How To Choose A Bike For A Preschooler

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An exciting point in the point in the lives of most kids is when they get their first real bike.  I got mine for my fourth birthday.  Most of my earliest memories are from that birthday and I can still vaguely remember it being wheeled out to me.  Nick is a big fan of bikes, and he has always wanted one.  We bought him a tricycle last year, and while he did ride it he wasn’t too impressed with it.  For his third birthday this year my brother wanted to get Nick a real bike.  Choosing a bike wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be though, so here is my best advice on how to choose a bike for a preschooler.

How to Choose a Bike for a Preschooler

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1. My first tip for how to choose a bike is you need to figure out what size bike you need.  Kid bike sizes are based on the diameter of the wheel.  Most preschoolers will need either a 10, 12, 16, or possibly an 18 inch bike.  Since kids grow fast you want to buy a bike that they can ride for awhile without buying one that is so big that it’s not safe.  Your child should be able to at least touch the ground with their toes while sitting on the bike.  Even with training wheels bikes can be tippy, so you want them to be able to catch themselves if it tips to the side.  If they can’t touch with their toes than the bike is too big.
2. Next find the bikes available in the correct size and try them out.  You will find that like many things in life not all bikes of the same size number are actually the same size.  We couldn’t find Nick a 10 inch bike, which is the size he really needed, but we found one 12 inch bike that ran small that he was able to fit on.  When trying out the bikes check that your child fits the bike and make sure they feel safe on it.  We found a really neat Cars bike when we were shopping, but it had a noise making toy on the handle bar that made that side of the bike a bit heavier, and it made it very difficult for Nick to grip the handle bars.
3. Make sure that your child truly likes the bike!  There is nothing worse than spending money on a larger item and then having your kid dislike it so much that they don’t use it!

Protect Your Child and Their Bike

Of course once you’ve taken all of the steps and chosen the perfect bike it’s time to think safety.  Make sure to buy all of the appropriate safety gear.  Especially make sure that you get them a helmet that fits correctly.

Not only do you want to protect your child, but it is good to think about protecting their bike as well.  Where will they ride their bike?  Will they ride it somewhere where you might need to leave it for a time such as the park or library?  If so than it’s a good idea to buy your child a bike lock.  There are a lot of ones out there now days that are great for kids.  In fact WordLock has come out with a new Spider-Man bike lock!  Of course I was so excited to hear that because we ended up getting Nick a Spider-Man bike.  The bike and lock were made for each other!  WordLock locks are great for kids because remembering a word is easier than remembering a bunch of random numbers.  Each of these locks comes with a preset word for the lock.  What a great way to keep your kid’s bike safe and help them work on learning how to spell a new word!

What bike tips do you have?