Tips for buying a bike for your child / a young person

The instructors of the worker's cooperative, Cycle Training UK have put together these top tips for buying a bike for a young person

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For those of you who aren't ants:

1. A simple bike frame is great – You don’t need a lot of features (such as suspension or too many gears) when starting off. They make the bike heavy and have limited benefits.
   
2. Buy from a bike shop which specialises in selling bikes – not toys. They’ll know how to fix a bike and a free servicing should be part of the purchase. For second-hand yet good quality bikes look out for local recycling projects such as Recycles in Redbridge http://recycles-ilford.co.uk/ and London Bike Hub http://www.londonbikehub.com. Buying from the internet is tricky as you can’t size the bike and there’s no after service. If you are buying a new bike that’s very cheap you are probably just buying a ‘bicycle shaped object’.
   
3. Getting your balance- For younger children try taking the pedals off a regular bike so it can be used as a balance bike. Put the pedals back on when they’ve got the hang of scooting. Avoid stabilisers as it’s harder for children to balance when they are removed.
   
4. What size of bike? – Rather relying on age for bike sizing, measure your child’s inside leg (when they are wearing shoes). The bike frame should be about 3cm lower to give clearance. You want to buy a bike that is a comfortable fit but also gives a bit of room for growing.
   
5. Invest in brakes–Metal brake levers are generally better than plastic ones (which have a tendency to snap) and can be adjusted to short fingers. Ensure that children can pull on the brake levers.
   
6. Bling!– You are paying extra for the branded ‘pink-princess-fairy-ninja-warrior’ bike. Buy a simple frame and bling it yourself.
   
7. Gloves – You don’t need lots of fancy clothes to cycle but do wear gloves. That nice new bike with metal brake levers is going to feel really cold in winter.
   
8. Security – A lovely bike needs more than a lock that looks like liquorice to secure it. Spend a bit more money and get a decent lock.
   
9. Buy a long seat post -(at least 150mm) so when your child grows the saddle can be raised.
   
10. Training - Get training on your own or as a family and know how to ride properly . It will make riding a whole lot more fun. Contact your local authority as they may offer free or subsidised training.
    

Helmets recommended or not? I'm not a wearer but my kids were until they could make up their own minds.

Excellent advice, I like the 'gloves' bit especially.

Will circulate!

We leave that decision to parents...

Matter of parental choice.

@skydancer, @dancing james I totally agree but just wonder if that should be included. There's always someone who wants to blame everyone else when it goes wrong.

This advice is about getting the most fun from a cycle and preventing incidents rather than mitigating against the outcome of one.

Great leaflet. I'd also include the point that not only are suspension or gears heavy, they are also often of very poor quality and likely not to last very long, e.g. if included in a £79 'bike' they will be total rubbish.

Very nice, especially point #1: Children won't be riding up mountains, so they don't need all the features of a race-ready mountain bike.

Invest in brakes–Metal brake levers are generally better than plastic ones (which have a tendency to snap) and can be adjusted to short fingers. Ensure that children can pull on the brake levers and that they are aligned with your child's arms so that their wrists are straight

My addition in bold. I've seen too many kids bikes with brake levers at very strange angles. Children don't have strong hands so good ergonomics are important.

Nice leaflet David, most of your tips will be as useful for beginner adults too.

I most definitely was not measured for my first bike - I think the main requirement when choosing it was that it would allow at least 4 years of growth. ;) Amazingly it survived 10.

My bike being massively too big to start with, then eventually too small, didn't put me off, or cause injury, but today when I see kids riding ill-fitting bikes (usually with parents who look equally uncomfortable on theirs) I wonder why bike fit advice isn't made a lot more available at point of sale.

tl;dr: Perhaps include something about reach/saddle height?

Thanks Alex. good point about poor bikefit advice, and poor bike choice advice at some outlets.

I will add some of the points to the list later as people feedback on these tips. Though too late to amend our flyer (or as Bike BIz calls it Wrapping paper graphic)