what size bike?

rosesandpeonies · October 2012

My 3 year old wants a bike from Santa. We went to toys r us and we measured her etc. We were told that she should be able to put her feet on the ground sitting on the seat (so when we take the training wheels off she can ride the bike)

She is about one inch from touching the ground on the 16 inch

The 12 inch is sort of short for her long legs...but is this better?

there was a 14 inch there in the store but I can't find any that size online.

Do you think bigger or smaller? what size!?

jc&cat · October 2012

We gave DS a bike for his 4th birthday which was Monday. He is 3ft, 5inches tall and we got him the 16 inch. He rode that size bike at a friend's house a few weeks ago and although his feet were a tad bit off the ground, he seemed comfortable. The 12 inch was entirely too small for him especially for longer term use. For this type of thing, I would go bigger than smaller. If you are getting the bike at Christmastime, depending on your location you may not have a ton of use for it until Spring and she could be a little taller by then.

AgrippaRidesAgain · October 2012

Go to an actual bike shop to talk about it. Her feet should NOT be touching the ground when she's sitting on the seat! If they are, she's on a bike that's too small. She should have to lean to the side to put her feet down once training wheels are off. Her feet should touch the ground when straddling the frame and not sitting on the seat.

DS is on a 16 inch bike without training wheels and has been since his 4th birthday. He was 39" tall at 4.

Info about bike fit: https://www.ibike.org/education/buying.htm

rosesandpeonies · October 2012

AgrippaRidesAgain:
Go to an actual bike shop to talk about it. Her feet should NOT be touching the ground when she's sitting on the seat! If they are, she's on a bike that's too small. She should have to lean to the side to put her feet down once training wheels are off. Her feet should touch the ground when straddling the frame and not sitting on the seat.
DS is on a 16 inch bike without training wheels and has been since his 4th birthday. He was 39" tall at 4.
Info about bike fit: https://www.ibike.org/education/buying.htm

That is what I meant when it leans to the side...but she can't really do that yet. We do live in So. FL so she will be using it right away down here. We tried the 14 inch and it looked good in the store and she was able to ride it, but the 16 inch she struggled with so we are going to go 14 inch and if I have to buy a new one next year oh well. 12 inch is no way because she can totally sit on the seat and be flat footed on the groundlol. I want her to be able to ride it right away at Christmas and I feel like if we get the 16 inch she will be looking at it for a while.

Thanks

Angela814 · October 2012

That doesn't sound right. I'd go with the bigger bike because I'd assume she's going to grow some before she actually learns to ride without training wheels.

DD1 started off on a 16" bike when she turned 3. She was 41 1/2" then. She hasn't really ever been that interested in riding. She's still using training wheels at almost 6.5 years. We just upgraded her to an 18" bike when she turned 6. She was 49" then. She was right in between the 18" and 20" sizes, but the 20" don't come with training wheels, and I don't think she'd be able to handle learning on the bigger bike without them.

The seats do adjust a few inches too, so I'd keep that in mind.

what size bike?

Re: what size bike?

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