Bikes for kids / children / very small people

I saw a kid with on of these in Beckenham Park Place the other day (my son was on his modest balance bike). Looked really neat, so Googled what came out was over £300. And I thought it was insane. (No disc brakes)
But £700!

Have you seen the Specialized balance bike?...it costs more 👀

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https://www.greenchampbikes.com/

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https://www.bambike.com/bambino

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https://booomers.com/

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At least there's something extravagant about the specialized...

You are cruel to make a kid ride that bike .kids were something with a name on there Things

Right up your street

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What’s your top bike choice for a 5 year old? She’s a confident rider with a 50cm inside leg, and I’d like to get something relatively light. Would prefer to get something second hand.

Isla Beinn - great qual etc. but eye-watering my expensive

FRog 47/8 - currently basically impossible to find.

Raleigh Performance - discontinued and hard to find

Other??

Second hand Frog might pop up if buying used is an option.

Squish also

I'm also a fan of the Dawes Blowfish

My 5 year old has loved but now pretty much outgrown his Frog40 - a 14" wheel bike. He's 111cm tall with a 47cm inseam.

Looking at the size guides most websites suggest a 16" would be grand, but I'm worried he'll also outgrow that too rapidly. Anyone got experience of similar size kids riding an 18" wheel instead? The same websites also strongly advise against "growing into" bikes which I completely agree with so won't compromise on this.

This is the 16" I'm considering https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-16-kids-bike-2021
This is the 18" if it's a goer https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Squish-18w-2021-Kids-Bike_102321.htm#

All of my kids had 14, 16, then onto 20s.

All second hand. The 7yr old boys ride 20s, my 9 year old daughter is on 24 inch mtb at the moment

There are some bargains to be had on eBay, I recently collected a 26 inch Dawes performance for a friend, she paid £53 for it and it looks barely used

My boy had the vitus 16 it was the bike he progressed the most on.

Really decent piece of kit. He rode Bristol-Bath railway path on it.

I followed it with a Giant ARX 20 which he’s been chucking up and down hills on and off road

I’d go sit on some bikes… my four year old human is just into a 20” wheel… we switch between that and her 16” Isla

We have a vitus 18 and it’s good if a bit heavy compared to Isla bike etc but was a lot cheaper.

I'm on the lookout for a toddlebike sort of thing if anyone has something going used.

I bought a new bike for my daughter which has 14" wheels. The bike arrived with approx 1mm wobble in both wheels. I've never dealt with small wheels before so I don't know if they run as true as 26"/700c wheels. The (online) shop is trying to fob me off with "wheels are within tolerance" response. Anyone have similar experience with wheels not being true?
And I guess as a follow up question, is it any harder to true a small wheel than true a full sized one?

My guess is that the rims would be less floppy, but the spoke count is lower, so it might be less easy to correct any wobble that does emerge. 1mm seems reasonable for a non-performance bike.

Measuring the spoke tension will be difficult for small wheels especially when the spokes cross each other. Other than that, it should be possible to have them straightened out.

Thanks ffm and @Wouter. I'll take it to my LBS and see what they say.

New (used) bike day!

Moustache Mercredi 12

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Found this in France, pretty sweet little bike!

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https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/376898

14“ knobby kids tyres?

Seems like my google skills are bad.

Is this the only one? https://www.bike-components.de/en/VEE-Tire-Co-/Crown-Gem-MPC-14-Wired-Tyre-p85738/

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