What Size Bike Does My Child Need? Why Bigger Isn't Always Better

One thing that surprises people when they start looking for a child's bike is how often they'll be advised not to buy the next size up.

On the face of it, that sounds strange. Children grow quickly and bikes aren't cheap. If you're standing in front of two bikes and one of them is likely to fit for another year or two, it feels like the sensible decision.

In most areas of life that's exactly what we'd do. Most parents have bought school jumpers with sleeves that are a bit too long or football boots with a bit of room in them because they know how quickly children seem to outgrow everything.

Bikes are one of the few things where that logic doesn't always work. 

The reason is that riding a bike isn't just about physically fitting on it. It's about confidence, and confidence can disappear surprisingly quickly when a child feels uncomfortable.  

Over the years we've spoken to plenty of parents whose children "just weren't interested in cycling". Sometimes that's true. Not every child wants to spend their weekends on two wheels. Quite often though, after a bit of conversation, it turns out the child had a bike that felt awkward, heavy or difficult to control and gradually lost interest.

Children don't analyse these things in the same way adults do. They don't come home and explain that they feel the reach to the handlebars is too long or that they struggle to put a foot down comfortably when they stop. They simply decide that riding the bike isn't much fun and move on to something else.

That's become even more noticeable over the last decade because cycling is no longer competing with boredom. When many of today's parents were growing up, if you didn't go outside there often wasn't much else to do. Today's children have endless alternatives available within a few taps of a screen. If riding a bike feels frustrating, there's always something easier waiting indoors.

What we've found is that children who feel comfortable on a bike tend to ride more, and children who ride more improve quickly. Once they start improving, confidence grows naturally. Before long they're asking to ride to the park, round the estate or to a friend's house.

The bike hasn't changed. The child's confidence has, and with that so has the parents confidence.

This is why we generally prefer seeing a child on a bike that fits properly today rather than one that might fit perfectly in eighteen months' time. Yes, they may outgrow it sooner. That's the trade-off. But we'd rather see a bike used three or four times a week than sitting in a garage because the rider never really felt comfortable on it.

Interestingly, when adults talk about the bikes they had as children, they almost never mention the practical details. Nobody remembers whether their bike represented good value for money or whether it lasted an extra year. They remember where they went on it, who they rode with and what they got up to.  For us getting your little one out on two wheels will generate more memories they look back on than a game of Roblox or Fortnite.

The best children's bike isn't necessarily the one that lasts the longest. It's the one that gets ridden the most.

That's why, whenever somebody asks us whether they should buy the next size up, our first question is usually very simple.

"How confident is your child on a bike already?"

The answer to that tells us far more than their age ever will.