So I’m expecting all hell to break loose tonight.

I’m picking up a new 24″ wheel bike for our eldest tonight, she has outgrown her 20″ wheel bike, so this will be handed down to our second eldest who has REALLY outgrown her 14″ wheeled bike which will be handed down to our youngest, who is still on a balance bike and not ready for a proper bike yet.

Anyway, number two is gonna go bananas at number 1 getting a brnad spanking new bike.

Any tips to lessen the fury?

Go to the pub???

Tell then to get used to it. There is probably another 15yrs of it….

put some new stickers on it.
my sister in law has a couple of bikes that she’s keeping for when my boy is old enough to ride.
my boy isn’t getting girl’s cast-offs. no way.

Can you offer to strip it down and respray in her choice of colours, new shiny paint and some new grips and saddles wont make it look like a hand down

You’d be surprised how excited they get even with a ‘new’ hand-me-down.

eskay – hoping that’s how it’s going to. It’s not like it’s a rubbish bike either. And all three are girls so colour isn’t an issue.

Our friends went with a respray. Nicely done by some local powder coat types.

Tell then to get used to it. There is probably another 15yrs of it….

This.

As a middle child, I can only recommend you tell em to GTFU 😉 it ain’t gunna get any better.

It’s how it goes, being in the middle you get the hand me downs from number 1, and the ‘baby’ will get new stuff to, as there ‘special’.
Not that I’m bitter or anything 😳

And all three are girls

Man – you’ve got some times ahead of you!

Ours have seemed happy with hand me downs (so far), but maybe it is a (three) boy thing…
As above, cheap set of grips, stickers or even re-spray works wonders for them feeling good about a bike.

We took our little one to the shops where she chose stickers, spokey dokey type things, cheap lights etc, and she was chuffed to decorate her ‘new’ bike.

Get the oldest a second hand or hand me down from cousins bike?

Get the new bike and chip some paint off it, cover it in mud and drop it on the tarmac a few times, scratching the brake levers etc. Then the younger one won’t realise its new.

Its what your eldest will have done within a week anyhow 😉

There will come a time when you won’t be able to hand down because the age and size will have to overlap. That’s when it gets expensive.

I have the same thing, normally accompany new “hand-me-down” with new helmet of their choice or something like that, usually need one around thay anyway. Seems to work in my house anyway. TBH my oldest (lad) although rides a lot, treats his bikes very well and they are always in great condition when second (girl) gets them, 3 months latter they are knocked to hell. No sure shell ever get a new one unless she sorts herself out. 😉

I’m watching this thread with interest as my two (boys) are 2 and 3 so lots of hand me downs to come. So far it’s been pretty painless as the younger is just happy to have his big brothers ‘big boy’ stuff.

I’ve a bit of overlap on their first bikes though – eldest not quite big enough to ride a 14″ unaided so I got the youngest a new balance bike. He was so pleased to be getting a bike and a brand new one at that, proper brought a tear to my eye.

Tell them to GTFU by all means but treat them to something new of their own from time to time.

As said above – why buy new for the oldest; buy second hand then they all essentially get the same (and you maybe save a few ££ in the bargain)

PS
I was youngest of four, 2 boys 2 girls, oldest was a girl, I’m a boy. My first two bikes in hindsight were ‘girlyish’ I was too young to care, by the time I was old enough to care about colour the benefit for me was that bikes started to have gears etc and by the time I was meant to have them, as they’re were purchased 2nd hand for the eldest, they were in excess of 10yrs old and completey scuzzed so I’d get a ‘new’ 2nd had one.