Where to buy children’s bikes in Calgary?

[HitterD]

Fellow parents

I’m looking for recommendations for the best places to buy children’s bikes. Here’s what I’m looking for

1. Knowledgeable staff that can help with sizing and quality
2. Midrange pricing. Not looking for professional cycles here just decent quality that will last a few years

A bit about the family..... kids are turning 8 and 5 this summer. My oldest can just learned to ride 2 wheel at the end of last summer, and needs a bigger bike now. My youngest will be getting his first bike with training wheels. Do you all recommend getting bikes with handle bar breaks at this age? I found that my oldest struggled braking with her first bike, which was a “peddle backwards” breaking bike.

Really just looking for something to ride around the community. Also probably going to get a new one myself so adult recomendations are also welcome.

Thanks for the help!

[photon]

Kijiji, spending new money on bikes that'll last one, summer (maybe two if the younger one gets a handmedown) sucks.

Also highly recommend the take-the-pedals-off method for teaching how to ride, everyone I've heard try it has their kid learning to ride in a very short amount of time.

[CMPunk]

B & P Cycle would be the first place I'd look, but that's because it's close to me

[bossy22]

Bow Cycle. They have a number of kids bikes, but also have some 2nd hand ones that people have traded in. I outfitted a friends family of 4 kids from that 2nd hand rack when they moved here from Norway.

[GGG]

You can get a decent brand bike at any bike shop in the $300-$400 range. All will be good with sizing and fit. At this stage all of the mod range bikes are kitted out more or less the same. All with give you a good bike but most come with a basically useless suspension fork.

If you wanted a little more money Frog bikes are awesome in my opinion. Better components than the Trek, MEC, ghost, speialozed, giant kids bike and significantly lighter weight. I could never justify the additional cost but there is definate value in them. https://www.frogbikes.ca/lightweight...es/frog55.aspx

But really used is probably your best bet. Go to a bike shop to get a feel for sizing and fit. Also talk to them about servicing. Then shop kijiji for something that works and be picky about fit. Then if you end up finding a good deal and don't want to do the bike tune up yourself take it to the shop where you got fitted to do the work.

[Bagor]

An 8 and 5 year old?

Canadian Tire or Walmart.

[Regulator75]

There's four places. There's the Bike Hut, that's on third.
There's Bikes-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Pedal-Your-Butt-There.
That's on third. Ride Low, Sweet Cycle... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the bike complex on third.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by Bagor

An 8 and 5 year old?

Canadian Tire or Walmart.

This. Seriously.

We always tell customers this. Kids destroy bikes fast. We don't bother even stocking them

[topfiverecords]

Came for a bike district response. Leaving satisfied.

[macker]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

This. Seriously.

We always tell customers this. Kids destroy bikes fast. We don't bother even stocking them

No please don't have kids first experiences of biking be heavy cheap bikes. Pay a little more and play a little more My kids can't do anything to their bikes that I cant fix in 10 minutes or under. Pop a tire or break a chain if they are lucky. At those ages they lack breaking ability.....

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by macker

No please don't have kids first experiences of biking be heavy cheap bikes. Pay a little more and play a little more My kids can't do anything to their bikes that I cant fix in 10 minutes or under. Pop a tire or break a chain if they are lucky. At those ages they lack breaking ability.....

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by GGG

You can get a decent brand bike at any bike shop in the $300-$400 range. All will be good with sizing and fit. At this stage all of the mod range bikes are kitted out more or less the same. All with give you a good bike but most come with a basically useless suspension fork.

If you wanted a little more money Frog bikes are awesome in my opinion. Better components than the Trek, MEC, ghost, speialozed, giant kids bike and significantly lighter weight. I could never justify the additional cost but there is definate value in them. https://www.frogbikes.ca/lightweight...es/frog55.aspx

But really used is probably your best bet. Go to a bike shop to get a feel for sizing and fit. Also talk to them about servicing. Then shop kijiji for something that works and be picky about fit. Then if you end up finding a good deal and don't want to do the bike tune up yourself take it to the shop where you got fitted to do the work.

We had a rep from frog come into the shop trying to get us to carry 4 bikes at once.

Great product but no ones spending 700 bucks on a kids bike .

[GGG]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

We had a rep from frog come into the shop trying to get us to carry 4 bikes at once.

Great product but no ones spending 700 bucks on a kids bike .

I agree, I just wish mainstream companies would jump on the minimal design philosophy that they employ. No 20" bike needs suspension.

[Northendzone]

I would start by looking at your nearest LBS and then have a look at Sportchek and then Can Tire, so you have a full feel what the new marketplace is.

then peruse kijiji.

one thing I would suggest is buy your child a bike in the color that they want, I made the mistake of buying my son a bike in a color he did not like, and that was seemingly a barrier to him riding.

hand brakes at a younger age could be iffy as chances are the kids bikes will have cheaper componets and will require more hand strength to pull on the brakes and the last thing you want is a kid going down a hill where he is having issues controlling the bike

[habernac]

If you want your kid to continue cycling, don't buy them garbage from Canadian Tire or Walmart.

[Fuzz]

It depends...the kids bikes I built at Walmart and Zellers, anything below the ones with gears and suspension were actually decent. Not top of the line, but good enough for a year or 2. Chances are it may not be assembled tightly and may give the impression of being a POS, but give it a once over tightening everything and it should be good. Or get one in a box and build it yourself so you know. I used to build 7 an hour, so it isn't to difficult. Now, this was 15 years ago so things may have changed. But I'd at least take a look.

[Wormius]

Canadian Tire used to have decent bikes back in the 90s when they were just hard tail and no suspension.

I think if you want your kids to enjoy biking, if you're doing anything with hills get a few gears they can go through. The materials they use for kids bikes seem to be solid pieces of lead. If you find it heavy to pick it up, imagine what it will be like for your kid trying to pedal up a hill.

Anyway, a couple of years back the kids Trek bikes at Ridley's weren't bad and under $300 IIRC.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bagor

An 8 and 5 year old?

Canadian Tire or Walmart.

Originally Posted by habernac

If you want your kid to continue cycling, don't buy them garbage from Canadian Tire or Walmart.

I wouldn’t drop “good bike” money for kids under 10 for sure. They go biking at that point because they enjoy it and the quality of the bike isn’t a concern. They grow fast and you are seeing them outgrow a bike a year at some point, so there’s a good reason to go used right there IMO.

And when I went to CT to look at bikes, it made me realize how good they are compared to what we had when I was that age. I’ Not saying they’re amazing, because they’re not, but they’re pretty good bikes and definitely fine for kids to ride around.

[bossy22]

Buying a bike from Walmart for an 8 year old is horrible advice.
At 8, the bike will have front suspension, as well as gears. Walmart will have a heavy frame with plastic components and a crappy front fork that won't last a week if your kid decides he's Evil Knievel. If anything, get the 8 year old a decent bike from a bike shop, and it can be handed down to the 5 year old.
Depending on your 5 year old's ability, and size, they may need something a little bigger than your princess bike.
Some kids will need run bikes or remove pedals to get their balance down. My older boys could ride at 4. My youngest couldn't until he was 6.

[Northendzone]

^ would not go as far as to say it is horrible advice. to me those bikes fit a need at a low price point and make sense if you know enough about bikes to go over them first before riding them. to me, Canadian tire represents the bottom of the bike totem pole.

at that age, most kids will only be riding around the hood and not doing 20k rides in bragg creek.

if you kid is more ambitious than most, and you ride a lot then it may make sense to spend more on a better bike, especially since there may the an opportunity to pass the bike down to a younger sibling in this case.