My youngest’s friend has just got her first proper bike.
20″ wheel full sus Apollo from Halfords.
I’m not usually a snob about these things – kids usually just get on with it, even if it does weigh more than an old Raleigh Grifter
BUT, the poor lass was really struggling with this thing. She can ride once she’s got going, but she can’t get the hand of setting the pedal and riding off. Having watched and encouraged for a few minutes, it became clear that she was struggling due to the ridiculously narrow pedals and the very high bb meaning that although she could only just touch the ground with her toes, when sat on the seat, as she pedalled, the her feet were coming up far too high for a comfortable action.
I sat her on my daughters Spesh Hot Rock and she was off as easy as pie.

So, weighing as much as an anchor isn’t the real problem with BSO – check out the geometry.

They really are a piece of garbage aren’t they! I reckon that BSOs have been responsible for putting more cyclists OFF cycling than modern gearing, carbon, suspension and disc brakes have brought cyclists INTO cycling.

I felt sorry for the parents. They’re not exactly well off, and they’d clearly spent the wrong side of £100 on this thing. The irony is that I paid £60 for the second hand Hotrock about 4 years ago.It’s done both our two and been loaned out in-between, and its still a much nicer bike than anything in the apollo range.
How do you tell someone who’s saved up for something that IT is the problem, not their daughter 😐

It’s not really the problem though, is it?

Thousands of kids learnt to ride on the same or worse bikes for decades. My sister and I learnt to ride on our grandmothers shopper bike, aged about 6. We couldn’t even reach the pedals from the seat.

It might not be the easiest thing to learn on, but it still does the job. Kids are hugely flexible and adaptable, it’s their parents who make them inflexible and precious. Never seen a kid yet who wouldn’t ride their bike because it was the wrong brand/colour/weight/wheel size. Unlike a few adults.

It’s not really the problem though, is it?

I would have agreed with you this morning, but the geometry on this POS really made things far too difficult for this girl. She will learn to ride it, I’m sure, but it really isn’t helping.