What age would you start kids on geared MTBs?
BusyRaeNOTBusty
Posts: 7,166 Member
Is 6 to young?
I've taken my kids out to the kids races at a couple of MTB races already this year. I was surprised to see kids as young as 7 on geared MTBs.
My 7 year old daughter (8 in Sept) is on a "normal" 20" kids bike. I was thinking she's ready for a geared one maybe for her birthday. Maybe she'll be big enough for a 24".
My 5 year old daughter is a on a boys 16" bike that I picked up at a REI garage sale eventually for her little brother. She looks a little big for it. My husband has promised her her very own bike (NOT the hand me down from her sister). I'm wondering if maybe we could just skip her up to a geared 20" MTB as well. Her birthday is at the end of the month.
And the 3 year old boy is a on a blue strider bike and will soon be moving up to a pink 12" pedal bike before eventually moving to the 16" bike. He doesn't care if it's pink.
I've taken my kids out to the kids races at a couple of MTB races already this year. I was surprised to see kids as young as 7 on geared MTBs.
My 7 year old daughter (8 in Sept) is on a "normal" 20" kids bike. I was thinking she's ready for a geared one maybe for her birthday. Maybe she'll be big enough for a 24".
My 5 year old daughter is a on a boys 16" bike that I picked up at a REI garage sale eventually for her little brother. She looks a little big for it. My husband has promised her her very own bike (NOT the hand me down from her sister). I'm wondering if maybe we could just skip her up to a geared 20" MTB as well. Her birthday is at the end of the month.
And the 3 year old boy is a on a blue strider bike and will soon be moving up to a pink 12" pedal bike before eventually moving to the 16" bike. He doesn't care if it's pink.
0
Replies
-
My daughter had her first gear bike at 6 can't remember the size now but she managed find on it, you'll probably find she won't use the gears much unless you tell her to, most kids forget they have them saying that most adults do too, it's not going to hurt her, the most important thing is to get her a bike that fits her with a bit of growth room, you wouldn't want her to be put off cycling by having a bike that's too big, as for the gears practice makes perfect and if your going to help she will be fine, I still have to go through gears with my daughter now (she's 11) she just finds it hard to listen lol ????0
-
My son was almost 8 when we upgraded him to a 24" MTB with a 6 speed cluster last Christmas. He's tall for his age though, and has been riding without training wheels since he was 3. I think it took him around 10 minutes to get the hang of gears, and to understand the concept. He's been on a couple of 20km rides with me so far. The bigger learning curve for him has been the move to dual hand brakes - his initial reaction is to use the front brake only.0
-
Any recommendations for brands? I've been looking and reading and it seems you have to be ware of the really heavy ones, but the Scotts are the only ones I can find that actually list weights.0
-
We bought our son a Giant0
-
My daughter was 7yrs when we got her a geared bike (21 gears which is perhaps OTT, but the choice was either 0 gears or 21!)
We do some pretty technical rides (for a 7yr old) and she uses to top 7 gears, and also "silly" gear (lowest) to get up serious hills.
Oh, as for brands ... my son (10yrs) has an Avanti, and my daughters bike is an Apollo
HTH,0 -
We gave my daughter her first geared mtb for her 5th birthday, 20 inch wheel ridgeback (rigid frame). There is a steep section on the way home from school and she found it too hard on the all-purpose gear of her previous 16" bike. She finds the grip shifter pretty easy to use, though she only uses gear 6 (downhill or flat) or gear 1 (uphill or flat) .
Hope that helps.0 -
I would agree that for them, figuring out the brakes is key - it took our 7 yr old boy a few times to figure that out. HIs first bike had was probably a 6 speed but that only lasted one season. He moved to a cylocross style - no MTB for him - most kids MTBs are too heavy and would slow him down. We wanted him to be able to keep up with us on a bike that fit him. At 10, almost 11, this is probably his last year on that bike. We will need to be looking for a new bike this winter for next summer. I have to work the gear concept with him for the hills all the time though. He tends to want to stay in one gear so we are threatening to go to a fixey style like many kids ride for trick riding. I can't see him keeping up with us on that but we've had some group rides and those teenage kids keep up with the adults doing 15 to 20 mph on the trails. I guess it really depends on what type of family rides you do. We don't MTB - we mostly road and paved trails ride as a family.0
