Is it possible to pick the best kids bike? I certainly wouldn't like to have to select just one children's bike, as what's the best bike for a 4 year old is going to be very different to what's best for a 13 year old mountain biker, or a 9 year old cyclocross racer! It also depends a lot on your budget and how often the bike is going to be used. However, I'm totally fed up seeing articles which are entitled "Best Kids Bikes" which select a range of fairly average (or worse, rubbish) bikes that a) the author has never tested and b) are only recommended as they're the best selling kids bikes at a retailer the host website is getting commission from.
So, in an attempt to set the record straight, here's my list of the very best kids bikes for all ages of child. We've reviewed the majority of them here on Cycle Sprog - and others come recommended by friends and followers. Some we do have affiliate relationships with, but many we don't. It's basically a list of brilliant children's bikes - it's been a hard choice, and I'm sure they'll be some commotion about all the bikes I've left out. Because not everyone can afford, or needs, a brand new bike for their child, we've included where to look second-hand in green, and other ideas for different bikes in the same wheel size in blue throughout.
| Cycle Sprog is an family run, reader supported, website. We belong to several affiliate schemes so may receive a small commission from sales made from links on our site. We do our best to be impartial and recommend products on their quality not whether they are in a scheme. |
For those of you who are in a rush, here's a list of the brands (in alphabetical order) that we have reviewed and recommended as building some of the best kids bikes in the UK. Most are available second hand if you're on a budget and as they are all quality children's bikes well worth considering, rather than a cheaper new alternative. Later in the post, we look at which bikes we particularly recommend for which age group and for different types of cycling, and include some other bikes that our readers highly recommend too.
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The bicycle brands featured in this post produce some of the best kids bikes but we understand that not every family can afford, or wants, to spend so much. If this is the case, then check out our other post on the cheapest kids bikes - they're all really great, safe bikes that your Sprog will love riding, just at a lower price than the ones in this article. If you're tempted to buy a REALLY cheap bike (say under £85 new) from a superstore or catalogue, then check out our post on why we don't recommend buying a really cheap kids bikes.
If this is your first time buying a kids bike, remember the two questions to ask yourself:
1) Can they pick the bike up? (some cheap steel framed bikes are too heavy for most children to pick up, or ride up hills etc)
2) Can they operate the bikes and gears? (all the brands featured in this post have child specific brakes and gears - you can imagine the consequences if they can't operate them on a poorly designed bike)
For other things to consider, go to our post 12 things you need to know before buying a kids bike
Apart from the balance bikes, all the brands featured do kids bikes in lots of different sizes, and we'd be happy to recommend their entire ranges, whatever size bike your child needs. Don't forget we've got LOADS of other articles to help you find the best bike for your child, whatever their age. I've listed the links in blue after each section to help you find the perfect bike if the one we've featured isn't quite right for your budget or the type of cycling they're doing.
CORONA VIRUS UPDATE - obviously, there are some issues with the availability of some kids bikes at the moment, however bikes are coming back in stock all the time, so good to keep an eye on the one you like! Links to eBay are under each bike (where possible) so if the bike you like isn't in stock do check there, there are many fantastic second hand options out there!
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended
If you've got a toddler who is desperate to start riding a bike but isn't quite ready for a balance bike, then the Lena Toddlebike (also known as the Lena First Scooter for some reason!) is your answer. It's cheap, it's lightweight, and it's loads of fun - plus it will prepare them for the move to a balance bike when they're ready. You can read our review of the Toddlebike here.
BUY NEW - Click here to buy a Lena Toddlebike from Amazon
BUY SECONDHAND ==> These bikes are almost indestructible, and usually used for a short time so they are often passed on to friends and family. Due to their low cost not many make it onto eBay, but some do so try searching for the names Toddlebike and Lena Balance Bike as they've been sold under different names over the years.
NOT QUITE WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR? GO TO OUR POST ON "THE BEST BIKE FOR A 1 YEAR OLD" FOR MORE GREAT CHOICES TO HELP GET YOUR CYCLE SPROGLET ON TWO WHEELS
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
Black Mountain is a new brand taking the kids bike market by storm with their innovative new "growing" bikes. The smaller bikes start off as balance bikes and can be converted to pedal bikes when your child is ready. The frame can then be extended as they grow, to cover the same time period that you'd usually need two pedal bikes for. They may be a bit pricier at the start, but you're getting 2 or 3 bikes in one, saving you money, time and hassle over a longer time frame.
At the current time this also provides peace of mind. We have no idea what is going to happen with the availability of kids bikes over the coming months so having a bike that will grow with your child is going to be very useful.
There are four different sized bikes in the range, from the smallest PINTO (14" wheels) through to the 20" wheel HÜTTO which has gears and the option to add disc brakes and suspension. Here's the three larger bike shown together.
BUY NEW - Black Mountain kids bikes are only available direct from their website
Buy secondhand: As Black Mountain are such a new brand, and their bikes are designed for last your child a long time you won't find any available second hand at the moment
THE BLACK MOUNTAINS NOT QUITE DOING IT FOR YOU? FOR MORE INSPIRATION ON FIRST PEDAL BIKES VISIT OUR POST "THE BEST 14" WHEEL STARTER BIKES FOR AGES 3 AND 4 YEARS" TO FIND THE PERFECT BIKE FOR YOUR BUDDING CYCLIST.
Limited stock of this size Frog available at the time of writing
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended brand
Frog Bikes make some of the most popular and best kids bikes around. They cover virtually every type and size of kids bike, from balance bikes for toddlers through to mountain, road and track bikes for older kids. Frog Bikes are sized by the inside leg measurement, so the Frog 48 is designed for a child with a minimum inside leg of 48cm (roughly the 4-5 year age group). They also do the smaller Frog 40 for younger/shorter children. We've reviewed a lot of Frog Bikes and always been impressed with them.
BUY NEW - Click here to buy the Frog 48 Kids Bike from Tredz (free delivery)
| SAVE £5 ON FROG BIKES AT TREDZ: Sign up for the Tredz Bikes newsletter (you can do this from the bottom on any bike page) and they'll immediately send you a code to get £5 off your first purchase |
THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER GREAT BIKES FOR KEEN YOUNG RIDERS IN OUR ARTICLE "THE BEST 16" WHEEL BIKES FOR 4 AND 5 YEAR OLDS"
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
The Squish 18 is a great choice for Cycle Sprogs who are too small for a geared 20" wheel bike but have outgrown their starter bike. Our 6 year old reviewer loved riding her Squish 18 - and moved confidently onto a bigger bike when the time was right for her. Squish Bikes are a relatively new brand that offer a cheaper alternative to the Frog Bikes and Islabikes.
BUY NEW - Squish 18 from Tredz
| SAVE £5 ON THIS BIKE AT TREDZ: Sign up for the Tredz Bikes newsletter (you can do this from the bottom on any bike page) and they'll immediately send you a code to get £5 off your first purchase |
THERE ARE NOT MANY DECENTLY SPECIFIED 18" WHEEL KIDS BIKES AROUND, BUT YOU CAN FIND THE ONES WE RECOMMEND IN THIS POST: "THE BEST 18" WHEEL KIDS BIKES"
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
The Hoy range of children's bikes has been recently relaunched, and they're now some of the lightest weight kids bikes available in the UK. The Bonaly is their "Go Anywhere" bike, equally at home on road or on the trails. The 20" wheel Bonaly is the smallest of their bikes with gears - they also do smaller single speed bikes, plus a drop handlebar bike for those wanting to do road or cyclo-cross riding. You can read how our 7 year old reviewer got on riding the Hoy Bonaly 20 here.
BUY NEW - The Hoy Bonaly 20 is only available from Evans Cycles
| TOP TIP: If you sign up for the Evans Cycles Newsletter they'll send you a voucher code to save £5 off your first purchase. You can sign up by scrolling to the bottom of any page on their website - an email should be sent to you within a couple of minutes. |
IF THE HOY BONALY ISN'T FOR YOUR CYCLE SPROG, THEN CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION OF THE "BEST BIKES FOR 6 AND 7 YEAR OLD KIDS - 20" WHEELS"
Currently out of stock
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended brand
Giant are the world's biggest bike manufacturer and the ARX is their premium kids bike range.
As you'd expect, the Giant ARX 24 has many of the same features as the majority of the quality kids bikes we've already featured. However, in a sign of how confident they are with the quality of their bikes, Giant offers a lifetime warranty on their frames, plus 10 years on forks. Your child will have grown out of the bike long before then!
Our reviewer really enjoyed riding the Giant ARX she was sent to test and Dad was impressed too! It's a great looking bike, with grown-up styling at a good price.
BUY NOW: Giant ARX 24 at Tredz
| SAVE £5 ON ALL GIANT BIKES AT TREDZ: Sign up for the Tredz Bikes newsletter (you can do this from the bottom on any bike page) and they'll immediately send you a code to get £5 off your first purchase |
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended brand
If you're looking for a kids bike for urban or gentle off road riding that's a little bit different, then Woom Bikes are a great choice. They're an Austrian brand who are well established on the continent, but fairly new to the UK. They are available in a range of sizes from balance bike through to 26" wheel (Woom 6). We've reviewed a couple of the smaller single speed Woom Bikes and were really impressed with the quality.
BUY NEW - Click here to buy Woom Bikes from The Little Bike Company who are the only stockists in the UK
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
Islabikes are always at the forefront of kids bike design and where they go, others will doubtless follow. Bigger wheels make for a faster and most stable ride, but you need to make sure that if your Sprog is moving up to a 27.5" wheel that the frame size and components are child sized so they are able to control the bike safely. Our reviewer loved the Beinn 27 - putting it through its paces in some rather remote terrain proving this is a bike for both on and off road adventures.
Buy now: The Islabike Beinn 27 is only available direct from Islabikes
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
OK, we're a bit biased about this bike, as our youngest Sprog spent all last year reviewing the previous iteration of this bike (you can read our review of the Cube 240 SL here), but it's a brilliant bike that's transformed his mountain biking. It's not cheap, so is for those ready to take their mountain biking to the next level.
This is now a discontinued model but well worth seeking out!
It used to be that if you were a little racer you had to wait until you were a big racer to get on a 700c bike. However, the Scatto JC28 has changed all of that. With three frame sizes children are racing (and winning) on a 700c wheel bike from the age of 7 years. The Scatto JC28 can be specified for road, cyclocross, triathlon or XC MTB.
The Scatto JC28 is available from Kids Racing
If the Scatto JC28 is a tad too big or expensive, then check out our post on 20" wheel kids drop handlebar bikes
Cycle Sprog Reviewed and Recommended Bike
It's unusual to find a decently specified dual suspension kids mountain bike for under £1,000 so we were very impressed with the 24" wheel Cuda Impact both in terms of performance and price. Our young tester loved having "grown up" suspension, and was certainly given the confidence to try out features on the trail he hadn't ridden before.
Buy new: Cuda Bikes are available from a network of local bike shops
If you're looking for a full-suspension child's mountain bike and the Cuda Impact doesn't fit the bill, then take a look at our post on the best kids full suspension mountain bikes.
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
Our Sprogs have been lucky enough to ride some really expensive, top of the range junior mountain bikes, but we can confirm you don't need to spend huge amounts to get a quality kids MTB. Our 10 year old Sprog spent last summer riding the Vitus Nucleus 26 around the trail centres of Wales and absolutely loved it. It comes in for less than £500 and rivals many of its much more expensive competitors for quality. You can read our first impressions review of the Vitus Nucleus 26 hardtail MTB here.
BUY NOW: The Vitus Nucleus 26 is sold via Wiggle.
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
If you've got a Lizzy Deignan or Geraint Thomas in the family, then they're going to want a serious bike to pick up some speed. There's not a huge selection of kids road bikes around, but the Worx Bikes are some of the fastest there are. They range in size from 24" to 700c wheels. Note - these bikes aren't for nervous riders - we should know as our 12 year old has been reviewing the Worx JA700. Check out our post below if you're looking for something more sedate riders!
==> Click here to see the full range of Worx Junior road bikes
Cycle Sprog reviewed and recommended bike
If you're looking for a "proper" MTB for a keen mountain biker who is on the cusp between a kids bike and an adult bike, then the Cube Stereo Youth is a good choice. It's got the all important 27.5" wheels that rippers these days are desperate to get onto, full suspension, and comes in three different frame sizes (13", 16" and 18") to cater for different body sizes. It's a lot of bike, destined to be lots of fun on the trails - our 12 year old has been putting it to the test, you can read his review of the Cube Stereo 140 Youth here.
Click here to buy - the Cube Stereo Youth from Tredz
| SAVE £5 ON THIS BIKE AT TREDZ: Sign up for the Tredz Bikes newsletter (you can do this from the bottom on any bike page) and they'll immediately send you a code to get £5 off your first purchase |
We hope this article, or the related posts, has helped you find the best kids bikes. If you need more advice and inspiration, these articles will be of help:
We'd love to hear what bike you ended up buying your Cycle Sprog. Do leave a comment below, or come over to our Facebook or Instagram pages to share your pictures.
Affiliate Disclosure: Obviously we love helping people find the best kids bikes rather than terrible heavy, badly made bike shaped objects. However, we do need to feed our own children, so use affiliate schemes to generate an income from the website. This means that some of the links on this page will pay us a commission if you make a purchase. Not all do though, and we only ever recommend bikes we'd be happy for our own Sprogs to ride, rather than those that would make us the most money (this post would look very different if we did that!) Thanks for purchasing through these links - it means we can hopefully keep on writing next year
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© 2020 Cycle Sprog Ltd.
You do not rate early rider bikes?
Unfortunately we have not been able to do a long term test on these bikes. One thing worth noting is that they come with a 1 year warranty on parts, whereas other kids bikes in a similar price bracket come with up to 5 years on frame and fork and 3 years on parts. Regards Karen
Hi,
You spoke highly of Bobbins bikes in 2017 but they have not made your list, just wondering why.
Thanks
Simon
Hi Simon,
The Bobbins are a good bike - and feature in some of our other more detailed posts (such as this one https://www.cyclesprog.co.uk/family-cycling-advice/best-girls-bike/) However, unfortunately we can't feature every single brand in this one post, or it would go on and on for ages! Karen
Thanks for this page! I’ve been researching good bikes for my son, and you’ve done a great job of sharing this information for someone who isn’t an expert, but wants to make a good choice. Thanks!
Glad you found it helpful Emily. Hope you find the perfect bike for your son. Karen
Vitus in the brand list? ... now that you have the Nucleus 26 in the recommended bikes list.
We've just bought a Vitus Nippy balance bike for the School (the first of many I think) as we're going to start 'Balanceability' in the Nursery, and for £45 it's a lovely bit of kit.
[Disclosure - as you know I work for WiggleCRC, and Ben is a friend of mine, but I've been running the Ditcham Park School MTB Club longer than I've been with WiggleCRC. I'm now looking forward to seeing the Nukeproof Cub-Scouts]