Kids Bike

Giant are one of the world’s biggest bike brands, and the Giant ARX 16 has everything you’d expect from a single-speed kids bike.

It’s really light (great for when you have to pick it up and carry it) and is fitted with versatile tyres for cycling on lots of different surfaces, child-sized components and comes in a range of fun, bold colours.

As you’d expect from one of the worlds biggest bike brands, the Giant ARX 24 has all the features we’d expect to see on a quality 24″ wheel kids bike.

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!

We’ve reviewed the Giant ARX 20 which is the younger sibling to this bike, and were impressed with it’s quality and how it rode.

Giant are one of the biggest bike brands, and the Giant ARX 26 is their largest geared kids bike. It’s a good all round choice for commuting to school, riding to meet friends at the weekends and perhaps a little bit of off roading too.

Giant use a lot of their own brand components on the bike to keep the costs lower, and whilst they don’t provide weights for their bikes we know from reviewing a smaller bike in the range that it’s comparable to the competition.

Read our review of  the smaller 20″ wheel ARX.

The low standover height of the Specialized Jett 24 means your child can get onto this bike sooner than many other 24″ bikes and there’s an extra hole for the pedals on the crank meaning you can extend the use of this bike as your child’s legs grow.

It also has handy markings on the seat post and handlebars making adjusting the bike easy as your child grows.  To help, Specialized also provide an online Bike Fit tool – you simply input your child’s measurements and they will tell you how to adjust the bike to fit.

The Jett 20 has all the features you’d expect to find on a quality kids bike, but also has the addition of two positions on the crank so you can move the pedals as your child’s legs grow.

To help you size the bike for your child it comes with a nifty online Bike Fit tool. You key in your child’s measurements and it will tell you where to position the handlebars, pedals and saddle for correct riding position.

This is all part of the attempt made by Specialized to keep your child on this bike for as long as possible – they claim it should last 30 months (or 3 summers depending on when you buy it) – obviously that does depend on how fast your child grows!

You can read our review of the Specialized Jett 20 here for even more details on this great little bike.

Sadly Forme bikes went out of business in March 2023, so these bikes are now only available second hand.

If you’re looking for a secondhand city style kids bike for a child who is just starting to pedal, then the Forme Hartington 14 is worth considering. It has a low frame and easy-reach brakes, none slip pedals and a brown wicker basket.

Please note that at 9.487 kg the Forme Hartington 14 is quite a lot heavier than many light weight kids bikes now available. As a comparison, Forme’s other range of kids bikes has the Forme Cubley 14 weighing in at just 6.12kg, which is a HUGE weight difference for a child of this age.

You do need to consider whether your child has the strength to ride this bike, and move it around. For this reason it’s probably better for slightly older children who are already confident moving around and lifting up their balance bike or trike.