Cheap vs. Expensive first bike

I want to buy my almost-5-year-old DD a bike for Christmas. We haven't visited a bike store yet, just the toy store, and it seems she fits best on 18-inch bikes. She's really tall, about 45 inches, with an 18.5-inch inseam.

Problem is, 18-inch bikes aren't really available in "better" brands at bike stores, and the cheaper toy-store varieties are really heavy. My DD isn't very coordinated, and I think she'll find it challenging to learn to ride, so I was thinking a lighter bike would be better. She does have a little sister, so it would get passed down...

We haven't decided whether to do training wheels, or whether we should take the pedals off and teach her to coast/balance first.

Anyhow. Did you find it made a difference between cheap vs. expensive for a first bike? If I go more expensive, should I get 16-inch or 20-inch? Or, would an 18-inch toy store bike be fine?

Thanks!

 

Jackson learned to ride on a brand new $120 Schwinn. Hayden and Brady learned to ride on a couple of garage sale hand-me-downs my parents picked up for cheap. To tell you the truth, H&B learned faster than Jackson!

Hayden has inherited Jackson's Schwinn, and Brady has asked for a bike from Santa, so we will get him a nice one (although probably not that expensive, because they don't ride often and they outgrow them so fast).

 

I would go with a 16" with training wheels. We have always had Trek bikes--fortunately Grandma bought the first ones, we go Jon his second one last spring--and he was about 49-50 inches tall when he was ready for the 20" bike.

My neighbor started off with a cheap bike--her son had trouble with it. And she got him a second cheap bike, better, but not much. One day, he climbed on one of my boys' bikes, and did way better. I think the bike was sterdier, and just had a better alignment. So, basically, she spent the same on her cheap bikes as she would have if she just started with the better bike. Her second son, went right to a Trek bike. Also, she discovered that the people at the bike shop are good at fitting the kids to the bikes, and at the toy store, there really was no help.

 

We've always bought Mongoose and Harro for our kids. Our eldest was riding w/out training wheels before he was three (no worries, our second son can't ride WITH training wheels...) We'll continue. I like how they are made and how strong they are.

 

Go to a good bike shop and talk with them. You'll get good recommendations both for proper fit and size of bike for a brand new rider, and you'll be able to check out the difference of the expensive bikes. We're cheap and have always bought the cheap Wal-mart bikes (Nate and Drew's were only $30), but we also go to bike shops and take advantage of their expertise. Someday we'll probably even buy something from them!

 

Go to a bike shop and get fitted. They may even have some used bikes for sale. I know ours usually does, but they have to happen to have the right size. We can trade in the new bikes we ended up getting toward the cost of the next bike.

Most bike shops will not fix toy store or Walmart bikes, so that is another issue to consider.

ETA: The kids have Schwinns and DH and I have Giants.

 

My kids are around 41 and 42 inches and DH took them to the bike store that he usually buys all of his bikes/equipment from. They tried out 16 and 20 inch bikes. My daughter (42 inches) could almost get the 20 inch (with the seat at the lowest setting), but the 16 inch was a better fit. At this age they need to be able to touch their feet to the ground when they are sitting on the bike seat. The ones we're getting are from TREK and are called FLOAT bikes. You teach them by taking out the pedal/crank and they learn to balance by coasting. Once they learn that then you put the crank and pedals back on and they can ride without triaining wheels. DH is a huge bike nut and doesn't want ours to use training wheels. The guy at the bike shop said that his grandson started on the float bike and was riding with the pedals alone within a week! DH can't wait to give them to our kids

 

Thanks, all of you! We did take her to a bike store to get fitted, and they suggested a 20-inch bike with the seat all the way down. But, I'm just not comfortable with that -- Nadia is not at all athletically inclined, and if learning to ride is too hard, she'll just lose interest and won't do it again.

She can barely touch the ground with the balls of her feet on the 20-inch, but she looks really scrunched up on a 16-inch.

Melissa, so funny, I had meant to get the Trek Float all along -- I've read a lot about teaching with the pedals off -- but now she's just a bit too big for it! Bummer, I should have done this back in January for her 4th birthday.

Anyhow, I decided to get an 18-inch girls' Mongoose (the Maya) that they have at Walmart for $70. I know Mongoose is a decent name, and that's inexpensive enough that if it's a total bust, it won't be a big deal. And, it's hot pink, so she'll love it.

Thanks again!