Juvenile - With Gears or Without?
 Kid's
Bikes With Gears, Why?
For the same reason you've got gears on an adult bike and especially
applicable in hilly places like Atlanta. If you are intending to
ride some place that isn't completely flat, like the beach, gears
make getting up hills easier. If your kids don't leave the neighborhood,
and it's flat, having a bike with gears isn't such a necessity.
Still you won't find too many 24" wheeled kid's bikes without gears,
and the 20" wheeled geared bikes seem to sell pretty well at Bicycle
South - as many, or more than the single speed models.
If you intend to go riding with your kids, even on the local bike
paths, gears are going to make riding easier and more fun for your
kids. Think about the proportional weight relationship between your
child and that bicycle, as compared to the proportional weight difference
between you and your bicycle. Even the lightest kid's bike isn't
that light. The ability to vary pedal resistance to make it easier
to get the bike moving and deal efficiently with inclines is going
to allow your child to ride farther and faster with less fatigue.
20" wheeled bikes generally only have 6 or 7 gears in the rear,
which is plenty for the capabilities of most 6 or 7 year olds who
can ride that size bike safely. Another thing to remember, is most
of the multispeed kid bikes out there have handbrakes as well. So
your child needs to be capable of reaching the levers, understanding
that backpedaling doesn't stop anymore, as well as controlling the
bike. You cannot put training wheels, easily or cheaply on a 20"
wheeled, multispeed bike, so the child needs to be a confident rider.
Bicycle
South only stocks 24" wheeled bikes in a multispeed design. We virtually
no requests for single speed kid's bikes of that wheel size, nor
have we found a quality source for them. 24" kid's bikes are generally
at least 21 speed, with 3 chainrings on the front and 7 gears on
the rear. Your child will need to be capable of understanding what
gears go with what gears (there is a simple explanation, we are
happy to give it!) as well as some basic bike care instructions.
Come on in and test ride some bikes with your child today. There
is great fun to be had riding with kids!
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