Need advice on bikes...

Brandon has had a 16" for a while but he just doesnt ride it much, Brianna on the other hand loves her bike its a 12inch which is to small she just looks so uncomfortable, so there 6th birthday is wed. Brianna is getting a new bike, we went this weekend to get her sized and this thru me off, at toys r us it said she needed to be around a 14" so we where like ok we will look at the 16" she is fine w/that size but the thing is she is not very tall but she is all Legs...so it seem like her knees are so close to the handles and that she might out grow the bike faster than she could get some good use out of it..so we where looking at 18 inch...she can reach tippi toes.....but that makes me nervous.....I dont want to have to buy another bike in the summer or even w/in the year..
what would you do? She is still on training wheels, and far from taking them off. They only get the chance to ride there bike once a week on the weekends when we are home they get home from school late and by supper time and homework its bed time so they dont get alot of use out of there bikes..
I am already so nervous when they ride there bikes that prob my fault why they are far from riding w/out training wheels I just cant help it..it scares me if my baby's fall :-(
So what would you do????

Thanks so much.

 

I would take them to a bike store and have them sized by someone who really knows what they are doing. I know our bike store recommends the bike be a bit on the smaller side until they are totally competent at riding a 2 wheeler.

 

I agree with the pp...go somewhere that knows bikes and have her sized. Also know that not all 16" bikes are the same (just like jeans...they all fit differently). Have her try out a couple to find the right fit. If she still has training wheels I would go with the 16" because starting and stopping once the training wheels come off is difficult if they can't get the balls of their feet on the ground.

 

i agree, take her to a bike shop to get fitted--14 inch seems a bit low for a 6 yr. old. We got 16 inch bikes at 5 and 20 inch ones at 6 1/2. Mostly b/c they went through a growthspurt and learned how to ride on two wheels.

 

I would probably buy the 18inch. Like others mentioned, all styles are different. I would find a smaller framed model and adjust the seat to the lowest setting. You will get much more use out of it.

Since your son rarely rides his bike, why not take the training wheels off his bike and have her & him practice riding on that one. At their age, they will learn to ride a 2-wheeler quickly. We started in the grass and it progressed from there within a day or so shortly after turning 5.

Our boys got 18inch bikes for their 5th b-day. While they are tall (at age 5 1/2, they are 48 inch), it was intimating for them to learn to ride without training wheels on their 18inch since it was a heavy, larger framed model. We were able to borrow a friend's old 16 inch and they mastered riding on that very quickly and moved on to their 18inch 2-wheeler. I'm so glad we didn't buy the 16inch!

 

how do you teach them to ride w/out training wheels...I am so scared of them rideing the bike in general LOL!!!!!
I need to find a flat grass all we have is hills

We also dont really have bike shops around here, I am trying to find one, the closest one is over 30 min away...
Also why does it seem that the bigger you go the cheaper the bike is...I keep seeing 18" cheaper than the 16" Crazy!

 

Here's a video for helping to teach bike riding http://www.ibike.org/education/teaching-kids.htm

Here is another website for teaching kids
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/teachride.html

Our boys practiced in our backyard grass and then went on to the driveway pavement. If you don't have a big flat backyard, I would go to a park with a grassy field and long amounts of paved flat walkways.

 

Parking lots work well (we went to the high school where I teach). Nothing to run in to, big open spaces for the turn challenged and curbs for starting.

We gradually raised the training wheels so that the kids could start to balance. As they got better the training wheels got higher and higher. At the end the wheels went off. The first couple of times I ran behind them holding onto the seat, eventually letting go. Starting and stopping is hard - give them a push to start.

 

We got ours the TREK float bikes last year for Christmas when they had just turned 4. They learn to ride them without training wheels. You take the pedals out and they learn to coast. Then you put the pedals back in to ride. It took both of ours just a few practice sessions to learn to ride them. They will be 5 next week. They are 16" bikes, but the seat can be adjusted.

 

My twins learned to ride this summer and they ride their bikes to school. They are 6 and tall, but they are built just like their Dad, which means their legs are short and their upper body is long. I had picked up a 20inch for Connor a long time ago at the thrift store, a beautiful Trek mountain bike for $25. Once he could ride his little 16inch, he jumped on the 20 inch that fits him just right. Aaron is also riding a 20 inch bike and it is just right.

In terms of teaching them, we followed the advice of a friend and took the pedals off. Just like Melissa said, but we didn't have special bikes, we just did that with their regular TRU bikes. We had them coast down the driveway until they had the balance right. Once they were balancing without trouble, we put the pedals back on and in about 5 minutes they were riding away.

 

Like the pp mentioned, we took them to our local school yard, and let them practice there. We let them sit on the bike for a while to try and get their balance, then we ran behind them holding the seat. It didn't take long really, Cameron got it by the end of our first attempt. It took Julian 2 more to figure out how to balance, but he has trouble with that most days on 2 feet anyway He is our clumsy one! I also bought elbow and knee pads to help soften the falls. Tell them to aim for the grass if they feel like they are going to fall.

We'll need new bikes next summer, but I think I'll take them into a bike shop and have them fitted properly as others suggested.