My 4 year old just got the Fox peewee pads for his birthday. The elbows are great. The knee pads seem a little plasticy and stiff (and there is only one size from age 4 to 9) but he rode for over an hour in them with no complaints. They are so much cheaper than other options too, but I think my 8 year old will be getting more mtb specific pads.

Hmmm faster… !5 year old is faster downhill, but I am faster up and have more endurance (he so needs to work on his fitness..)

8 year old – well I always ride behind him so hard to tell. I can keep up, and sometimes he slows me down, but occasionally he pulls a slight gap :roll:

3 year old – hah no chance! However he can jump better than I can :oops:

Black Idle Mountain Bike Club

I think a 24 would be far too big. I know a little girl the same size as your kid who has a Beinn 20 small and she is the perfect size for it with loads of room for growth.

This thread is actually making me lol :lol:

When riding your bike don’t think “oh my front tyre looks a bit flat” and try to give it a squeeze..

From my 8 year old – don’t take your camelbak off and hang it on your handlebars with the hose dangling towards your wheel…

Loving the stories and pictures.

I think one of the difficulties I have is that my 3 (almost 4 I should have said) riding ability far outstrips his strength and stamina.

He will happily rip down blue and orange trails and twisty natural singletrack, but it is such a gigantic pain in the arse getting him up hills – I often have to cycle and push him up, and even then he gets tired quickly. But because he likes the “fun” stuff he isn’t so keen on going out doing a few miles of flattish trails.

We’ve been loving the uplift at Laggan – he takes great delight in getting down the Orange before the Landrover gets back down :lol:

Thanks for the info.

I’m thinking it might be time to go to the LBS and ask for advice…

Oh shit, not what I wanted to hear but thanks.

What about if we remove the dope system?

Brilliant learning to ride video :D

Seriously in awe at minipips milage, wow.

Yup 3 year old was a little spooked in the woods at night, but he had been desperate to try it. Next time we are just going to go to the school playground where it won’t be so dark and scary.

We don’t have a BMX track locally which is a shame.

I did used to take the 3 year old out on a Trailgator but it didn’t work that well for us. I have been thinking about a proper tag a long we could take for longer rides – he might be almost big enough for one now.

Looking forward to when he is big enough for 20″ wheels and gears!

The terrain matters a lot as well. 6 miles round here would be done on hilly rough/rocky/rooty tracks.

We tend to go for a slog up a hill, then a blast down some twisty rooty singletrack.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my 3 year olds favourite trail is the Orange at Laggan. He loves blasting down it at full speed, and the fact we get to ride up in a Landrover is the cherry on the cake… I have started “making” him do a loop of the green before we get uplift. Downhiller in the making I think!

My kids have ridden motorbikes with Scott Redding :D

Well done, I can’t wait until my youngest has a bit more stamina. He has done the Glenlivet Blue which is about 5 miles but there was a lot of pushing up the hills, and he was well knackered afterwards.

He is very good at keeping cycling gloves on, he has had them since he turned 2 and he isn’t allowed to hit the trail/skatepark/ramps/jumps without out them.

However, getting them on can be a nightmare…

Warmth not earth.

It took me a while but I did figure it out

I’m going to say my 3 year old, he can already jump better than me, and in a couple of years will probably be able to outride me… His pure enthusiasm as he heads down a trail at high speed, using every tree root and stone to catch some air :D

Thanks, we already have ski gloves and mitts so you’ve just saved me some money, thanks :)

I am determined to keep them cycling through the winter – took my 8 year old out for his first night ride recently and he said it was the most fun ever.

Sorry even further for me

King, if donkeydave isn’t interested I might be.

Mafiabikes are cheapish

Bumping because the more people that join the better :)

You’ll be needing this Facebook page[/url] then, smurf

I picked up a pair of mad mikes (off a bike in a skip) for my son’s 16″ bike, but I haven’t put them on yet. They are 1.75. His current tyres are Innova 16×2.10 had they seem to do the job fine.

My kids have never had an Islabike but thinking about a Beinn 20 Small in the Spring.

That’s why i was confused whether it was Scotland or Uk. Clearer now though!

I think it has just started so not much on there yet, but hopefully it will get going.

Out of the blues I have done Comrie Croft and the new Nevis Range Blue Adder(?) XC descent are trickier than the likes of Glenlivet and Glentress (only been to GT once and haven’t done all of the blue)

Learnie Red Rock blue is somewhere in the middle, I think. Laggan green is fun as is the orange.

Oh and just out of interest, do your kids use the soles of their shoes or the toes? Mine used the soles so it wasn’t too bad for shoes either – he had a £10 pair of Asda boots that lasted until he outgrew them!

Mine didn’t have a brake on his balance bike and was shredding the gnar on it. He was going so fast I had to ride to keep up with him, and he was doing trails like the orange at Laggan and dirt jumps with a big run in slope.

Feet can stop you even if you are going fast downhill and they can help you corner, mine figured out that if he was going fast down a trail a little bit of right foot down would help him turn right etc :D

Not having brakes on a balance bike certainly didn’t hold him back – his first pedal bike was a back pedal brake, but he was using hand brakes before he was three. He is still only 3 and comes fast down steep trails using his front brake only must sort out that rear brake I suppose

That said, I have nothing against brakes on balance bikes either. And I can obviously see the advantages, but for me it wouldn’t be a deciding factor.

You’ve reminded me of when my 2 year old had 4 bikes… :oops:

1 small balance bike, 1 small crap pedal bike, 1 bigger balance bike and 1 slightly bigger less crap pedal bike.

The worst thing was whenever we went anywhere with bikes I would insist on taking both balance bikes and a pedal bike. On one great occasion I ended up with a very tired toddler and had to carry 3 bikes and said tired toddler for a kilometre back to the car park. wtf was I thinking

Jonathan don’t tell your youngest but just picked up this for mine’s 4th birthday United Recruit 12

I have one kid who isn’t in to riding and I think whatever I spent on bikes for them it wouldn’t make a difference.

The others I do spend money on their bikes, not to encourage them, but so the bike can keep up with their riding iyswim

Was going to say you would be blown off the hill if you were there today!

Got a secondhand Kona Stinky 2-4 for my 8 year old. Made going back to the Alps as a family a little more fun.

We picked up a Norco B-line on here for my 8 year old. Keeping it for Christmas, can’t wait!

I do agree that rigid bikes and hardtails teach kids a lot more. But my 3 year old can already jump his bike – he will pop the bike in the air over any small tree root or stone in the trail, do small drops to flat and can jump further than 4 feet off a foot high plastic ramp.

At some point in the next couple of years a full suss might be a good idea so I am glad there are companies making them even though I can’t afford them

Mine do mtb dirt crit races, the littlest did his first race (on a pedal bike) when he was 2!

The courses are a bit trickier than just round a field. They do sometimes start in a field, and the long wet grass is so hard for little legs!

That’s brilliant!

I can see my 3 year old needing one of these soon (if we lived in the alps as riding up the hill might be a problem at that weight)

I find if my saddle is just a little too high it puts pressure on the delicate area..

Tell her to try to see if she can move back a bit on the saddle, makes all the difference to me.

I don’t think a 40 minute drive each way is excessive. Wait til he starts wanting to do races and you will find yourself driving 2 hours each way for a 5 minute race…

You’ll probably find you do a wee loop, stop for food and a play then do another wee loop. That’s almost a whole days riding there :D

Just the green and the orange – I was there with kids :)