Bike recommendations for Christmas present - 4 year old (first bike)

RunRoryRun

Hi all,

Myself, my wife & Santa are discussing getting a first bike for our son. He'll be 4 years old in January and are hoping you could provide some guidance on what brands / models would be suitable. I want to avoid a spiderman / thomas the tank engine / paw patrol heap of s***e.

I know that ideally we'd get him measured for a bike but I assume it's a little different for kids as they grow at a rate & you're buying for them to grow into so to speak versus adult measurement. Also, don't want to ruin the surprise by bringing him to a bike shop before Christmas.

A friend recommended a Puky bike that he got for his son (link). They're pricey, but if it's worth it I / Santa won't mind investing. Any experience of this or anything else you'd recommend / avoid?

Thanks in advance.

Santa & Co.

Macy0161

Can only go on my experience (of a nearly 9 and a 10 year old girls) and that's like the whole "grow with them" doesn't really work as they grow so fast. Hoping to get a bit longer out of their current bikes, but not holding breath.

Anyone coming up behind? Our problem has always been that they're both about the same size, so it's two of everything and no passing on.

TBH, we went BSO at that age, but if you can avoid something with suspension (harder than you'd think) it goes a long way on the weight front. Maybe a boy would be different, but it was all about doll seats and ribbons for ours - but all that crap did get them out playing on their bikes! Plus we weren't fussy on looking after them, so the bikes were left out so they always had access to them - the current ones are kept better, but out of sight out of mind...

ThisRegard

Sizing is a fine line alright. You don't want to go too big in order to increase the lifetime as they won't really enjoy it and it might put them off using it. Too small and they won't get much use of it and may resort to saying it's for babies when they grow a bit.

When our daughter was 4 we got one the size that was recommended by the manufacturer for her. She got on great and managed 3 years out of it before it got too small (she's a slow grower!).

Probably best treat the first bike at the age of 4 as disposable and wait for the second bike to spend a bit more money on. Obviously don't want to buy something brutal but

RunRoryRun

Thanks, both. There's a young lad coming up behind this one (15 months old now) so can be passed on in a few years if it's still in good shape. Want him to want to use it so too big would be frustrating for him.

Cee-Jay-Cee

If it’s their first bike then I assume they can’t ride a bike yet, if that’s the case then get them also get them a balance bike, they will learn so much quicker on one of them.

I made balance bikes from old bikes (removed everything bar wheels saddle and bars and they scooted about on them for 4 or 5 months. They also had bikes with stabilisers which gave them pedalling/braking experience.

Once they had managed balance on the balance bikes, I took them stabilisers off their bikes and they were cycling properly within 5 minutes.

Both were 4 yrs old when they learned to ride a bike proper.

Highly recommend a balance bike alongside the proper bike.

Sorry I can’t recommend a bike as we bought used bikes as they grow out of them so quickly (6 months per bike)

Marty Bird

Only bought my 4 year olds his first bike last week it’s called Cuda really good quality bike and my son loves it.

http://www.fitzcycles.ie/m/31/cuda

RunRoryRun

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

If it’s their first bike then I assume they can’t ride a bike yet, if that’s the case then get them also get them a balance bike, they will learn so much quicker on one of them.

I made balance bikes from old bikes (removed everything bar wheels saddle and bars and they scooted about on them for 4 or 5 months. They also had bikes with stabilisers which gave them pedalling/braking experience.

Once they had managed balance on the balance bikes, I took them stabilisers off their bikes and they were cycling properly within 5 minutes.

Both were 4 yrs old when they learned to ride a bike proper.

Highly recommend a balance bike alongside the proper bike.

Sorry I can’t recommend a bike as we bought used bikes as they grow out of them so quickly (6 months per bike)

Any balance bike in particular or is quality of this less important?

tigerboon

Get a balance bike.One with an adjustable saddle so once used to it the saddle can be raised so his toes are just reaching the ground. When he's flying around on that he will take to the pedals very easily (without stabilisers). Next year's present can be an upgrade to a proper bike.

magicbastarder

i've heard of these a few times - zero experience with them though. turns from a balance bike into a normal kids bike.

https://www.littlebigbikes.com/

Cee-Jay-Cee

RunRoryRun wrote: »

Any balance bike in particular or is quality of this less important?

Not really important. I bought cheap bikes from buy and sell pages and stripped them down. One of them actually turned out very very lightweight when all the ancillaries were removed. It was a boys bike ‘Strike 14’ from Smyths.

Bizeb

Definitely get a balance bike if he hasn't already, your younger one will get use out of it at 3 yrs old as well.
We found the wooden ones were too heavy for our then three yr old and got a 2nd hand "Strider" with plastic wheels. She got super confident on that and went straight to riding her own pedal bike at 4 yrs old.
Friends who skipped the balance bike phase are still breaking their backs pushing heavy stabilised bikes up the hills.
At 4 he's probably robust enough to handle a cheaper heavy BB?
I'd 2nd above advice to save some bucks now and spend the money on a good lightweight pedal bike at next birthday.

beans

We just bought an Islabike Cnoc for our 3-year old. The build-quality seems great, it's light and gets great reviews.

We got the 14 inch version. The 16 inch might better suit a larger child. They're expensive, but we found ours for £150 and it's in very good condition.

Macy0161

We didn't go the balance bike route, and both of ours off stablizers when they were 4 iirc, certainly early 5's. Other children in the extended family who had balance bikes found the pedalling the hard bit to grasp and were much slower "getting it". I really think it varies child to child tbh. Probably the combined approach of one balance/ one stablizer bike suggested by Cee-Jay-Cee is the ideal!