The parent's guide to a kid's first bikes
Age is the
wrong number.
Measure the inseam.
The trusted guide to kids' bikes by stage — balance bike, first pedal bike, first gears — with every weight, saddle height and fit range read off the manufacturer's own spec page and linked back to it.
19
Products, every spec sourced
70
Pages, no filler
Check
Prices shown live, never stale
0
Bikes we claim to have tested
Three stages, in order
Balance bike, then pedals, then gears
Most buying mistakes are stage mistakes: the right bike bought two years early, or a pedal bike handed to a child who has not solved balance yet. Work out which stage you are in first.
01
Balance Bikes
18 months – 4 years
No pedals. The child walks it, then glides it. Balance gets learned first because balance is the hard part.
13 pages →
02
First Pedal Bikes
3 – 6 years
Pedals arrive. This stage is a weight problem: the bikes range from 11 lb to over 21 lb for the same size of child.
15 pages →
03
Big Kid Bikes
6 – 11 years
Gears and real brakes. The bike stops being a toy and starts being transport.
8 pages →
Top picks
What we would buy, by category
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which bike we put first — here is exactly how we make money.
Best balance bike
Best balance bikes
Four real balance bikes, compared on saddle height and weight.
Top pick: Strider 12 Sport
Best first pedal bike
Best first pedal bikes
Seven real bikes, from 11.3 lb to 21.16 lb, on published specs.
Top pick: woom GO 2
Best 20-inch
Best 20 inch kids bikes
Three 20-inch bikes: gears, discs, and who fits which.
Top pick: woom GO 4
Best kids helmet
Best kids bike helmets
Five helmets, compared on head size and certification.
Top pick: Giro Scamp MIPS II
Best gift strategy
How to buy a bike as a surprise gift
Four ways to size a bike for a child you cannot measure.
Top pick: Guardian 16 Inch Original
Sections
Start wherever your kid is
Latest
Recently published
- Are balance bikes worth it? Balance Bikes
- Are expensive kids bikes worth it? First Pedal Bikes
- Balance bike vs training wheels Balance Bikes
- Balance bike vs tricycle Balance Bikes
- Balance bikes with pedals Balance Bikes
- Best 14 inch kids bikes First Pedal Bikes
- Best 16 inch kids bikes First Pedal Bikes
- Best 20 inch kids bikes Big Kid Bikes
- Best balance bike for a 1 year old Balance Bikes
- Best balance bike for a 2 year old Balance Bikes
Every page on the site · 62 articles
How we work
What we can honestly tell you
We have not ridden these bikes
Every product card says so, in those words. We research published manufacturer specs and link to the page we read them on. That is a smaller claim than the competition makes, and it is true.
We size by inseam, not age
Two five-year-olds can need different bikes. Four manufacturers disagree with each other by up to ten inches of inseam at the same age. One measurement resolves all of it.
We show the arithmetic
Bike weight as a percentage of the child's body weight, using the CDC's published median weights. You can check every step, and we link the data file.
We say when not to spend
We recommend woom, Guardian and Prevelo. We earn nothing from any of them. When the used bike or the cheaper bike is the right answer, that is what the page says.
How this is funded
Affiliate links, disclosed
Pedal & Pint is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you buy through one of our links we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change which bike goes first: several of the bikes we rate most highly pay us nothing at all, because we have no affiliate relationship with them.
Prices are never typed into a page by hand. They render from a live data layer or they say "check price" — a stale number is worse than no number.