I'm considering buying a Byk bike for my son who is nearly 4. They're pretty expensive, over $300 for the size he needs.
Bike shop brand bikes like Giant, Avanti, Malvern Star are more like $200 in his size and of course there's always cheapies at Rebel, Kmart etc but I'm worried those would be too heavy.
Does anyone have any feedback about the Byk bikes? He's pretty wobbly and not the best rider so I want to get something as easy as possible for him to ride.
This is the model I'm looking at: https://ivanhoecycles.com.au/search/instant-search.php?q=byk…
Are Byk Bikes Worth The Money?
LFat City on 02/12/2017 - 21:01
Comments
I'm worried those would be too heavy.
How did you handle them at 4? No need to treat your kid like they are a delicate little flower. Most of us rode on Kmart BMX's for most of our childhood without any issues. Why would your kiddo be any different? Don't waste your money on these. If he's wobbly, get him some training wheels or keep teaching him balance. Get a $60 Kmart bike to learn on and spend the rest on more gifts
EDIT: Good lord, reading the descriptions of these bikes, it even tells you what kind of people buy these things. Ridiculous!
Better still, don’t buy a Kmart bike, but a byk or other brand name bike second hand. Or what I did and collect from council cleanup I didn’t buy my kids a bike until they got to 20” wheel size.
Most of the council tip bikes ARE Kmart bikes. I have no complaints with those, mind you, I buy them up for my kids to use on the farm. $10 for a bike that often needs no more than some WD40 and some tightening up is awesome.
True. I was hinting at not buying a new Kmart bike though - it jus encourages Kmart to keep pumping out their rubbish heavy bikes. Kids don’t need a new bike, they’ll be happy with mostly any bike.
@Euphemistic: I agree 100%. At 4, kids can't tell the difference between new and second hand anyway. I get the feeling that things like Byk bikes are more for the parents who like to "keep up with the Joneses" by buying $300 bikes for toddlers or $1200 prams for babies.
Why would you spend so much money for a bike that will be out grown momentarily?
Surely you have a friend with kids who have old bikes, or try gumtree or the local tip.
I bought my kids cheapo bikes from KMart etc and when they outgrew them i tossed them out at Hard Rubbish. I am personally a very keen cycling enthusiast and I personally ride around on a bike that cost more than some people's cars (Trek Madone 9). If I did it again I would get the more expensive kids bike. $200 for a kids bike is something I could easily afford and I would be happy to pay the extra for something is better built with better components from a local bike shop where I know i can take the bike back and get it fixed if there are any dramas. Obviously not everyone would be able to afford the extra for a quality bike but for me I would be happy to pay the extra for the quality and support. Some of the KMart bikes are truly appalling,
You dont need a Tour de France racer for kids to run thorough puddles and drop on the pavement but I was good friends with the guys that run my local bike shop. I've bought thousands of dollars worth of top end carbon fibre bikes from them in the past so i've always been welcomed like a long lost brother whenever i walk in. Every XMas they get smashed with people buying kids bikes. Normally the week before XMas they get smashed by people that didnt buy a bike from their shop, instead bought a KMart bike, took it home, tried to put it together 2 days before XMas, failed and rushed to the bike shop to get help. Normally those same people had been back to KMart/Big W etc where they received an apology and an offer of a replacement bike that they would have to start over trying to build. Sometimes bits were missing, other times they've made a mistake. My friends at the bike shop charge a $150 assembly fee, when people get upset they tell them to get KMart etc to fix their problem. I have seen bikes before that KMart etc have assembled, one with the forks on backwards. i guess they probably get some high school kids to stop stacking shelves and put a bike or 2 together.
The bike mechanics at most shops know how to put bikes together. If they are building up my $8K Race Bike they know how to put together your $200 kids bike. in the end up to you, if $$ are the most important and you are OK with putting it together yourself and fixing any problems yourself then go for it. if you want certainty and somebody to go back to if it isnt OK buy the $200 bike.
I think this comment exposes some of the problems with the whole "support your local bike shop" idea.
I understand there is a place for keen cyclists to have expert knowledge and service, but suggesting it is needed, or even desirable for a 4yro is laughable.
I love supporting local businesses, but if they are charging $150 for the 30mins work to assemble a bike, they are not offering value. By all means support them as a charity or good will gesture so that they are in business when you need their help for top level hobbyist cycling, but it's poor value.Me and my kids have had super market and bike store bikes. Both get outgrown at the same rate. Young kids leave both out in the rain if you don't hound them or clean up after them. For the 18months of use a 4yro will get from a bike, spending more than whatever BigW or Kmart charge is wasteful.
Assembling kids bikes is trivially easy, with some allen keys, a shifting spanner and a phillips head screwdriver you can easily assemble, and perform any required adjustments. For a 4yro these will be limited to the seat height anyway, as all the tiny kid bikes are single speed coaster brakes.Our local BigW sells bikes assembled for $20 extra - the Men's shed puts them together and they deliver a good job (I got one assembled from the display when they were out of stock), but even for a teenager's mountain bike, assembly is limited to tightening the front forks, adjusting the seat and inserting the set post. Maybe you might want to adjust the brakes if they are mis-calibrated. It isn't in any way tricky, and local bike stores who try and make out the cycling public is too dumb to do this end up doing their customers' a disservice, I think.
So support your local shop with $200 bikes for 4yro if you are inept or wastefully wealthy, or get a cheap bike or a secondhand outgrown bike if you are concerned about value for money.
If you do buy a bike shop branded bike you will be able to use it for subsequent kids or sell if for a loss around the same as if you had bought and thrown away a Kmart bike and the child will have had a better bike along the way.
Good point. We took the opposite approach and bought good condition second hand, but for kids bikes there wasn't a huge difference. Even the 20" that is almost adult size was pretty much on a par with what you get from BigW. That Giant MTX 150 was $160 secondhand versus a supermarket $100 bike.
I recently bought a Giant CRX hybrid that is very light and mechanically excellent for the princely sum of $100. All of a sudden the 14yro is riding again after saying he was past it - so a quality bike does make a big difference in adult bikes, and I will agree there is real value there.@mskeggs: Absolutely. Once you get past back pedal brakes and into gears, there is a decent difference between rubbish kmart quality and bike shop stuff. Those who haven't ridden a good bike often think that bikes are hard work and not worth the effort.
I've been riding quality (expensive) bikes for years, and now when I try to assemble a cheap bike for someone find it a lot more time consuming to make a decent effort of it. Then when I hop on a cheapie, I really appreciate how much more efficient a quality bike is, especially with stopping and changing gears.
When my son was 4 i got him a cheapie as he dropped it often etc. Okn his 6th birthday I got him a trek mountain bike and he loves it