1st Kids Bike??

JerseyJay

JerseyJay

Member
So my son is turning 1 in May, too early to start him???

I've been looking around at the balance bikes but I feel like they are short lived. My other idea is looking at a pedal bike like the 12" Specialized Hotrock and maybe taking off the cranks so he can use it as a balance bike until he's ready to pedal. Anyone ever tried that? Any other suggestions?
 
come over to the Plainfield bike exchange, we have a bunch of 12" hotrock at about $30, I don't want to grab the business of the LBS, but if it doesn't work out it's not a big loss, let me know if you plan to stop by
 
That's exactly what I did. Even trimmed the seat tube down about 1/2" because my son's feet couldn't touch the ground. He had the pedals on and was riding 2 wheels when he was 2 years old.

We used a balance bike for my daughter only because her legs were much shorter than my son's and we couldn't get the seat any lower. As soon as she was able to reach she moved over to the 12" bike w/o crank.. and was riding two wheels at just over 3 years old.
 
We have a balance bike, but my kids never used it much.

When my oldest took a real interest in learning w-out training wheels, I just took her pedals off and left the cranks on. She was able to use it like a balance bike like that.
 
12" Hotrock is a nice bike. Serious bicycle, not a plastic wheeled toy like a Strider. Heavy though....weighs more than my wife's road bike. The one piece cranks are a lot of that weight but it will be way heavier than a typical balance bike. A Strider weighs about 1/3 as much as a 12" Hotrock. At 1, weight matters when it comes to being able to pick the thing up after falling. Compared to the balance bike our guy learned on, the 12" Hotrock is less stable in a straight line and thus harder to ride--low trail or something like that.

Balance bikes, as with everything toddler related, are short lived. But they are really useful learning tools. If you want him to have a positive association with bikes you want to keep it fun and easy at first. Just get a balance bike and upgrade to a pedal bike later...should be easy to come by a nice used ones and pass them along once he outgrows them.

$30 for a decent Hotrock is Crazy Eddie low BTW. I wish I had know about that a few months ago.
 
qclabrat said:
come over to the Plainfield bike exchange, we have a bunch of 12" hotrock at about $30, I don't want to grab the business of the LBS, but if it doesn't work out it's not a big loss, let me know if you plan to stop by
Click to expand...

Definitely would love to stop by for a deal like that. I've never been there before, where's it located? When's the best time to stop over?
 
Thanks for all the input. Its good to know other people have done that before. Hopefully he'll get it and the weight is concern but I guess you never know if you don't try. I don't expect him to get it right away but hopefully he'll pick up on it starting him early.
 
it's at the Boys/Girls club in Plainfield on Seventh
they are opened on Saturday from 10-2PM

I'll be working there on Friday afternoon, will take an inventory and snap some pics
 
same for me, unfortunately my kids are already on 26rs
there are also Bike Exchanges in New Brunswick, Trenton and Newark

We try to get the local kids in the Plainfields and Dunellen on bikes, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a big interest nowadays to ride. A few BMXs and mtbs sell but our inventory is much greater than what sells. Hilltop, High Gear and Jay's really helps us out with parts, trade-ins, and wheel work. I just finished building up a Trek 1200 donated by Hilltop and ready for sale. It's good to see the bikes out of dumps, but don't forget the LBS.

Delish said:
$30 for a decent Hotrock is Crazy Eddie low BTW. I wish I had know about that a few months ago.
Click to expand...
 
qclabrat said:
it's at the Boys/Girls club in Plainfield on Seventh
they are opened on Saturday from 10-2PM

I'll be working there on Friday afternoon, will take an inventory and snap some pics
Click to expand...

Awesome, I'll probably try to get over there this saturday. Honestly I probably would have looked for this bike used anyway but definitely LBS for his next one (and hopefully my next one someday soon too). Awesome program to benefit the boys and girls club tho. Sad to hear that there is less and less interest in bikes lately, I'm guessing childhoods will never be the same anymore.
 
qclabrat said:
I'm thinking of getting a BMX tricks event there this summer to promote the shop
Call before you go to make sure they are open
http://www.bgcuc.org/programs/bike-exchange.aspx

Also you may want to wait till next week, as I'm not sure what's ready on the floor
I'll try to get a few ready on Friday, but no promises
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That would be awesome, I know a few people with kids in the area that would love to see that, plus myself haha.

No problem, if you can just keep me posted otherwise I'll just try my luck and swing by there. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Went and picked up the hotrock this morning and ended up grabbing a trek for my nephew too. Both for $25, I was amazed. They have a great selection in there and you can't beat the prices. Thanks for letting me know about that program.
 
qclabrat said:
it's at the Boys/Girls club in Plainfield on Seventh
they are opened on Saturday from 10-2PM

I'll be working there on Friday afternoon, will take an inventory and snap some pics
Click to expand...

I'm new here and was reading thru old posts. Just had to say I checked out the FB page and it looks great! Wish it wasn't such a drive bc I've been searching for a 16 in hotrock or similar for my son that's outgrown his 12 in. I visited the Trenton B/G club last year and didn't have any luck. Such a great program!
 
Teresah00 said:
I'm new here and was reading thru old posts. Just had to say I checked out the FB page and it looks great! Wish it wasn't such a drive bc I've been searching for a 16 in hotrock or similar for my son that's outgrown his 12 in. I visited the Trenton B/G club last year and didn't have any luck. Such a great program!
Click to expand...

we have so many kids treks in Plainfield but apparently kids here don't want to ride
planned a kid's bike safety event tomorrow, hope to get a few kids bikes out the door

there's another exchange in New Brunswick if its not too far
 
Balance bikes are great to learn, especially when they are small and cranks are just one more thing to get in the way. In my experience, 1 year is alittle pre mature but everyone progresses differently. Don't get hung up on the bike store brands, when it comes down to it, they use it for such a short time frame, dropping coin on a specialized may not make sense. I see you have a really good deal up there though.
 
qclabrat said:
we have so many kids treks in Plainfield but apparently kids here don't want to ride
planned a kid's bike safety event tomorrow, hope to get a few kids bikes out the door

there's another exchange in New Brunswick if its not too far
Click to expand...

My kids love to ride! 2yo has a Strider, and loves it. Much lighter than my 4.5 yo's 12 hotrock. 7yo on 20 in hotrock and 9 yo has 24 in Giant.

Just paved trails at this point. I would love to find an event like that around here. I contemplated the drive but it's saying 1 hr 15 min and I know it would take longer w traffic. New Brunswick is an hour. I'm just over the bridge in PA, closer to Trenton/Princeton.
 
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