoo.

Times though have moved on, and my guess is the OP isn't just asking for something that will do the job. Rather something that is well optimised.

[Gordonhooker]

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bik ... 998/77435/

Won't be the lightest but no kids bikes are.
First decent bike for the lad and grew with him until he was large enough for a 26er.
Onsold to Christopher for his youngun, hopefully still going strong.

Thanks Bill I am looking for one a girl around the same age for Christmas - this one looks excellent and shouldn't have parts falling off in the first month like the cheap one we bought from KMart for the grandson. My only worry is that the grand daughter is growing so fast she will out grow it. When I got my first bike at 9 it was a 26inch Malvern Star and lasted me until I bought a motor cycle at 17. I must admit though for about the first year I really had to stretch my legs to reach the pedals even with the seat down as far as it would go.

PS... I just saw these from Reid there is a 16", 20" and a 24" http://www.reidcycles.com.au/girls-clas ... ge-20.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; so I might check one of these out as well. Looks like a coaster brake rear wheel which I prefer anyway.

[Jean]

A slight revision to my earlier views on Byks. My son is growing out of his 20-inch wheel bike and looking at the 24-inch options this last weekend, I must say the Byks do come into their own at this size. Everyone else seems hell bent on putting some completely unnecessary and not very good quality suspension fork on the front when they get to this size - very annoying.

[Roobar]

Hi Jean,
I had a thread in the kids bike section pretty similar looking for a 20". If you want wider tyres and no shock then the only choices without buying an anchor for a bulk tanker seem to be a byk or a trek superfly.
The trek looked good but fell down at the salespeople, while the more girlie byks need wider tyres added. Either by the store or yourself post purchase. Just make sure you get the right size tyre.
As for cost, the byk my daughter is getting is cheaper and will last longer than the iPads some of her friends are (seriously, an iPad for a 7yo? I'm getting too old.)