Bicycling is a great activity that the whole family can enjoy. In this episode of Gear Daddy, Daddy Troy speaks with Chris Carter, bike expert, from the Bicycle Sport Shop to discuss what parents should look for when buying a kids bike. Safety is extremely important, so you'll want a bicycle with safety features. Learn about different bike parts, including brakes, pedals, gears, bike frames, and bike tires. Get your children started cycling today. DadLabs ep. 228 Gear Daddy.

Daddy Troy: Welcome back to Gear Daddy, I am your host Daddy Troy. And today we’re going to be talking with Chris Carter from the Bicycle Sport Shop. And he is going to tell us about not only how to buy a kid’s bike but some of the things you might get if you come to specialty bike store like the Bicycle Sports Shop.

Chris Carter: So bikes come in a range of different sizes. We offer all of those kid’s bikes anywhere from 12” to 24”. And that is based off of the wheel size. So this particular bike, this would be a 12” wheel.

Daddy Troy: That is the diameter of this wheel?

Chris Carter: The diameter of the wheel yes correct. And one of the cool things about this bike by Specialized is this bottom bracket has been moved forward. Typically it would reside just underneath the seat post. By moving it forward it puts it between a regular bike and a trike. The trike you know the pedaling action is up on the front wheel. So this allows a child to understand the pedaling motion a little bit sooner.

Daddy Troy: And that’s something that you might not get it you just bought a standard bike from a big box store. It actually goes into the design of these specialized bikes.

Chris Carter: Correct, down to the materials that they use, the bearings that they use inside. Who puts the bike together, all of those factors are going to come into play. Safety and durability is something that we all should be concerned about when buying a kid’s bike. A bike that is not manufactured well or put together well it breaks quicker, breaks down faster. And if your child is riding a bike that is breaking obviously that is not safe.

Daddy Troy: And as a dad it would require more maintenance by me trying to tighten things up and fix things a lot more. So it actually takes not only safety issue but also the time it takes to keep fixing it up as well.

Chris Carter: Oh definitely and which is nice here too. When you purchase the bike at our shop, Bicycle Sports Shop, you get two free tune-ups within the first year. So that is a service that we are already giving to you on the front end and that you are not having to worry about.

Daddy Troy: And when I bought my kid’s bike here the day I walked out you guys had already tuned it up and adjusted it to his height and everything. It was all good to go that day and ready to ride, which is great.

Chris Carter: Exactly we are going to fit him up so.

Daddy Troy: Well tell me more about the bikes then.

Chris Carter: Sure this bike well since it is sitting here is very lightweight which is good. Again back to my son he was able to just walk it around, put it away. So he was learning his responsibility on how to treat the bike as well as learning how to ride the bike which is definitely important for the little guys. It’s aluminum frame, alloy wheels. So these are same components and materials that they are going to use on an adult bike, on this child’s bike. So that is definitely a great value.

Daddy Troy: Great super. And so you said the wheels come in 12”. What are the other diameters that are typical for kid’s bikes that you can buy here?

Chris Carter: Sure 12”, 16” and 24”. Twenty inch sorry.

Daddy Troy: Now I saw an 18” at a big box store the other day but you guys don’t sell, don’t make 18”?

Chris Carter: No the standard sizes are going to be 12”, 16”, 20” and 24”.

Daddy Troy: Okay good.

Chris Carter: For the child’s bikes. There may be some other manufacturer’s that are making in between sizes. That is not as important. This is based on your stand over and then you can adjust saddle height for fit.

Daddy Troy: And the saddle height is pretty easy to adjust on these bikes? Where is the?

Chris Carter: This particular one is just with an Allen wrench.

Daddy Troy: Allen wrench, okay.

Chris Carter: And some of the bikes will have a clasp on them, a quick release clasp where you can just slide the saddle.

Daddy Troy: And it looks like this bike doesn’t have hand brakes on it but the next size up or a few sizes up do. You want to show us one of these bikes over here. So the other bike was a Specialized bike that was a brand name. This is brand named Trek.

Chris Carter: this is a Trek bike yes.

Daddy Troy: Super.

Chris Carter: This is a girl’s bike. You can tell by the paint job for one. It used to be that the down tube was different on a girl’s bike. You would always see the down tube sloped way down on the girl’s bike. And on the boy’s bike it would be-

Daddy Troy: Which never made much sense to me for the guys.

Chris Carter: Right, right. So you know they are not doing that as much anymore the boy’s bikes slope down as well.

Daddy Troy: Okay good. Go team.

Chris Carter: So one of the cool features about this bike again the frame materials, the wheels these are all the same types of materials that they are going to use on an adult bike. This particular bike what I think is really cool is the Trek Dial to Fit system.

Daddy Troy: Okay.

Chris Carter: So what the Dial to Fit System is this allows your child to grow with the bike. Or as the child grows the bike grows with them rather than having to replace the bike.

Daddy Troy: Sure.

Chris Carter: The pedals, you notice there is another screw hole right here?

Daddy Troy: Oh giddy up oh wow!

Chris Carter: So you can make the cranks longer. You know the seat height is of course adjustable. Some of these will also even have an adjustable stem to allow for the handlebars to come further up or further away from the rider.

Daddy Troy: So I get that one. Okay so this is another Specialized bike and I noticed this one has the hand brakes on it. The first one we looked at didn’t have hand brakes on it. When does a kid-you know why do you need hand brakes. Why-the other one has the break called that you go backward?

Chris Carter: Coaster brake.

Daddy Troy: A coaster break, that’s what it’s called, sure.

Chris Carter: So a coaster brake is typically for the younger kids. A lot of it is the fingers are not long enough to reach the brake. It needs to be able to sit far enough out for the braking action to work.

Daddy Troy: Do they ever have both coaster and hand brakes? Do you know

Chris Carter: They do actually there is an intermediate bike. I believe it’s the 16” wheeled bikes have both the coaster and hand brake. And that is to get your child used to using the hand brake. Once you moveup to a geared bike this one has gears.

Daddy Troy: Gears wow. Okay.

Chris Carter: Right then you lose the coaster brake, so you need to have that free wheel.

Daddy Troy: So the first bike we looked at wouldn’t have had these brakes. It wouldn’t have had gears. What else does this have that the first bike we looked at doesn’t have?

Chris Carter: Sure.

Daddy Troy: Shocks?

Chris Carter: Shocks, this bike has shocks right.

Daddy Troy: Or suspension or what is the technical word?

Chris Carter: Sure suspension either one, that’s good shocks or suspension. Both work. So this would you know it’s a comfort feature or a fun feature. If you are taking your kid on a trail then you want him to be able to learn how to use that suspension to climb up over a root or a rock.

Daddy Troy: The kickstand, is the kickstand standard with bike that you get here? Do you have to buy a kickstand or?

Chris Carter: A kickstand comes on the majority of the children’s bikes.

Daddy Troy: Okay.

Chris Carter: S that comes with it.

Daddy Troy: And I noticed that there aren’t training wheels on this one. You know I guess by this point your kid wouldn’t have training wheels. Are training wheels standard on certain size diameter bikes?

Chris Carter: You can get training wheels or they come on any bike that does not have the gearing. Once you get into a bike that has gearing then the training wheels wont-

Daddy Troy: No training wheels.

Chris Carter: Won’t work on there.

Daddy Troy: Super.

Chris Carter: A lot of the companies are lowering the top tubes now because it allows a smaller rider to ride to a bigger bike. Kids are learning to ride a lot sooner than they had before. But you are still concerned about stand over height.

Daddy Troy: Oh so they can actually stand when the bike stops?

Chris Carter: Correct.

Daddy Troy: Super. And the seat adjustment is different on this one as well?

Chris Carter: Yeah this is different so before you had the Allen wrench and you needed a tool. Well this child is a little bit bigger if they need to make an adjustment themselves you know. This is just a quick release lever.

Daddy Troy: And I notices some seats have a line at which don’t go above that line. Is this correct?

Chris Carter: Yes on the seat post there will be markings here that say minimum insertion point. SO you never want to have it- if the bike looks like this it is probably time to buy a new bike.

Daddy Troy: Buy a new bike right.

Chris Carter: Come to Bicycle Sport Shop and get a new bike.

Daddy Troy: And I also noticed this bike has the ability to put a water bottle on it? Is that right? Right here is that what that is for?

Chris Carter: It does these are mounts for a water bottle. A cage for a water bottle cage, yes. For the kids I usually recommend a small camel back.

Daddy Troy: Super.

Chris Carter: And for the younger kids-

Daddy Troy: Camel back is the thing you put on your back, it has a bladder with water that they can, like that-good.

Chris Carter: Some of the bikes you can put a front mounted water bottle so that they are not having to reach down towards the frame to reach for it. And they can get their drink.

Daddy Troy: Great super. Well great. Well Chris thanks so much for showing us how to buy a kid’s bike this day. And like I said going to a bike specialty shop like this really you get personal attention. They will adjust the bike for you. And it really is worth the extra expense not to mention most of all safety. See you next time on Gear Daddy.