How to Shop for a Bike for Your Kid

Your first stop should be a local bike shop. Be honest and up front with the bike pro who works there: Let them know that you plan to shop around but that you want some help finding the right size bike for your child—and wherever you end up buying, you’ll be back to get the bike fitted. That latter visit may be gratis—the bike might fit your child perfectly—or you may need a few parts swapped to make it fit better, running you anywhere from $20 to $100. A different stem, or bar, ranges from $20 to $50; a different saddle might cost about $25. 

Rypkowski says that every decent bike shop knows the drill and that most shops make more money from repairs than from bike sales, so doing a bare-bones fitting for free (or for a very nominal cost) is smart business. “We just want to put that kid on a bike that fits,” she says.

All the experts we consulted cautioned against buying the cheapest bike you could find at a big-box store because many of the mass-market discount bikes are of dubious quality, and the parts aren’t always easily adjustable. That means after your child’s initial fitting, you won’t be able to alter the bike to fit them properly. (A high-quality, new bike should cost around $400 to $600.)

 A cheap bike that doesn’t have common or adjustable parts will make it difficult, if not impossible, to change or swap these parts—and will hinder the comfort and safety of your child. So even if you find a super-low-priced bike that’s great today, you’ll have to buy another one when your kid grows out of it. 

As mentioned above, the rough range of a new kid’s bike that’s adjustable and lighter weight is about $400 to $600. But a good bike can also return at least part of its value on the resale market—unlike big-box store bikes, which have “zero resale market,” says Justin England, the director of business development at Pro’s Closet, an online retailer that buys and resells bikes. “They go straight into a dumpster once your kid outgrows them.” England’s company resells bikes from well-known, reputable makers, such as Giant, Specialized, Woom, Cannondale, and Trek. England adds that a decent bike for a child will last through generations of kids because “you’ll sell it to a friend or resell it on Craigslist. That also means that it’s a sustainable product, as well as giving you a return on investment.”

Retailers are similar to car dealerships in that they largely survive on maintenance, repairs, and service to generate revenue. Here are the pros and cons of buying a bicycle from a local bike shop:

• Upsides: Buying from a brick-and-mortar bike shop allows you to build a relationship with the folks there. And because your kid is going to grow, you’ll be back when your child’s bike needs to be adjusted to fit. Also, a bike dealer knows their product and will be able to order parts for that bike easily, making the experience more streamlined than any other kind of purchasing process. England says a lot of shops also sell and refurbish used bikes. That means when you inevitably need to trade up to the next size bike after your child outgrows their current one, you can get a store credit—or, in some cases, cash—for trading it in.
• Downsides: Buying from a brick-and-mortar shop can cost more than online or peer-to-peer shopping, and your selection is naturally more limited than when you’re shopping online.

There are a few web-based startup brands that make bikes just for kids through a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model. There are also major retailers, such as REI, that will ship a bike directly to you. REI has its own line of bikes for adults and kids called Co-op Cycles. England, at the Pro’s Closet says REI’s bikes are well-built and well-designed, as are those from a brand called Woom, a DTC bike maker that focuses solely on bikes for kids. (A few parents we talked to also praised Woom.).  Guardian Bikes is another, slightly less pricey brand in this space. These are the benefits and drawbacks of purchasing a new bicycle for your kid online:

• Upsides: One advantage to web-based DTC purchasing is that you’re shopping directly from the brand, not going through a local dealer that may suffer supply shortages or be beholden to carrying certain brands. As a result, shopping DTC opens you to a much wider selection of products. And, if you don’t live in an area with a lot of bike shops, shopping online may be your only option for getting a new kid’s bike that fits your criteria.
• Downsides: Brands like REI and Woom have video resources for the assembly of their products, but you still have to own some tools and feel reasonably confident about what you’re doing. While bike shops are likely to do a gratis initial fit of your kid if you buy a bike from their store, they would charge for assembly of a bike you purchased online. 

Buying a used bike could save you a few hundred dollars, but there are some potential drawbacks. Let’s look at the pros and cons:

• Upsides: Shopping for a used bike on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Craigslist opens you up to a lot of options, and you’re likely to save a few hundred bucks, too. But going this route requires research and due diligence.
• Downsides: Beware of anyone unloading a cheap, big-box bike on the secondhand market. You won’t really save a lot of money, and you’ll just be inheriting a used version of all the fit and reliability issues we mentioned above. If you don’t do your homework, you could get ripped off—and there’s not much recourse if you do. Also, sometimes photos can be deceiving. For these reasons, we advise always testing the bicycle in person when shopping through a site like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

Regardless of where you purchase your kid’s bike, it’s critical to adjust it for a proper fit. If you’re skilled with wrenches and have a deep understanding of bike parts and human anthropometry, you can try this yourself—but for the most comfortable fit and safest results, you’re probably better off entrusting the process to a good bike shop. 

As we mentioned above, the bike might fit your child perfectly straight out of the box, but oftentimes bicycles need to be adjusted to fit the rider. Or, if you’re buying used, perhaps you want to change a worn-out saddle, or further refine the bike for safety and comfort.  Here are the most important adjustments to consider:

• Seatpost: The seatpost is a tube of metal that telescopes up and down in the frame to adjust the saddle to the proper height for pedaling. Proper seat height allows your child’s knees to have a slight bend at full extension. If their stroke is too short, they’re getting less power out of every revolution. And if they’re sitting too low, that can mean their knees will rise higher than is comfortable.
  
  One caveat: Rypkowski says that for newer or less confident riders, your child might not be ready for the proper seat height because sliding off the seat to stand flat-footed could be a big jump for them. Her advice for less-experienced riders is to start with a lower saddle and just adjust it up a little bit at a time as your child gains confidence.
  
  Adjusting the seatpost is easy to do. Take a permanent marker and draw a line on the seatpost for a reference point. Open the quick-release lever (that uses friction to hold the post in place) and slide the seatpost up just a hair; be sure the seat is aligned straight, with the nose of the saddle directly over the top tube of the frame, then close the quick release.
  
• Saddle: Burton Avery is Cannondale’s senior product manager for their kids’ products. He says that just like for adults, “the No. 1 thing that you should consider changing when anyone buys a bike is the saddle.” The best analogy: shoes. You have to try them on to know they fit, no matter if you’re a child or an adult. Specialized, Woom, and Cannondale all spec far narrower and shorter saddles for kids than you’ll find on adult bikes.
  
  One telltale sign that your kid’s seat is too wide is if you see them inching far forward on the seat, riding the nose rather than the paddle portion. That could mean it’s too far for your kid to reach the handlebars, or it could mean the seat’s too wide, which hurts their bottom and also forces their legs to splay wider while pedaling, potentially causing knee pain.
• Stem: Your bike will come with a stem (the linkage between the front of the frame and the handlebars) that’s replaceable, so you can make it shorter if your child has to reach too far—or longer so that the reach isn’t cramped as your kid grows. A stem has an adjustable clamp for the handlebars, which are also replaceable because the right width and sweep can further help your kid get comfy.
• Brakes: There are two main types of brakes on children’s bikes: coaster brakes and hand brakes, although some bikes have both. Part of this is regulatory and beyond the control of manufacturers; they may have to spec a coaster brake because there are legacy laws governing how bikes are sold.
  
  Coaster brakes work by pedaling backward. Lots of bikes for smaller children have them. Hand brakes operate via a lever attached to the handlebar, and most bikes for children only brake the rear wheel. There are two types of hand brakes as well. Disc brakes tend to have more power and are a bit more expensive, and work better in all kinds of weather. Rim brakes clamp against the wheel’s rim and may be less potent, though they frequently offer at least the same level of modulation as disc brakes. If your child’s bike has lever-actuated brakes, those levers most likely have a reach adjustment. This brings the lever closer to the handlebar, so it’s easier for smaller hands to grab, which is critical for safety. If the bike you purchased doesn’t have this feature, a bike shop can swap out the levers for adjustable ones.
• Bike shifters: As with brakes, your child needs to be able to easily operate their bike shifters. Avery at Cannondale says bike makers are increasingly building bikes with low-effort shifters, meaning the mechanism isn’t as stiff as in adult bikes. One expert we spoke to says you want to hold a bike statically and watch to see whether your child can easily operate the brake levers and shifters. Again, the local shop should make this evaluation. Know that, like brake reach adjustment, shifters can be repositioned for better leverage for your kid to use.
• Tires: Knobby tires might look cool, but they add friction. Cannondale’s Avery says that his brand has gone to either a tire with a very low knob pattern, with fewer cuts (called sipes), or to one with no tread pattern at all, because this reduces rolling resistance, so it’s easier for a child to keep up with their parents. He says if you buy a used bike for your child that has a tall knob, take it to a bike shop and swap the tires for something that rolls more quickly.
• Weight: A general rule for kids’ bikes is that the bicycle should not tilt the scales at more than a third to about half of your child’s weight. The younger your kid is, the harder it will be to find a bike that’s light enough. 

Bicycle manufacturers tend to list bike weights on their sites, though it can be challenging to find accurate bike weights listed for older products. (Tip: Try to avoid kids’ bikes with suspension forks or rear shocks—they look cool, but add unnecessary weight.)

Although we don’t rate kids’ bikes, we’ve listed a couple of bikes, each from three popular bike brands, to give you a sense of their size and corresponding weight.