Bikes For Kids

Balance bikes and training wheels, the two ways onto two wheels:

a balance bike has no pedals, chain or brakes to learn, so a two- or three-year-old scoots along with their feet and works out steering and lean first. Children who start that way often skip training wheels entirely. An aro 12 or 14 pedal bike with training wheels reassures a nervous rider but teaches pedalling before balance, so when they come off the learning starts again. A scooter for kids builds the same balance for less money, and the ride-ons in baby and toddler toys come before either. Then come 16-inch bikes for roughly four to six, and 20- and 24-inch bikes with hand brakes and, on the better ones, gears.

Fitting a kids’ bike to height, not age:

the age printed on the box is a loose guide, and two seven-year-olds can be a full size apart. Stand the child over the bike: feet flat on the ground with a little room above the top tube is right. Buying a size up to grow into is the classic mistake: a bike that is too tall is hard to stop and can put a child off riding for a year. Weight is what parents underestimate. Steel department-store bikes are heavy for a small rider, and the spring fork many carry adds weight without doing much; an aluminium frame is far easier to push uphill. Many 12- to 20-inch bikes use a coaster brake, which stops when you pedal backwards and can confuse a child coming off a balance bike. With hand levers, check that small fingers reach them.

Single-speed or geared, depending on the hill outside:

on the flat streets of Liberia or Guápiles a single-speed 20-inch does everything a child needs and has less to go out of adjustment. In Coronado or San Ramón, where nearly every ride starts or ends on a climb, a 20- or 24-inch with seven or so gears and two hand brakes is the difference between riding home and pushing.

What an aro 16 or aro 20 costs in colones:

less than many parents expect. A steel 16-inch with training wheels runs about ₡55,000 to ₡70,000 new, and a 20-inch around ₡80,000. That low shelf price is what caps a used one: a scuffed department-store bike has to sit well below it to sell at all. A branded aluminium bike, a Trek or a Specialized for instance, costs far more new and holds its value much better, because it is light and built to outlast two or three children.

Chain, brakes and headset on a used kids’ bike:

most problems show in five minutes. Look for rust on the chain and around the welds of a steel frame. Spin the pedals backwards: a coaster brake should grab firmly, not slip. Squeeze the hand brakes and push the bike forward; the wheels should lock. Hold the front brake and rock the bike to feel for a knock in the headset, pull the cranks sideways for wobble, and look for sun cracks in the tyre sidewalls. The grips need their end caps, because a bare handlebar end hurts in a fall. A worn chain or a pair of tyres is a cheap fix. A bent frame or a cracked weld is not.

Passing on a bike your child has outgrown:

buyers search by size first. Read it off the tyre sidewall, 16 x 2.125 for example, put it in the title and add the height of the child it fitted. Say whether the frame is steel or aluminium, what brakes it has and whether the training wheels, a basket or a helmet go with it, and be straight about rust or a split saddle. Photograph the whole bike side-on, then the chain, the brakes and one tyre close up. Most buyers will want to bring the child along to sit on it before they pay, so have a flat spot ready to try it and pump the tyres up first.