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Eldest daughter, 5, currently loving her belter 16" which she's been on a year now. i guess she'll outgrow it in 6 months ish though so have been browsing ebay for isla beinn 20s and frog 52 and 55s. I'm somewhat surprised this sze bike has gears. how well do 5 or 6 yo kids cope with gears? better with thumbies than twist i guess? but do they use them or just leave alone?
Slightly wondering if a mini bmx like a gt mach one mini might be more simple and fun? riding is just around the local streets and parks, and with 2 younger kids that i hope will get to use the bike in time, i don't mind if the eldest needs another bike in another year or so. Maybe gears then?
Sorry mods, can you move to bike forum please?
Done.
If it helps my daughter grew out of an early rider belter urban (which I converted to MTB tyres and better V brakes). It's a 3 speed hub gear which she got on really well with. I'd have to talk to her mum to see how much she'd want for it if you are interested?
My lad just got a Vitus 20" for Christmas. Limited number of rides but he's getting on fine with the gears now. Didn't take long.
thanks cougar
thanks keefezza, what age is your lad? maybe gears aren't an unused complication then. how's the vitus seem overall? good?
Allan, interesting. thinking back to my own youth it was proabably a chopper or grifter with 3 speed SA hub that was our first experience of gears..age maybe 6 or 7 and likely a big brothers bike! perhaps this is where my thought that a derailleur and 6 or 7 gears was too much. Anyway I'm very impressed with the belter 16" so I'd definitely be interested in a 20"
Daughter has gears and twist grip with no probs at all. I bought a cheap trigger shifter to convert at the time but it was never a problem that needed solving. Gears helped at the start but she now goes everywhere in seven just to prove her legs are stronger than mine: actually flies up hills quicker than me.
Son is 18 months younger and we went race BMX for him because he wanted one and we got a good deal. Bike is very light and the gearing is pretty high so he absolutely flies around on it. He's become really comfortable out of the saddle powering up hills so he's probably a better rider for having one gear. One thing to be wary of is the lack of front brake, especially down hill. And the fact that you spend a bit of time re straightening the rear wheel occasionally because you need that brake to work perfectly. Overall, the BMX is lighter and faster, but the geared bike is safer.
Both options work, all kids are different.
Eldest is 4.5,and got 6 gears and a bike for Christmas. She knows she wants to change gears but we stop and I change for her as she doesn't want to or can't manage the twist shift. I've got a zee mech and xt trigger to go on with sdg bars and grips as soon as I can find a 36h/130mm 10sp hub with sealed bearings that doesn't weigh or cost as much as the moon.
She's definitely a lot quicker on the new bike, not sure how much of that is gearing and wheel size compared to actually using gears.
Depends on where you’re riding - it’s pretty hilly around here and I think gears really helped my elder daughter. My son is still on singlespeed, awaiting big sister moving to a bigger bike so he can have hers - right now there’s quite a bit of pushing on the steeper bits! At first I had to shift them for her but even that helped.
He’s very technically minded - when he was three he was showing me how his brakes worked “see, when I pull this, these do this” and was puzzled at my disc brakes being different - so I’m sure he’ll get to grips with shifting quickly.
I've had the same thinking so I've just put boy 1 on a Cnoc 20 and he's just turned 4. It's singlespeed but perfect for his age. I can see that in a year or two that gears would be very useful if only to set manually myself for the riding ahead, if it's going to be hilly or a long flat, however.
Same as adults really. A lot of town bikes sit in the same gear for weeks at a time. I imagine that a beinn/frog will be the same! Goodness to have them there if you need at 5 or 6.
I've got a Frog 52 lined up. It's got a trigger shift and I can see myself putting coloured stickers on there!
My youngest with the Vitus is 6 in 2 weeks. He's had a 16" islabike (hand me down) for a couple years and he did amazing on it. The Vitus is the plus tyres so he's getting to grips with the extra weight a bit slowly but that's to be expected.
I haven't actually taken him out yet, only his mother unfortunately as weather has been too icy whilst they've been with me.
My older lad got a decathlon bike at the same age and that had gripshift, he also picked it up very well be prefers the trigger shift on his current bike.
Kids adapt to whatever they've got pretty well.
Thanks gents, I'll probably go with gears then. Eldest is riding well now and loves it, but she is incredibly skinny and lacks power so actually gears may really help her get up the hills more then she does.
Off for a ride now. Wish me luck..... Trying to coax the younger sister back on her cnoc 14 .... Last time out she got over excited racing her sister and a trip to a and e for steri strips and glue to patch a huge a hole in her chin was the result. She's currently very nervous!
Thought I'd revive this thread to ask for advice on pricing. Obviously the OP has first dibs on the Early Rider Urban 20" that I'm selling but wondered what sort of price I should be asking. A new one is £499. My daughter's is in perfect working order with a couple of small rust spots on steel bolts. Sub 400 miles on the belt/hub gear. Advice gratefully received
How is the plus bike going? Do you think it’s worth it or would the standard size be easier? My kids do a bit of mtb at the moment but mainly the sort of stuff I wouldn’t need + size for so I can’t decide if it’s slowing them down for no gain?
Just reviving this to say we are still very much fans of the early rider belter. My eldest now 7.5 loves the 20" (thank you Allan!)
The younger daughter (5.5) is zooming around on the 16" too.
My little lad (2.5) is loving his islabike rothan and I'll be offering him up on the cnoc small this weekend to see if it fits yet. The 5 yo learnt to ride that back in lockdown#1! So he has about 2 weeks to do it to match her. I think he might not have the height yet though.
Anyway, I'm beginning to think about a belter 24" for the eldest.. eek they are costly! If anyone has one for sale soon, dibs please!
My son has a Belter 16 from Hope Academy and it’s brilliant I think it’s a much better (and lighter) bike than the Frog 40
His sister had and the CNOC S she had before then. I would 100% recommend Early Rider over the other 2 now, especially as Frogs now cost a lot more than a few years ago.
Seems I spoke at just the wrong time as this weekend the rear hub on the belter 20" died. After speaking to early rider, it seems they can't really help either. So, I have some work too do to find a fix, or may be scraping the bike due to a dead hub. Oh well.
Also anyone got views on the virus 24+? Possible option for the next bike, they look good value