Learn me: Little pedal bikes for Little Monohue

I started to post this in the minor rant thread, but I guess it's more complicated than that.  I think I need some advice.

Little Monohue turns four in a couple of months.  He is kicking serious boont on his balance bike and is ready for pedals.  This is a good thing, and naturally I am very proud of him.  But he's a small kid, from a very long line of very short people, and a 12" bike is about the only thing he'll actually fit on.  He's due for a growth spurt, so a 12" bike may only last him a year or possibly two before he outgrows it.  Being of modest means and Prussian stock, I'm not inclined to drop several hundred dollars on a bike that will just not see that much use.  So I'm trying to shop used.

What I'm finding is that most 12" pedal bikes are department store bikes which are universally heavy and clunky.  Name-brand bikes from bike shops exist, and since this is a bike-crazy area, they're fairly easy to find on Craigslist or FB Marketplace.  But just about every single 12" bike has a coaster brake, which are terrible, and I'm trying hard to avoid that.  I don't want him to learn on that and then in a year or two change over to a freewheel and hand-operated brakes.

They do build some 12" pedal bikes with freewheels and hand-operated brakes.  Boy howdy, are they spendy - between $300 and $400 at local bike shops.  There's  a sweet secondhand Cleary Gecko on CL right for a modest $225, which is better, but still pretty harsh.  The situation is not much better if we look at 16" bikes.  Even if we got him one, he wouldn't be able to ride it until he grew a few inches.  He might get along okay on a  14"er if we stretch it a little, but those are thin on the ground, and no more likely to come with a freewheel.

The cheapskate in me says I should mod something cheap.  I can find a Specialized Hotrock/Riprock 12 and get a decent bike, but again, coaster brakes.  And then I'm scrounging for a freewheel and hub and brakes and levers and cables and suddenly it might actually be cheaper to get the Cleary.

In hindsight, this is more a grouse session than anything else, but dangit... I really don't want to restrict him to his balance bike, and I don't want to stick him on something that's heavy or clunky or otherwise a PITA to ride.

Kids dont have a lot of grip strength, and small diameter wheels don't have a lot of mechanical advantage for rim brakes.  My son has a bike with less-than stellar brakes (because BMX style - I'm going to fix this) and he really struggles with it.  He's about to turn 8.

My advice is grab whatever works from goodwill.  It doesn't matter if its heavy or has coaster brakes.  If it has round wheels that work, just get it and use it.  Get him out riding asap.  He'll outgrow the first bike by the time you finish shopping for what you want and you won't have blown $hundreds of dollars on a bike for a 4 year old.

I don't have much to add, other than during the latter part of my stint in the bicycle industry (1997-2021) whenever reps from the bicycle manufacturers came by seeking feedback from us as a big account in a major market, one thing I always mentioned was handbrake bikes for kiddos in 12" and 16" wheel sizes. Lots of blank stares, or blank stares followed by rapid blinking. Cannondale was one of the few who started offering these options, in case it helps your searches.

In reply to ProDarwin :

I'm not sure how wheel diameter comes into it - seems like the rim would always be moving past the brake pad at a fixed percentage (distance from axle CL to brake pad, divided by rolling radius of the tire) of road speed - but your point about grip strength is taken. Anything LM gets would have to have short-reach brake levers. Hopefully that, in conjunction with modest speeds achieved by a beginning rider, will keep him out of trouble. 

I haven't absolutely ruled out a cheapie just to get him started. This post is mostly just a rant about the huge gap between the "toy bikes" sold at big box stores and the high-end stuff you apparently have to pony up for if you want something slightly better.

What is the disadvantage of coaster brakes for a 4/5 year old? Wouldn't they adapt quickly in 3-12 months when they get to a handbrake?

Not trying to argue your point, I just don't know much about bikes or anything about teaching kids to ride - but it is something that I'll need to be doing soon with my 3 year old daughter. 

In reply to mtn :

It's partly that I don't want to clutter the transition to pedaling with a bunch of emphasis on how important it is to learn this new and critical and really specific braking technique, and then throw it all out when the next bike comes along.

It's also my personal opinion that coaster brakes are inherently worse than hand brakes. He's going to be rocking back and forth on the pedals to keep his balance, and if he rocks them back, the brakes come on.  It's hard to explain - possibly because I am on tons of antihistamines and also being yelled at by my wife right now - but I'd just rather not get him on a coaster brake if it can be avoided without a big to-do.

I've got 5 kids, 13, 10, 7, 5 & 5. All of them started on balance bikes, then switched to cheapie (read: free from the swap shed at the transfer station) box-store 12" bikes with coaster brakes.  The three that have transitioned to multi-gear & hand brakes took less than an hour of riding to really master that instead of coaster brakes.

I wouldn't sweat it, nor pay real money for a bike until they got to their teens.  I've bought a few from FB/craigslist, but haven't spent more than $40 until last year when we bought the 13 year old a nice bike.  I think she'll be able to ride this until she's nearly 18, depending on how much more she grows.

Oh, and for the record, I'm already switching the 5 year olds out of the 14" bikes into 16". They were only able to really fit on the small bikes for a year.

Seth (Berm Peak) had a vid about coaster brakes on kid's bikes, otherwise I would have had zero idea (I still have zero practical experience: I absolutely do not have kids, and cats can't pedal).  Also came across the 'Two Wheeling Tots' website.

One significant thing to look at if you are thinking about modifying a bike for hand brakes: does the frame/ fork even have brake mounts?  Real brake mounts, V-brakes or disk, b/c center pivot/side pull does not count.  Mounts can be added (well, probably on a steel frame, not as likely on aluminum), but it is a different skillset and level of messing around vs. rebuilding a wheel around a FW/diskbrake compatible hub.

Amazon may have dual hand brake kids bikes for $200..250, unless the pictures are not accurate (which is likely, and a "magnesium'" frame is going to be aluminum alloy w/ some Mg content).  Amazon has non-certified "bike" helmets too, I am not recommending those.  Some of the 16 or 18in bikes on there are supposed to weigh >20lbs?!  My 90's Stumpjumper hardtail weighs 25lbs and it is definitely not an exceptionally lightweight build!

In reply to Oapfu :

Two Wheeling Tots was a great find. I have been reading their articles and watching their YT videos on and off for a few days now. It's surprising and encouraging that they're actually doing real hands-on testing and legitimate reviews in this age of Amazon affiliate link farms.

Thanks for the Berm Peak video, too. I guess that answers that. What a dumb, archaic law.

I was hoping that even a standard BMX-style brake would be enough to haul 50 pounds down from eight or ten miles per hour. I may get foolish  and try to put one on the balance bike just to get him used to the thing. Or I may not, because every godforsaken can I open is full to the rim with worms, and I'm getting pretty damn well sick and tired of worms.

He already has a helmet (state law requires it, even on the balance bike) and despite being a non-certified Amazon unit, I expect it's far more than adequate for the low-speed MUP environment he rides in.

We'll figure something out. 

DarkMonohue said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

I'm not sure how wheel diameter comes into it 

You are right.  Not sure what I was thinking.  If brake diameter = wheel diameter, wheelsize isn't really a factor.  

Had a priority start 12 and a guardian 12 for my girls when they were that age, and they both had real brakes and were great for little kids. All I can say is keep browsing facebook and craigslist and lowball everyone. Eventually you'll get someone to bite and sell you a good kids bike for $100, and you'll get that back when you sell it and upgrade to a 16" when he's seven.