What size of bike?

clee2009

We are giving my daughter a bike for her 4th birthday in a couple of weeks and will have to resort to purchasing online. So withhout seeing a bike in person I am concerned what size I should buy for her. I see that 12" and 16" are the standard sizes but I am not sure which to pick. I don't want her to grow out of it immediately but I don't want it to big that she is intimidated to ride it. Is a 12" ridiculously small? She is of average height for a 4 year old.

 TIA!

DTNZ4Ever

We got DS a 16" but he is tall but has short legs. We took him to the store to try them out before his birthday then bought it and gave it to him for his birthday on a later date. We just played it off as let's try this out and we did this with a lot of o

ss+el

DS is about 42" and he's pretty much outgrown the 12" bike we got him a year ago. He was able to pedal his cousin's 16" bike about 2 months later.

 

jnksmom

We got DD a 16in because we didn't want her to grow out of it too soon. She has done well with it. She is 41in tall.

neverblushed

If your goal is for her to begin the process of learning to ride a two wheeler, and you anticipate that she will probably learn on this bike, then you probably want to get her a 16" bike.

Here's why:  Bigger dia

brettsmama

My DS is 3 years old and 37 inches tall. He can ride a 16 inch just fine and it will last him a lot longer than the 12 inch would.

LoveEeyore

Well, for my daughter's 5th birthday (about 75th %ILE FOR height) we got a 16 inch.  We skipped training wheels because she had a balance bike, and in an hour she was sailing.  I forsee this bike lasting her until she is 6.5 or 7. 

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ryry1977

I do think that the 12 inch bikes are ridiculously small and would go with the 16".

AgrippaRidesAgain

16".  DS is short--at 5 he'll probably be 42"--and went straight to a 16" bike with no training wheels on his 4th birthday.  I think he was maybe 39 " then?  

You might want to take her to get sized.  She should be able to str

rsd12

Depends on your child. Both my older boys started on a 12 inch... and took the training wheels really quickly. We will start our youngest on a 12 inch too. They are average to lower than average height.

Personally, it gave them the best bala

NerdyMama2

We have a 16".

rosesandpeonies

my 3.5 year old rides a 16 inch.  She is 43 inches tall.

Ridgebackmom

My dd has long legs and a 12 inch bike (used) from last year but this year for her 4th we wanted to get her a big girl bike with t.w. We bought her a 16inch from Walmart with a plastic bucket and bell! It;s adorable and I think she'll grow into it all

Angela814

DD1 got a 16" bike for her 3rd birthday. She was 41.5" then. We upgraded to a 18" bike when she turned 6, and she was approx 49" then. She's still using training wheels because she doesn't like to try to balance or go too fast.