Kid's First Pedal Bike (Riv parent edition)

[Nick Shoemaker]

Since RBW regrettably doesn't make kids hillibikes, I'm going to have to go a bit outside of my comfort zone to pick out a first pedal bike for my son. He's ~3.5yo, and more than ready to move up from his 12" balance bike.

Any tips from other parents who have recently gone through the switch from balance to pedals? I'm leaning toward something like a Woom 3 (16"), since they seem to be very well regarded, and I'm afraid he would outgrow a 14" bike too soon at this point to justify the expense. (am I wrong?) Probably also worth noting that a lot of his riding is currently on trails, so I'm definitely looking for something that will work well off-pavement, too. Anyhow, I'll take any advice the group is willing to throw at me - thanks in advance for your help!

Nick

[Michael Ullmer]

Hi Nick,

We've been using both the Woom 2 and Woom 3 as first pedal bikes for our two kids (now 3.5 and 6.5). My kids are pretty rough on the bikes and I've never had any mechanical issues with them aside from adjusting the brakes every now and then. We do always keep them in the garage when not in use. 

My younger just moved from a Woom 2 to a Woom 3 and it seems to fit her just fine. She probably could have used the Woom 2 for a few more months, but with the slightly lower gearing, she was spinning out on it quite a bit and we had the seat almost all the way up. I think you're right that if you went with the 14" Woom 2 that your kid would outgrow it pretty quickly. 

[John Johnson]

Hi Nick,

The Woom is a great bike. But there are other good kid bikes too. As for what will work for your kid, it probably depends on his/her size and how comfortable they are on the balance bike already.

I've got a 3.5 year old kid. For reference, he is smack-dab right in the average sized, 50th percentile of the CDC weight/height for age and always has been. He was riding at 3 years and 2 weeks old (he'd gotten a Woom 2 for his 3rd birthday). The Woom 2 has been a great beginner bike, but it's true that he's already gone up on saddle height in the last few months, and I can see him outgrowing it by his 4th birthday. Of course, we bought the bike used and they have good resale, so I don't mind selling/upgrading, etc. 

We were on vacation a couple weeks ago and rented a Trek Precaliber 16. He had no problems at all riding it at his age (again, normal 1-meter tall 3.5 year old). It took him a few minutes to figure out the coaster brake because he is used to hand brakes, but in about 2 minutes he'd figured it out. So, I think a 16 in is a reasonable investment if your kid is already 3 and a half and is on the normal to tall side.

Hope that helps.

cheers,

John

[John Johnson]

The Woom 2 and the Trek Precaliber 16 rental, for reference

[Keith Paugh]



Hey Nick,

I think your instinct is correct. I found that the jump of needing a 12" bike to 16" bike happened too fast to make a 14" intermediary sensible.

We've had really good experiences with Cleary bikes. They are pricier than I was comfortable with at the time, but we have the luxury of handing them down through 3 kids.

We've gone through a Gecko, Owl, and 2 Meerkats.

They are well built and perform fantastic on and off road.

I'd say they are maybe "slightly heavy", but that hasn't been noticed by anyone but me - having to lug them around, onto bike racks and in and out of Odysseys.

Their customer service even helped me swap out rear cogs, to gear them better when our boys were strong enough to start spinning out on the high end.

Great looking bikes. 

Great for getting to school. Equally comfortable on trails.

[Piaw Na]

I will second the Woom series of bikes for kids. The owner has been been very responsive over the years to my complaints about the early wooms and now there's very little to fault about them. The joy a kid has on a nice bike coming down an MTB trail cannot be beat: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wfaaXekGtGojqDoe8, https://photos.app.goo.gl/KzNpJ69adZiCrgxDA

We bought Woom 2, 3, and then when the off versions came out the off versions of the 4 and 5. Rather than get a 6, I found a used Salsa Journeyman 50cm which worked out well for less money than a new Woom 6.

[Pat Smith]

I have a giant 3yo that has been crushing it on their balance bike. I opted for a 14" Guardian bike based on the reviews from TwoWheelingTots. I can't believe how heavy it is. Even using it as a balance bike my 3yo is unable to control it and has lost interest. Wish I would have sprang for the Woom...

Smitty in DC 

[Mike Packard]

I've been happy with Woom bikes too. A couple things I liked

- They have good resell value, I've been able to sell them for > 50% of what they were new

- They are readily available used. I set a craigslist alert and waited for the one I wanted

- They are adjustable enough so I could skip numbers. i.e. went from balance bike to woom 3 to 5

mike

[awen...@gmail.com]

Hi Nick and list,

I don't have personal experience with the Woom brand but I can direct you to this site, which has a great list of "better" kids' bikes in different sizes and types, along with (crucially) the weight of each: https://thebikedads.com/

The site's authors have a mountain-biking background, so there's some emphasis on bikes that can handle trails, but they have a pretty comprehensive listing of kids bikes in different categories.

My own experience having put three kids on bikes is that, if you have more than one kid, just invest up front in good bikes and hand them down. You will come out even or ahead, money-wise, and they'll enjoy riding more. The biggest downside to this approach is that the younger kids don't get to enjoy that new bike feeling, but the oldest sibling does. That can be a difficult situation to deal with. You can compensate a bit by letting them customize their bikes as they inherit them with bells, grips, bags, stickers, etc. My kids love that stuff.

As to transitioning from a balance bike to a pedal bike, my advice is to introduce the pedal bike as soon as they can physically fit on it (with the saddle at the same height from the ground as on their balance bike), but let the child decide what they want to ride. My youngest daughter took at least six months before she wanted to try to ride "the big bike" over "the little bike" (her balance bike). The larger wheelbase, higher handlebar, and extra weight made it unfamiliar and a little bit cumbersome at first. We always encouraged her to try the big bike, but the choice was hers as to what she wanted to ride. The most important thing is to make sure they have fun!

[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

We went from a 12" balance to 16" pedal and that transition worked out well with one caveat - we used both simultaneously.  I'd 100% agree with your concern with quickly outgrowing a 14" as the seatpost is already maxed out for our 6+yr old on our Trek Precaliber 16.  I'd suggest checking out some available options at local shops, if possible... not to sway you from ordering a Woom but even with picking out a balance bike I found it helpful seeing them up close in store, even if just to help eliminate some options and better inform your choices.  One local shop had a couple balance bikes and one (Giant Pre, I think?) had a nice option to allow conversion to a pedal bike with a foot rest insert for a standard threaded bottom bracket shell in balance mode, which could then be swapped out for cranks and a rear hub threaded for a single freewheel.  I was initially drawn to this option as a bike tinkerer but the frame design had a higher top tube than some other 12" purpose built balance options and made it difficult for our then 2-3yr old to even straddle the frame.  We ended up with an REI balance bike that had a better fit range for the earlier years but that lacked any of those pedal add on options.  It continued to work with maxed out seatpost and stem until nearly 6yr!  

Our progression was interesting in that our kiddo kind of lost interest in the balance bike early on then later took a strong interest in it again AFTER we got the bigger 16" pedal bike and right before we were thinking it might be time to hand it down to a younger cousin.  So we ended up alternating between the balance bike and pedal bike with training wheels and quickly progressed to learning to ride this past spring with both options available at once.  I think after feeling the limitations of steering the  training wheeled pedal bike vs. the more nimble balance bike and wanting to ride on our local gravel paths it sparked more of desire to learn.  The Trek is also on the heavier side for such a small bike but haven't actually weighed it compared to other options in the size range.  We chose the Trek more or less based on local availability, fit with the step through sloping tubes, and of course COLOR to accommodate a specific favorite color request!   The Trek comes with widely spaced 2" knobbies which I knew would work well on our local trails.  I do like how Woom offers the hand brakes with kid sized levers to get them learning that early on but with our flat trails and paths the coaster brake has been fine.  We were also fortunate to acquire a used tag-along tandem attachment to use with one of my own bikes at the same time as we still had the balance bike and 16" pedal bike and I think that combination of revisiting the balance bike while learning to pedal on both the 20" wheeled tandem attachment and 16" pedal bike all played a factor in building the confidence to lead up to ditching the training wheels altogether on the 16" bike.  It may have been overkill to have all 3 available at once but ultimately it gave our child options and to Awentzell's point, it allowed the whole experience to remain fun and fluid and to build confidence at their own pace.  It also helped mix things up for all of us between longer family rides with the tandem attachment vs. short loops with us walking along vs. just striding along inside or outside on the balance bike. 

Oh, one other benefit of some local shops is they sometimes have a guaranteed trade in program for sizing up.  I actually think that is an option for our Trek if we wanted to trade in for a bigger size with a credit applied.  I still need to look into that as I forget if it was something with the shop and the Trek we actually bought or another dealer/brand.  We have some younger cousins so have been handing down much of our outgrown stuff rather than reselling but will need to see what our trade in options are for the 16" bike before making any final decisions since it may end up making more sense to trade up vs. swapping components and keeping it but will see how the fit is come spring and how much adjusting is needed.

[Piaw Na(藍俊彪)]

Oh, one other benefit of some local shops is they sometimes have a guaranteed trade in program for sizing up.  I actually think that is an option for our Trek if we wanted to trade in for a bigger size with a credit applied.  I still need to look into that as I forget if it was something with the shop and the Trek we actually bought or another dealer/brand.  We have some younger cousins so have been handing down much of our outgrown stuff rather than reselling but will need to see what our trade in options are for the 16" bike before making any final decisions since it may end up making more sense to trade up vs. swapping components and keeping it but will see how the fit is come spring and how much adjusting is needed.

Woom also has an upcycling option: https://woom.com/en_US/products/upcycling-membership?variant

Since we have 2 kids we never made use of it (kid brother got a hand me down Woom).

 I'm not sure the upcycling program makes sense since as someone else said, selling the bike used locally nets you north of 50% usually. We had someone drive down from San Francisco just to pick up our used Woom 4 off. Kids bikes that are actually used for real mountain biking actually don't wear very much. While I've had to replace chains on the smaller woom 2 and 3, I discovered that the 4 and 5 just don't seem to wear stuff out as quickly. 

[Bryce Dwyer]

My just-turned-four-year-old has only been interested in the small balance bike for a month or two, but now he's advanced to zipping around quite quickly and easily. 

So, I started looking into Wooms and Clearys here in the Los Angeles area. A shop advised me that while the Wooms are lighter and have lower standover height, the Clearys use a standard threadless stem, so you can replace the stem as the kid grows to get a bit more time out of the frame. Haven't tried it myself, but an interesting thought! We have another kid on the way, so I may just go for a used Woom 3 and hold onto it for the younger one.

Great to read all the helpful advice here! I really appreciate it.

[Kevin M]

I recently bought a Woom 2 for our son for his 3rd birthday in September. Our kid is tall for his age (98th percentile), but he still couldn't fit comfortably on our spare 16" Cleary Hedgehog. Didn't stop him from trying tho! My impression is that the Woom is a little more upright, better specced, and of course much lighter than the Cleary. I don't think our Cleary uses a standard stem, so watch out for that if you're in the used market. They must have changed the spec at some point. 

I think we paid $250 for the Woom 2 used, and I'm sure we'll be able to sell it for around the same price so I'm not stressed about him outgrowing it by the Spring. Having him start on a smaller bike was super helpful, as he treated it like a balance bike for the first couple weeks until he caught on. Our kid is is pretty daring, so he's been riding his Woom 2 on mtb trails, paved pump tracks and even rolling over the beginner green jump lines, much to my worriment. I bought him a full set of Fox PeeWee knee/elbow pads, and they've come in handy many times. 

[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

Oh yes, component specs can also certainly play a factor for anyone wishing to adapt things further as the kids grow.  Our REI balance bike frame takes a 27.2 seatpost and 1" threaded headset with very short quill stem with narrow diameter bar clamp (maybe 22.2 but haven't put calipers to it.) The Trek Precaliber takes a 22.2 seatpost, and has a 1" threadless headset and stem (I think 25.4 bar clamp but need to double check.)  I figured I could find other 22.2 bmx seatposts but guessing my options may still be limited.  If it were 27.2 spec instead the post would have likely already been swapped with something from the parts box.

This reminds me the convertible balance bike (the one we looked at that could convert to a pedal bike) was in fact a newer model Giant Pre as I now recall they had an older floor model Giant Pre with some kind of proprietary, integrated quill stem/bar/headset with no exposed bolts (BULLMOOSE!) as well as hidden bolt wheel axle attachments giving it a very seamless look and snag free features vs. the newer model with 1-1/8" threadless headset, bottom bracket shell with foot rest insert, threaded rear hub for a single speed freewheel (and guessing it was either a coaster brake hub or frame drilled for caliper brakes but can no longer remember.)  Anyway, it was just amusing at how different the same bike models actually were just a year or two apart, not just in spec but also in overall design and fit.

[ascpgh]

Not a direct answer but for comparison information of objective spec and geometry for a child's bike I humbly offer Brian Chapman's chronology of bikes for his son, Tully,

Photos of first bike: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chapmancycles/albums/72157712905024887

Photos of second bike: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chapmancycles/albums/72177720296619752

I know this is way outside of almost anyone's range for their child's earliest two wheelers but interesting to see what one of the most creative builders of frames, forks, racks brakes, trailers, pretty much anything bike related sees as important in geometry and component spec. Brian has some BMX history himself so these pre-geared bikes pull some personal design experience from that. His Instagram reels are enthralling for anyone who appreciates the process of shaping and connecting steel pieces. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

On Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 3:55:09 PM UTC-5 fiddl...@gmail.com wrote:

[Edwin W]

I've had three boys grow through countless numbers of balance bikes, 12", 16" and 20" bikes. A few things I have learned:

• I care much more about bike geometry than my kids do. Smaller bikes are typically worse than bigger bikes. Kid specific bikes (Cleary, woom) are better than non specific kids bikes. (My) kids don't give a hoot.
• I care much more about bike style than my kids do. They don't care about racks, fenders, or lights, the holy trinity of city riding to me. The blasphemy!
• I pushed kids to the next stage too quickly. I know that bigger bikes are better made with better geometry and can go faster and are more awesome. My kids liked to master their current bikes until they were way too small! My advice: wait until the kid is BEGGING you for a bigger bike. 
• All bikes work. Just about. It is amazing how kids can make things work. My youngest and his buddy decided to make a tandem for a street festival by attaching the front fork of one bike over the rear axle of another. I pointed out that you can't do that. And they did. And lead the parade! 

I still have a lot to learn,

Edwin

Nashville

[Nick Shoemaker]

Folks - thank you so much for all of your incredibly helpful & thoughtful responses! I've read through each one multiple times and feel so much better informed now and can't wait to transition to the pedaling years with my son!

Nick

[J]

The Woom 3 was perfect for a 4 year old who just could'nt grasp balancing once the training wheels were taken off. I truly beleive that training wheels hinder a kid from learning to ride, the balance bikes are the way to go. The day the Woom arrives I removed the pedals and had the kiddo ride it like his balance bike 15 minutes later I put the pedals back on and he rode off into the sunset never to be seen again. Woom for the win!

J

[Michael Baquerizo]

for the same reason people seem to like woom i've tried to avoid it. kinda fits in line (IMO) with liking rivendell. its a bit off the beaten path. 

with that said, we came upon our kids first bike through a buy nothing group on facebook. the brand is kokua, and it weighs less than most if not all the balance bikes on the market. weight weenie i am not, but a kid needs a light bike. and a parent needs a light bike when theyre forced to carry it.

i liked the bike enough that when it came time to bump up to the next size (with pedals this time) i searched for a used kokua 16 pedal bike. unlike woom, they DON'T hold their value that well so when i found one i ended up only paying $100 for it. 

[Arham Israr]

If he’s already confident on his 12" balance bike at 3.5, a best beginner bike like the Woom 3 is a really strong next step. The 16" size gives him a comfortable fit with room to grow, and the lighter frame makes it easy for him to handle especially on the trails you ride together. A 14" bike could work for a short stretch, but he’d likely outgrow it quickly. Quality options like Woom, Prevelo, or Cleary are built to keep things light, simple, and confidence-boosting, which helps the transition from coasting to pedaling feel smooth and enjoyable.