Getting a child's first bike without spending a fortune

Three quarters of children in England have a bike they can get at. Around two in a hundred ride one to school.

Some of that is traffic and some of it is habit, but a fair bit of it is that the bike in the shed is the wrong one: too big, too heavy, or bought in a hurry because it was on offer. A first bike that gets ridden is worth more than an expensive one that does not.

How much should you spend on a child’s first bike?

Less than you think, and on the right things. A first bike will be outgrown in a year or two, and it will be outgrown long before it wears out. That is why second-hand makes more sense for a child than for anybody else: you are buying something that was barely used, and you will be passing it on in the same condition.

The money is better spent on getting the size and the weight right than on anything with a brand name or a suspension fork.

Why does weight matter so much on a child’s bike?

This is the thing almost nobody thinks about, and it matters more than everything else on this page put together.

The bike, as a share of the rider

A child23kg rider, 11.5kg bike

50%

An ordinary supermarket bike under a seven-year-old

The same, for an adult70kg rider, 35kg bike

50%

Nobody would ride this, and nobody is asked to

A child cannot ride a bike that is too heavy for them. They cannot lift it, they cannot pick it up when they drop it, and they cannot get it moving. It puts children off cycling, and the child usually gets blamed for not trying.

If you are choosing between two bikes and one is noticeably lighter, take the lighter one, even if the heavier one looks better value. Pick both up before you decide. It is the single easiest test there is and almost nobody does it.

Should you start with a balance bike or stabilisers?

A balance bike, if you have the choice. It teaches the hard part, which is balancing, without the child having to think about pedalling at the same time. Bikeability, the Department for Transport’s cycle training programme, recommends one as a way to learn.

There is research behind it too, though it is worth knowing how strong it is. A series of studies led by one research team in Portugal found that children who started on a balance bike were riding independently at an average of just over four years old, against nearly six for children who started on stabilisers.

That is a big difference, so treat it carefully: the large study asked parents to remember, years later, and balance bikes also became far more common over the same period. The direction is believable. The exact size of the gap is less certain.

If you already have a small pedal bike, you can take the pedals off and use it the same way, which costs nothing.

Stabilisers do work. The argument against them is that they teach a child to lean the wrong way in corners, and that has to be unlearned later.

Does a child’s bike need gears or suspension?

No to both, on a first bike. Gears are one more thing to think about while a child is still learning to balance, pedal and brake. Suspension on an inexpensive child’s bike is usually worse than useless: a light child often cannot compress a cheap fork at all, so it does nothing except add weight to a bike that already weighs too much.

Cycling UK’s Cycle magazine puts it bluntly: cheap, lookalike suspension adds weight and detracts from performance.

Wider tyres at a slightly lower pressure do the same job for none of the weight, and cost nothing.

What should you check before you hand over money?

Start with fit, because nothing else matters if the bike is the wrong size. We have written separately about what size bike a child needs, and the short version is that you measure the inside leg rather than going by age.

Then three things specific to children’s bikes:

• Can they reach the brake levers? Small hands cannot always stretch to a lever set up for an adult. Most levers adjust closer to the bar with one small screw. If a child cannot squeeze the brakes properly, they will stop with their feet instead.
• How far does the saddle go up? A seatpost with plenty of adjustment left is a year of growing room. A saddle already at its limit is a bike they have nearly finished with.
• Pick it up. See above.

For the mechanical checks, RoSPA’s family cycling guide, produced with the Department for Transport, describes the M check: you trace an M shape over the bike, from the rear wheel up to the saddle, down to the pedals, up to the handlebars and down to the front wheel, checking each thing as you reach it. It takes two minutes and it is a good habit to teach a child.

Our own longer list of what to check on any second-hand bike covers the rest.

One legal point worth knowing, because it surprises people: the requirement for two independent brakes applies to bikes with a saddle 635mm or more above the ground. Below that, which is most small children’s bikes, one braking system is all the law asks for. We go into that, and what else the law requires, in are cheap second-hand bikes safe?

How does a child learn to ride on the road?

In England, through Bikeability, which is funded by the Department for Transport and Active Travel England and usually arranged through the child’s school. Most of it is free. Level 1 is bike control away from traffic, Level 2 is riding on quiet roads, and Level 3 covers busier junctions and roundabouts.

If a school does not offer it, Bikeability’s own site has a search for training near you. It works differently elsewhere in the UK: Scotland runs Bikeability Scotland through Cycling Scotland, Northern Ireland has the Cycling Proficiency Scheme, and in Wales cycle training is run by each local authority rather than under the Bikeability name.

The short version

• A first bike is outgrown, not worn out, which is exactly what makes second-hand sensible
• Weight matters more than anything except size. Pick both bikes up
• No gears and no suspension on a first bike
• A balance bike teaches the hard part first
• Check they can reach the brake levers, and that the saddle has room to rise
• Spend the money on the right size, not the right badge

If you are after one, have a look at what we have in. Bring the child, because two minutes of sitting on it tells you more than any chart, and you can try it before you pay.