Bike for 5 year old

[rcnute]

Oldest is turning 5 and I'd like to get him a bike. He likes riding on the flightdeck on the cargo bike but never cottoned onto the balance bike and hasn't been into the Burley tagalong. He's average to tall for his age.

What should I get him?

Thanks for any ideas.

Ryan

[nmrt]

many good bikes with the right geometry and weight for kids. namely:
1. early rider
2. woom
3. cleary (nice bikes but heavier that the others on this list)
4. isla bikes
5. frog bikes
6. prevelo bikes

[dbh]

I started my daughter on a Woom 3 when she turned five last year. She was never nuts about the balance bike, but glommed onto the Woom. I'd cycled through a few cheapo kids bikes before deciding to pony up for the Woom 3. She'd get frustrated by coaster brakes and the crappy cranks that made pedaling fluidly difficult. I couldn't believe how heavy the department store bikes were as well. I wanted something that was reasonably light and had a freewheel and handbrakes. The stabilizer on the Woom was super helpful. A year later and she rides with total confidence with me on trails and paths. It's not cheap, but given the enjoyment we get out of it, I think it was totally worthwhile.

[joosttx]

Cleary are the best bikes. Really well made. We own three. I find them very light as light as the wooms.

If you want one spray-painted lavender it is yours for the price of shipping and materials :)

[shortribs]

Going through the same thing here, with a now 7 year old and a 4 year old.

14": Woom 2, one of few in this wheelsize that is available with pedals & a hand brake.
16": Cleary Hedgehog. My oldest started this when he was 5, though we found the riser handlebars better suited than the stock flat bars
20": Spawn Raiju, which was great once he turned 6.

[DRZRM]

If you need gears the Cleary Owl is a bit heavy, the internal derailleur in the rear hub is chunky but it works very well and is pretty bomb proof. The single speed version is much lighter. Zooms and Early Riders are both very nice too. Used BMX race bikes are quite light too, if there is a track near you find out when their gear swap is.

[nmrt]

Was going to post some comparative weights between bikes by using the cleary website weight. But surprisingly, could not find the weights on the clearys. They were there a couple of years ago when i bought a cleary for my son. it was then i found that cleary (the 12 in wheel gecko) was 1.76 lb heavier than the 14 in wheeled Woom!

actually, here are some weights --
12 in Cleary Gecko (13 lb) Vs 14 in Woom 2 (11.24 lb)
16 in Cleary Hedgehog (16 lb) Vs 16 in Woom 3 (11.68 lb)

This a massive difference for a kid!

Weights were taken from twowheeling tots for cleary and us.woombikes.com

Cleary are the best bikes. Really well made. We own three. I find them very light as light as the wooms.

If you want one spray-painted lavender it is yours for the price of shipping and materials :)

[azrider]

Is your kid big enough to reach brakes or grasp concept of gears??

My 4.5 year old is in 110th percentile for his height/weight and I have yet to put him on a bike that his hands can reach hand brake.

He loves his single speed and has just learned to “circle” (read: pedal) faster when road turns up.

Food for thought

[dbh]

I thought about Clearly for my then five year old as well, but since she had never been super enthusiastic about balance bikes, I thought the more aggressive position would make learning to ride a two wheeler more challenging. Plus the stabilizer on the fork of the Woom was really helpful when she was first learning to ride.

[buddybikes]

Get with the program here: https://bikerumor-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Hilite-titanium-kids-balance-scoot-bike01.jpg

[azrider]

Wait.......

Is he not riding on his own yet??

[joosttx]

Was going to post some comparative weights between bikes by using the cleary website weight. But surprisingly, could not find the weights on the clearys. They were there a couple of years ago when i bought a cleary for my son. it was then i found that cleary (the 12 in wheel gecko) was 1.76 lb heavier than the 14 in wheeled Woom!

actually, here are some weights --
12 in Cleary Gecko (13 lb) Vs 14 in Woom 2 (11.24 lb)
16 in Cleary Hedgehog (16 lb) Vs 16 in Woom 3 (11.68 lb)

This a massive difference for a kid!

Weights were taken from twowheeling tots for cleary and us.woombikes.com

I picked them up and I could not tell a difference.

[old fat man]

I picked them up and I could not tell a difference.

My 5 yr old could tell the difference. Woom bikes have been great for us. Love the fact my 5 yr old (now 9) could easily lift the woom. When you weigh 45lbs to begin with, 1.5 lbs is a big difference

[flydhest]

We have had three cleary bikes. Love them. I don’t think Isla bike sells to the US anymore. Never tried woom or frog

Let me know if you are in NY and want to try out the Cleary.

I repeat the earlier question as to whether or not the wee one can ride yet. The balance part is the trick. Pedaling is trivial. You can get the bike and take the pedals off to get the hang of the balance.

My daughter started riding at 3 and my son at 5 so kids do things at their own pace.

[oldpotatoe]

Oldest is turning 5 and I'd like to get him a bike. He likes riding on the flightdeck on the cargo bike but never cottoned onto the balance bike and hasn't been into the Burley tagalong. He's average to tall for his age.

What should I get him?

Thanks for any ideas.

Ryan

My 6 year old grand daughter just inherited the Cleary below from her older sister, who got a Cleary Meercat..great bikes, well made.

Cleary Owl..single speed...lever brakes.

Weight? Both my grand daughters do really well on these..

And as asked..is the OPs son riding on his own? No big deal if he isn't..my grand daughters were both 5 before they decided they wanted to ride w/o training wheels, neither took to a balance bike..took 'em off, on a baseball diamond at their school..took right off w/o issue..'when' is no big deal..when they want to..

[AngryScientist]

On the lower end, but REI has a line of kids bikes in their COOP brand. My son has a single speed version and it's really nice IMO, good for a kid to beat around on. i'm sure it is not as light as some of the other offerings, but it is a solid well made bike that didnt cost a lot.

i recommend taking your son to REI that has a big stock and having him sit on a few of the bikes and see if he can pedal them around a bit.

[charliedid]

Light bikes for 5 year olds is so weird, they should last three generations.

Grumble grumble.

Schwinn sure knew how to make kids bikes back in the day.

[Hank Scorpio]

I bought my daughter a Cleary gecko off the Facebook marketplace earlier this year. I pulled the cranks and slammed the saddle so she could use it as a balance bike but she hasn't shown much (any) interest in it. It definitely is on the heavy side and I have been keeping a watch for a used woom or strider. I searched t-town this year for some carbon to lighten it up but the sizes of the components are not common so no luck.

Have you looked at the carbon striders on alliexpress made by tideace or bxt?

[wildboar]

My 4.5 year old is in 110th percentile for his height/weight and I have yet to put him on a bike that his hands can reach hand brake.


My daughter was 4.5yrs 5th percentile when we switched from Strider to a Woom 2 and the brake levers were easily reached. They have some scaled down levers on those, they are perfect. Ditch the coaster brake rear wheel they come with immediately and put on the freewheel wheel, they just get frustrated with the coaster brake stopping them all the time. It only took two sessions to figure out the Woom bike after riding on the Strider for a year, it was really cool.

[kiwisimon]

16" BMX! hand brake and tough so they can get passed down for years.
They can also be raced if the young one wants to go fast.

[SeanScott]

I have gone through the bike growing process with my two boys.
The only suggestion I can make is to just get Craigslist bikes or used ones from yardsales or community bike hubs. There are killer used BMX bikes and lots of bikes with gears as well.

There is usually no need to go over $100 for a nice bike and you can usually sell it for just as much when done.
The fastest we went through a bike was the 24" wheel size (typically 9-10 year old) This is where people typically spend too much.
Now both my 8 and 10 are on proper 26" really good quality mountain bikes (again bought for nothing off CL because no one wants a 26) These should last for years.

[kiwisimon]

yep used bmx. Rattle spray paint of their color if kids are fuzzy about the colours

[Bisquik]

Get the kid a cheap bike that you can take the pedals off o do.