Sorry I know there is a similar what trousers for kids thread running but i thought best not hijack it.
My son (3) has just grown enough to be riding a proper kids bike so i took him on a few calm trails, he loved it, however he has lots of enthusisum but no skill yet! He has also spurred my daughter (5) into action too, but she is slightly less gung-ho!
I'm more worried about crashing putting them off at this early stage rather than actual injury.
I'd like to get them knee pads at a minimum and possibly a full face lid?
Is there any decent kids stuff out there?
What do your kids wear?
TIA
Following this as I'm soon going to be going through the same thing. Slightly OT but what bike did you get for your boy?
full face helmets are going to be very heavy and not required from what you are saying.
Have a look at IXS pads for kids. My 6 year old has adult xs but the kids sizes should fit your 3 year old and maybe your 5 too.
cnoc 14, only because i had it already - was just waiting till his legs got long enough 🙂
full face helmets are going to be very heavy and not required from what you are saying.
Hehe my wife has a different opinion.
Hehe my wife has a different opinion.
sophie has fallen off a lot and its her knees, elbows and hands that get hurt. I have wee cheap elbow pads for her that prevent gravel rash too.
My kids are both 3 next weekend and have spent the last year hooning around the local pump tracks on Balance bikes until last week when they made the jump to pedalling (and we all discovered how much faster they go!!!🙈).
They’re currently riding an Islabikes CNOC 14S and Frog 40 (I’d have liked to have got them matching Early Rider Belters but the last 18 months has not been a time of choice😜). The CNOC 14s is slightly small and a tiny bit lighter but the Frog looks and feels like a more modern bike.
They both currently have gloves and knee pads from Tigo bikes which are light and easy to pedal in (being some kind of foam) as they’re a Lycra sleeve. We’ve had some pretty fast offs while wearing them on the local pump tracks (and parts of Ashton Court/Leigh Woods) in Bristol and they’ve held up well. Also they were the smallest full finger gloves we could find for 2 year olds.
Ours aren’t wearing full face lids yet but they both have Bell SideTrack helmets which feel like mini adult lids as opposed to cheapie kiddy ones.
I think full face might be on the cards in a few years and elbow pads are probably coming in the spring.
Andrew Major wrote has written quite a few articles on kids biking protection and clothing on NSMB (and his blog Meat Engines) as his daughter (now about 5 or 6) has been a keen biker for a few years and he documented his struggles with finding good kit.
He thinks either adult elbow pads for knees or the Race Face kids line are pretty good.
Look on FB marketplace or join the local BMX club groups as lots of the families on there sell their stuff and BMXers seem to start really young.
I agree that a 3 year old's neck is unlikely to be strong enough to cope with the weight of a full face helmet. I'd be more worried about damaging their neck, with a full face helmet, than any damage to their face without one.
Also, might wrapping them up in lots of padding not teach them that mountain biking is dangerous and scary?
ours wear gloves and proper helmets, and I try to ensure elbows and knees are covered if they're doing anything particularly difficult, but i try to avoid making a fuss about the danger.
That Tigo bikes kit looks well priced as well
The Togo knee pads are pretty low profile and at the moment I tent to just stick them in a long sleeve jumper/hoody (unless it’s too hot).
They don’t always wear the knee pads but we try to make wear their helmets and gloves whenever they go out on their bikes. Shredding palms and concussions suck (speaking from a lot of personal experience at both).
We don’t really make a big fuss about putting the helmet/gloves/pads on them from a safety point of view, it’s just something that my wife and I usually wear so they don’t really think much of putting them on. We just they’ll them it’s what all bike racers wear and they want to be like the girls on the videos we show them, like Casey Brown, Beth Schreiver, Charlotte Worthington, etc (even my son tends to get shown the girls as inspiration)
Yeah, and it’s fine for what 2-4 year olds need.
They’re really helpful as well.
They seem to realise that small kids don’t need (and parents can’t afford/justify) super fancy and expensive kit (especially as they’ll often be bored or grow out of it in 5 minutes), they just need a bit of protection and it be light and comfy.
I’m not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way.
My two tended to wear adult elbow stuff as knee stuff - but then I had it and wasn’t wearing it.
Helmets - always. Gloves -always.
Full face? Well our 10 year old came of and snapped one of his (adult) front teeth. But he was on a road bike in the car park heading down to the close road circuit the club use.
In fact both of them get more frequent and more noticeable injuries from riding on the closed tarmac circuit than off road (Dalby, Glentress, Les Gets)
Also, might wrapping them up in lots of padding not teach them that mountain biking is dangerous and scary?
it is, isn't it? 😜
I take your point but at the moment my little one crashes a fair bit and i don't want it to dampen his enthusiasm.
My daughter is eight now and she has been using the IXS pads for 2-3 years, comfy and no issues. She only really wears them on harder, fast stuff, so when we are doing things like the red at Llandegla. She’s quite happy to accept that if she falls off on local trails she will lose a bit of skin.
More controversially I suppose, she has been using a full face for a while now too, currently using the TLD Stage which is a great helmet and she can wear it with comfort all day. She does have an open face too but always chooses the stage. It’s also come in very useful protecting her face against branches too!
The only head injuries my two have had happened when they were wearing normal helmets, and full faces would have prevented them.
Son was pootling along and experimented with twittering the bars, went over, and landed on face. Suspected broken jaw (turned out ok at walk in) and killed the nerve in a tooth. About 3 or 4.
Daughter went otb at the pump track and landed on her nose. Was 5 or 6. Both blood everywhere.
IMO , they don't have the same reflex s to protect their face that you develop a bit older. So if their necks strong enough, full face is a good idea.
Both now have one and always choose to use it at pump tracks, BMX, or mountain biking. They love them, don't seem bothered by the heat ( but you can see the sweat), and have started racing bmx, 7 & 8. One is a 661 reset, the other a Lazer phoenix plus. Both adult Xs in sales.
They use the other helmets riding to school, they can hear better and that's more important then.
The other priority would be small gloves. Long sleeves and legs seem ok so far for the limbs.
All 3 of mine have started with little Lazer pnut helmets and then moved onto whichever style they liked / fitted them, throw in some gloves and you'll be rite.
They don't exactly ride fast at the age of the OP's offspring so a full face it a bit overkill, but each to their own. None of them have ever worn pads and despite all of them having raced MTB, crit and CX from an early age (4 in the case of the eldest) the worst injury they've had between them is a black eye and some facial road rash from going OTB when a seagull swopped down on him and caused him to slam on.
The eldest has hit the deck plenty of times off road and once or twice on tarmac and it's just bumps and bruises with a bit of grazing. We've seen some pretty nasty looking crashes in the U10 road races that the eldest is in, but not one kid has pulled out after one, they bounce exceptionally well 😉
THanks eveyone, i've ordered some of those Tigo knee pads.
Re helmets i've been shown these: https://kiddimoto.co.uk/products/kmhff03
270g for the small one seems fair, and i like the removabe bar or will they just disintigrate in a crash?
IMO , they don’t have the same reflex s to protect their face that you develop a bit older. So if their necks strong enough, full face is a good idea.
This. my little boy seems to be able to crash with his hands behind his back 🙂
I know a few people who have 661 Recon in xs for their little kids. I want to train mine to automatically wear a helmet without thinking (it’s working) so sticking with 1 lid each at the mo. Son has a massive swede so won’t be long before he can wear small adult lids!
Helmets for kids / full face helmets is an interesting one. Both the risks of hitting an unhelmeted head and the risks generated by helmets increase with little kids. Probably does not change the equation
full face helmets? personally only with a neck brace. the consultant surgeon who dealt with a dozen or so serious spinal breaks in MTBers put them down to FF helmets and states that they should only be used with a neck brace as the helmet provides a long lever ( sticky out chinbar) to increase forces on your neck. Motorcycle helmets ( road) sit right on your chin to reduce this effect. A helmet that sits a long way from your face is a risk.
the cbhinbars are not part of testing and are actually really brushguards as they contain no EPS to reduce impacts
Remeber fit is key and a helmet that relies on a cradle to stop it falling off is vastly reduced in efficiency. You should not be able to get your finger between the shell and head at any point. If you can its too big and thus inneffective
All you can do is try to make the best decision you can with as much info as you can.
