best beginner's two-wheel pedal bike?

[skohng]

ds is 5 and is bored with his balance bike. i think it's time to graduate him to a pedal bike. i'm looking for affordable (even character ones from TRU are fine) as long as it's light, easy to maneuver, with good brakes.

any suggestions?

oh, he's also at 45" tall. 12" or 16" wheels?

[WatchingThemGrow]

There have been a few threads about bikes recently. We got DD a 16" Specialized Hotrock from a local bike shop with a trade-in program. She jumped on and took off! It is nice and light, and we'll be able to pass it down to siblings. I hated when my parents got me cheap bikes b/c they never worked quite right - like the handlebars would always loosen and be crooked or silly things like that. How is CL in your area? Could you find a higher quality used bike there or maybe a 2nd hand one at the bike shop instead of a cheapo model? Oh, we had them trim a little bit off the seatpost so her feet were more flat on the ground, which really helped stabilize her. She is in love with it, and so pround to be totally independently riding!

[skohng]

thanks; i confess i'm always a bit lazy with the search feature. true, i'd much rather go for quality....

[HIU8]

We ended up getting DS a Trek new. There are plenty on CL near us, but the place we got it has a trade in program that was to good to let go. DS is 44 inches. He technically fits on a 20 inch, but we got the 16 inch for him to gain confidence riding. He LOVES it.

[nupe]

We recently went to get DS a pedal bike too. I thought he was ready for a 20" but he just couldn't get on the bike by stepping on the pedals, since he was used to his balance bike. We got him a 16" bike "thrasher", which he's really too tall for, with training wheels. It's kind of hard to pedal this bike though. I would recommend checking it out. Pretty good sale going on now.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/SubCategory_10052_10551_400338_-1_1511002_1511002

[WatchingThemGrow]

I looked on your CL - and only saw one (I'm assuming) older model Trek Cub. Maybe they just sell quickly on yours? I look in bikes and in baby/kids.

[skohng]

thanks for the suggestions! "thrasher"...some bike names crack me up.

HIU8, can I ask what model you got?

[jerigirl]

Definitely not a 12 in. We just bought DS who is about 40-41" tall a 16 in. bike. We got the Raleigh MXR thru REI during the Memorial Day sale. It is a tad big for him but by the end of the summer I think his knees would be touching the handle bars on the 12 in.

[skohng]

I looked on your CL - and only saw one (I'm assuming) older model Trek Cub. Maybe they just sell quickly on yours? I look in bikes and in baby/kids.

Thanks -- Yes, stuff on Chicago CL flies FAST. Semi-tangent, how do you set up an RSS feed to get notified when say, Trek bikes come up on CL?

[HIU8]

We got the 16 inch trek jet. Like I said, I found A LOT on our CL. We actually bought from Revolution Cycles. They have a deal that you bring the bike back in 3 years and trade it in and get 50% off the next bike (I believe they do this for up to 20 inch bikes--since we got DS a 16 inch that he will most likely outgrow by next summer we did new instead of used).

[skohng]

thanks for the jet rec. hmm.

what about mid-range models brand new, like schwinn? huffy?

[WatchingThemGrow]

Thanks -- Yes, stuff on Chicago CL flies FAST. Semi-tangent, how do you set up an RSS feed to get notified when say, Trek bikes come up on CL?
I dunno. I've never done it. I waste countless hours on CL instead of an RSS feed. I think someone told how to do it in another thread. I would search for specialized and trek.

[skohng]

ok, just stumbled upon a CL listing and emailed the seller: Schwinn Gremlin and Diamondback Mini-Viper. They seem to get good reviews?
http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/bik/1785002255.html

[HIU8]

We returned 2 huffies to TRU. They were not nearly as nice as the Trek and we had issues with the training wheels. For a Huffy--only Huffy training wheels work with them. It was a PITN.