My eldest nephew is out-growing his Frog 40 (14″ wheels) that I bought him two years back. he’s already jumping off kerbs and the decking in the garden.

I’m meeting my sister and the two kids out in Italy and am toying with the idea of buying him a new one.

is it worth looking for something with 16″ wheels?

there don’t seem to be any 18″ wheelers, is the jump to 20″ too much?

was purusing the Canyon, Commencal and Propain websites. only to be young again!

How tall is he? My short-arse 6 year old is only just making the jump from 14″ to 20″ wheels and it’s still stretching it a bit. Will probably be a while before he’s properly suited to that size.

Sounds like he might be taller so worth skipping 16 and 18″ if he’s only going to be on them a few months.

Tried my 4 year old girl on a 14inch bike but it was too small and was hard for her to use. So gave her a shot of big brothers old 16inch wheel one which is far better. I’d avoid getting a bike too big and cumbersome – don’t want to risk putting her off.

My 4 year old has a Commencal Ramones, its a great little bike but a little heavy.

Sophie has a ramones 16. It’s not heavy at all

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Raleigh Grifter.

Never did me any harm… 😉

4 year old daughter happily zipping about on a 16″ Frog here. She went from 12″ Rothan to 14″ Cnoc to the Frog in 1 month. It’ll be a long time before she can cope with a 20″ though – at least 5 years old, maybe 5.5.

She enjoys flying off kerbs too, and the small bike really helps with that. 20″ = gears and a whole load more speed…

what about those Hope rent-a-bikes?

I know someone selling a 20″ propain full sus, but its in france

Have you considered a bmx? or…have a look at the orbea mx kids bikes. Competitively priced & reasonably spec’d (imo). We went to 20″ for my average height 6 y/o. Before that we had a 16″ trail belter…. which I still need to sell… 😉

We have a Belter 16 for our 4-year old, who is currently around 112cm and it fits well. Came straight from a balance bike around 104 cm, and she could just comfortably reach the ground with the saddle as low as it went. Still plenty of adjustmen left on the seatpost, but I need to start looking for higher rise bars.

Could you put a sorter stem on a 20 for the interim of a few months?

my lad’s first pedal bike (post balance bike) was a cnoc 16 which was ok for a couple of years up until he was about 6 then he went onto 20″ Frog and is on the verge of growing out of it at 7 3/4 so I’m looking around for a 24″ The frogs are quite long bikes so I put a 40mm stem on it and some riser bars to make it less of a stretch when he was smaller.

I’d say that a 16″ would be better fit until he’s older, just be prepared to get a year or so out of it before sizing up again.

the ramones 16 is an awesome little bike. the later models shed a load of weight and are much more mtb’y than frogs and isla’s.

Early Rider Belter 16?

Very light, no chain (so no chain oil all over JRs legs), decent finishing kit and brakes, feels like a proper mini MTB.

Bought for daughter no.1 for her 4th birthday, but she was a bit small. There’s a decent amount of adjustment with spacers and seatpost.
She’s now 5 1/2 and still loving it.

Probably do her another year, and then daughter no.2 will be nearly old enough.

Thanks for the replies.

Sister told me today that the bigger little man is 103cm with 40cm inside leg.

Guess that means 16″ wheels. Even if he rides it half a year his younger brother will inherit it soon enough….

What should I be looking at /what’s not on my radar?

@howsyourdad….. Interested. I’m in Germany, so the bike being in France doesn’t worry me.