Buying a boys bike or girls bike for your son or daughter can be a especially rewarding, however tough task during the holiday season. Not only have you got to get the colour and sort of bike right you’ll need to meticulously judge the perfect size of bike without giving away the game that you went and picked the bike, not good old St Nick.

Bike Sizing

Kids’s bikes generally fall into one of a range of different size categories which are primarily based on their size and age. The age is only arough guide, as everyone knows ; there are always youngsters who are taller or shorter than the average.

this next list should give you a good guide on what size bike you should be purchasing for your boy or girl this christmas ;

- 12″ Wheel Cycles – appropriate for ages 2 to four
- 14″ Wheel Cycles – acceptable for ages three to five
- 16″ Wheel Cycles – OK for ages five to seven
- 20″ Wheel Cycles – Suitable for ages seven to 9
- 24″ Wheel Cycles – OK for ages nine to 11
- 26″+ Wheel Cycles – Suitable for ages 11+

Bikes in the 12″ and 14″ wheels categories are generally fitted with stabilisers only if your kid excels at riding their bike these can be removed.

From 16″ wheels and upwards youwill find that these will not come fitted as standard as your child will usually have learnt to ride without the assistance by this age.

If you are purchasing one of the 12″or 14″ wheeled bikes be careful and choosey about your purchase . A number of these bikes are made of lesser quality plastic parts that can break easily and be tough to replace. Always make a check with the store first and make an enquiry about these before rushing into a purchase.

Popular types of Bikes

BMX – A BMX ( named after bicycle Moto Cross ) is a single speed, customarily 20″ wheeled bike. Highly regarded in their less expensive versions with younger children, these bikes have now grown into a cult scene with stars,eg Matt Hoffman, making BMXing an extremely popular sport. An inexpensive BMX is excellent for a younger child, but should your boy, or indeed girl, would like to start riding these bikes as intended make sure you invest in a good quality name that’s built to take some punishment. Some good names to look out for are WeThePeople and Mongoose who both make glorious, but reasonable BMX’s.

Mountain bicycle – trail bicycles, like BMX’s come in both cheap and quality versions. Ainexpensive off-road bike will be offering your child an introto gearing and make the bike more versatile however really shouldn’t be used for any off road riding for safety reasons. After this trail bicycles can fall into one of a under of sub categories such as dirt jumping, all mountain, hard tail, full suspension and often the most expensive of all; downhill.