bike recs

[HIU8]

I'm so excited. DS just learned how to ride a bike. He is 5 1/2, 44 inches and 40 lbs. He currently has a neighbors 10 inch bike. It is to small (even with the seat on the highest setting his knees tend to touch the handlebars). So, we are going to get him a new bike. Any recs? This will be his first bike, so I don't know what to get. We had been told to stay away from target/walmart as their bike frames are plastic and not aluminum.

[katydid1971]

There have been several post about this lately (its that time of year;)) We bought DS a 16 inch $50 walmart bike. Its a metal frame not plastic and is great in our rather flat neighborhood. The more expensive bikes have lighter metal frames and if you have to deal with hills you might want to consider one of those. They will be about $150-$200. You can also look on craigslist and try and find one of those for less. FWIW all bikes are made in china (even that really expesive ones). HTHs

[HIU8]

See, now, this is why I ask here. We are going to measure DS (DH found something on how to measure for the correct bike size). We have several options around us (target, walmart, TRU and a host of specialty bike shops, CL etc..).

[WatchingThemGrow]

Way to go DS!!!!! I remember your post not too long ago about wanting him to learn! We find Trek 16" bikes on our CL all the time. Specialized ones are hard to come by, but we're getting DD a "Lello" specialized hotrock from our friend's shop for her b'day. It's a touch big, but she's fine to stay on her balance bike until she grows. She's excited about it.

[HIU8]

Yeah, something just clicked and he is riding. We never had a balance bike, but we may get one for DD-although she asked for a princess scooter.

[WatchingThemGrow]

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/1728812645.html