We moved the seat on his trike all the way back, but he's all scrunched up and has lost interest because it's not fun to ride that way.
With his 3rd birthday fast approaching, we decided it makes sense to get him a Big Boy Bike. I immediately geeked out about it and took him last week to get sized. Sure enough, at 33 months old he already needed to move up to the 16" option.
I was so excited about the whole thing, thinking we'd have our pick of great bikes for him (I saved all summer to set aside $150, which to me, seems like a HUGE sum to spend on a bike for a 2-3 year old.) I thought I'd be able to walk into anyplace that sold bikes and look at options from reputable brands like Schwinn, Giant and Trek.
Turns out, unless you look really, REALLY hard... your options are Transformers, Spider-man and Cars.
And contrary to the box office take for the movies that spawned these overpriced preschooler marketing ploys, the reviews for these licensed character bikes are pretty wretched. I don't want to drop $90 on a bike that multiple parents reported have pedals that fall off on the first ride.
We started looking off the beaten path and did find a few options that fit my original fantasy. Problem being, the prices on those START at $180 and approach $300.
So my choice for Bear's special 3rd birthday Big Boy Bike appears to be a crappy bike I can afford, or a good bike I kind of can't. And I think that totally sucks.
That said, I'd rather scrape together a little more money to get a higher quality bike that will probably last him all the way through the 7" inches of seat post play that I know at least one of the good bikes has.
These are the the main choices we're considering. Wide open to suggestions from anyone with experience in this area.
Diamondback RM 16
Giant Animator
Schwinn Gremlin
Trek Jet 16
6 comments:
Is he too big for a run bike? I picked up a Norco Run Bike for $125CDN at my bike shop. Newt is 36" and there is still plenty of space for him to grow into the bike. That way I skip the training wheels (in theory). It's a very simple bike so may work well because there would be fewer frustrations in braking, pedalling etc.
I am no help at all, I scarfed a 16" bike out of a free box at a thrift sale and thought that was good enough. I'm afraid next to Bear's new bike my free one is going to get an inferiority complex. DON'T tell Bean, lol! ;) GOOD LUCK! BTW when he outgrows it you may be able to justify the purchase a little bit by saying it has "trade-in value."
Those are SO cool! I like the Schwinn Gremlin one, just based on appearance.
It's so funny that your little guy is so tall! Ours is the opposite. Jonah will be 3 at the end of the month, and just within the last couple of weeks he can FINALLY reach the pedals on the tricycle that we got him for his birthday LAST year (with the seat pushed all the way forward)! :)
Blogger just ate my comment, so forgive any repetition - but can't you look on Craigslist for a used one, or post an email with details of what you want at local triathlon and running clubs, whose members probably have also bought bikes for their kids? High-quality used is a very good thing!
Thanks for the advice, am taking it all in. I am going to look for high quality used, first just going to narrow down what I'm looking for.
To Sixteen Chickens... maybe it's silly, but I have logic for going overboard with the bike thing. Bear is already sticking out from his peers - he's still pretty seriously socially delayed. If he has to be the weird kid who gets special ed stuff in class, I figure at least he can also be the kid with the cool bike. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but it's where I am with it right now.
I know you don't have an REI all that close by, but check out the Novara Stinger boy's bike. You might even be able to score one at a garage sale. It's a quality bike.
I'm way late to the party seeing as how it's Bear's birthday. Hope you found something that'll work for him!
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