Feeling guilty that my 6 y/o's bike weighs more than mine

Nwm2

Feeling very guilty when I see my kid struggling up a little hill in her steel bike with no gears, on a bike that seems to weigh as much as mine.

I'm presuming that I had a bike at least as heavy when I was a kid and it not being a problem, I suppose I lived in a flatter area though.

Is steel the material of choice for kids bikes, or is aluminium common?

Lumen

The lightest kids bikes are around 7-8kg, much the same as the lightest adult bikes.

Frame material makes less of a difference than quality of tubing and componentry.

The potential advantage of using thinner, lighter tubing for a smaller, lighter rider are outweighed by cost and durability considerations.

Even on the lightest kids bikes most of the components are based on low end adult stuff.

BostonB

Nwm2 wrote: »

...Is steel the material of choice for kids bikes, or is aluminium common?

Steel on cheap bikes. My kids bike was almost the same weight as my 16yr old Steel MTB.

For aluminium kids bikes look at cuda and islabikes

http://www.fitzcycles.ie/p/601/2013-cuda-blox-14-alu-boys-bike
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/

Iwannahurl

My son's first bike weighed 75% of his bodyweight.

The equivalent for an 80 kg adult would be a bike weighing 60 kg.

Still, he had stabilisers and inevitably cycled slowly (which is actually a good thing when they're young and need to be minded).

He now has a strider bike which is lighter, faster, and better for developing cycle skills and "road" sense, IMO.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Forget about the weight of a kids bike, work on increasing their FTP and power to weight ratio. I have my 6yr old doing a 1hr tt tonight....he better hit those numbers or there will be no Santa at our house.:)

Nwm2

Miles Petite Sleeper wrote: »

Forget about the weight of a kids bike, work on increasing their FTP and power to weight ratio. I have my 6yr old doing a 1hr tt tonight....he better hit those numbers or there will be no Santa at our house.:)

** Screams at kid "BIKE FINE, WORK ON ENGINE" **

sconhome

Miles Petite Sleeper wrote: »

Forget about the weight of a kids bike, work on increasing their FTP and power to weight ratio. I have my 6yr old doing a 1hr tt tonight....he better hit those numbers or there will be no Santa at our house.:)

The shame when the numbers better than yours

BTH

amphkingwest wrote: »

The shame when the numbers better than yours

Surely the obvious gag is that they use the same bike....

sconhome

BTH wrote: »

Surely the obvious gag is that they use the same bike....

No they don't!! The 6yr old's is the bigger frame :rolleyes:

rp

Nwm2 wrote: »

Feeling very guilty when I see my kid struggling up a little hill in her steel bike with no gears, on a bike that seems to weigh as much as mine.

Worried she'll grow up to be a hipster?