How Much Should I Spend on a Kids Bike?

When I’ve bought bikes for my kids I had no idea how much I needed to spend to get a decent bike. So, I’ve put together the following summary of what I discovered.

So, how much should I spend on a kids bike? If you buy a kids bike from a high street retailer you can expect to pay between £50 and £250 depending on the age of your child. A specialist kids bike brand you will cost between £180 and £500. If you want a specialist bike for either heavy duty off-road riding or on-road racing you can expect to pay around £1000.

A lot depends on age of the child and the quality of the bike. Dividing the market into standard and premium kids bicycles and then looking at age groups within each you can get a feel for prices.

Standard
Very young kids (2-4): £50
Young kids (5-7): £100-200
Older kids (8+): £150-250

Premium
Very young kids (2-4): £170
Young kids (5-7): £300
Older kids (8+): £500

So prices for a new bike range from £50 to over £1000, depending what age your child is and what you’re looking for. Some children want a bike to take their dollies to the park. Others want to be able to go on all day adventures in the wilderness with the family. Clearly, these requirements result in very different buying choices and consequently different prices. There’s more detail about each bike type and their prices below.

Not all bikes do the same job

Some of the difference in kids bikes comes from the fact that they’re designed for different age children. But aside from this obvious point, they also have different features. As children get older they might want to have a bike they can “throw around” and do jumps so a BMX style bike is ideal. They may want to ride to school so having gears mudguards would be more important. Different general bike groups are;

Balance bike
Toddler bike
20 inch multi purpose bike
BMX
Mountain bike
Kid’s trail bike
Kid’s racing bike

Broadly, this list is in ascending age order but it’s unlikely that any individual child will have all styles of bike. A typical sequence might be something like this:

Balance bike (18months – 3 years)
Starter bike (3 – 5 years)
20 inch multi purpose bike (5 – 8 years)
BMX or Kids Mountain Bike (8 – 13 years)
Kids racing bike / Larger Mountain Bike (13 – 15 years)

What Should I Look For in a Kids Bike?

When it comes to buying a bike for a child it’s worth paying special attention to a few things.

Size. You really should try to get the bike the correct size. There’s a temptation to get a bike that is too large so that the kid will “grow into it”. This is a bad idea as the child is unlikely to enjoy riding a bike that’s too big to justify any investment.
Size of components/finishing kit
Quality of the components
Weight. Little people need little bikes. That doesn’t mean that they have to be just smaller versions but the weight is critically important.
Rolling resistance. Simply, it needs to move easily.

Not all components are created equal

As with anything quality varies. A cheap bike will be kitted out with cheaper finishing kit. This is the stuff that’s attached to the bike. So, brakes might be stiffer, grips less comfortable, gears not so reliable etc. Importantly some of the premium kids bike brands also make their own scaled down components. This means that not only are they easier to operate but they fit the size and geometry of a child. When it comes to building a child’s confidence, components that work well are an important thing to think about.

How to justify spending a lot on a kids bike

Sometimes we all play mental gymnastics to feel comfortable spending a lot of money on an item. That being said, there are legitimate arguments for spending a lot on a kids bike.

It will last longer. The quality of the components used and the finishing kit will mean that you can be sure your investment is going to deliver many years of wear and tear.
Your child will enjoy riding it more. Having a great bicycle is a joy. The sense of freedom a child feels when whizzing along unaided is unmatched. Quite often the point of a child’s bike is to give them some independence and responsibility. The more they enjoy riding the bike the more these “soft” benefits will be reinforced.
Resale values will be far higher. This is a huge reason to invest in quality equipment. If you look on eBay for the classic kids bike brands you’ll find that residual prices are often 75% of the purchase price of a new model. I have sold 2 kids bikes on eBay for >80% of their purchase price, even after they’d been “well loved” by my children!

So how much will I spend on each type of bike?

How much should I spend on a kids bike? Broken down by child’s age and bicycle quality

Balance bike

A cheap balance bike from a high street retailer will be in the region of £50. This will have pneumatic tyres, a rear lever brake and be pretty decent for a small child.
A premium model from a kids bike specialist is £170. This will have better bearings, be lighter, more adjustability to get a good position and will have a better build quality.

Starter bike

When a child out-grows a balance bike or is ready to start pedalling, its time to get a bike with pedals. The age at which this happens will vary but most children will probably do this at about 2-3 years old. A cheap high street toddler bike is likely to cost about £75. At this age bikes often tend to be themed. So, anything from a Paw Patrol to a Disney Princess themed bikes are possible. Most bikes at this age tend to also come with stabilisers (or training wheels), baskets, streamers and all sorts of fun accessories so there’s no additional costs. A high end toddler bike will be about £290. Mudguards and any other accessories are extra so you need to budget an extra £50 for them if you want to go that route.

20 inch multi purpose bike

A 20 inch bike without gears from a high street retailer is typically about £100. If you want to add 5-6 gears then you can add about £30 to this figure. A premium kids bike with 5 gears will set you back about £390. As with all the premium bike prices here, if you want extras like mudguards or a rack then you need to add £25-£50.

BMX

A BMX is a robust, solid bike that is designed to take the rough and tumble of a child’s life. A cheap BMX can be picked up at a high street retailer for under £100. If you are looking for something with a little bit more performance then you can get the a premium brand for about £350-£400.

Kids mountain bikes

A kids mountain bike is more complex than the types of bikes we’ve looked at so far. It typically has front suspension, gears and beefier tyres. High street retailers offer kids MTB from about £150. A premium kids MTB can cost up to about £800.

Kids road bikes

High street retailers don’t seem to sell kids-specific racing bikes. So by the time children get to the age they need one, you can just buy a small adult racing bike. These can be picked up at high street retailers for about £150-£200. Premium kid-specific road bikes can be bought and they typically cost about £500.