Bike Report: Kids bikes

School’s out and biking is in for kids across the Northland.

“It just gets them outdoors and having fun and learning a new sport,” said Ski Hut Manager Brent Stoen.

For some, last year’s bike may be a little small.

“The size really plays a big part into how much fun the kid has, how well they feel on the bike,” said Stoen.

Kids can start biking at pretty much any age.

“What we like to do is the minute that kids starts to go from crawling to walking, we like to put them on a strider bike.What happens with the strider bike is they learn balance,” Stoen explained. “They learn to stand on the bike and get that balance, and then what happens is they go from the balance to a regular bike without training wheels.”

There are many bike sizes in-between the strider and adult sizes. There are also several different types of bikes to choose from.

“So what we start off with a lot of times is we’re going to find out where the kid is going to ride the bike to, depending on what kind of bike that we sell them, whether it’d be a road bike, a mountain bike, or a cross bike,” said Stoen.

Although kids outgrow everything quickly, investing in a better bike may pay off in the long-run.

“A lot of kids grow out of these bikes, and so many parents want to buy cheaper models of bikes,” said Stoen. What we find is that if they buy a better quality bike, they can turn around and resell that bike to somebody else and jump into the next bike.”

Every Thursday, WDIO News will bring you a story about the sport of bike riding. We will focus on the trail systems in our viewing area as well as equipment and bike maintenance. If you have a biking story that you think we should cover, e-mail Sabrina Ullman at sullman@wdio.com