16 or 20 inch: buying a child’s first bicycle
Wheel size goes by leg length, not age. How to choose, when to remove stabilisers and how our buy-back works.
What happens at a bicycle fitting
Saddle height, reach and brake levers: the 15 minutes we spend setting a bicycle to you before the first test ride.
Every bicycle that leaves our shop is fitted to its rider, and the fitting takes about 15 minutes. Here is what we do, so you know what to expect and what to bring.
Wear flat shoes and clothes you can move in. Shankar or one of our mechanics will first ask how you plan to ride: a daily 5 km to office, a weekend loop, or school runs with a child. Then we measure your height and your inside leg, from the floor to the top of the thigh, standing barefoot against the wall.
The saddle comes first. We set it so that with the pedal at its lowest point, your leg is almost straight, with a slight bend at the knee. Most new riders set the saddle too low, which feels safe but tires the knees quickly. For nervous riders and children we start a little lower and raise it after a few weeks. Then we slide the saddle forward or back so your knee sits roughly above the pedal when the crank is level, and tilt it flat.
Next is reach. We adjust the handlebar height and angle so you sit fairly upright with a soft bend in your elbows, not stretched out. Brake levers are moved so you can reach them with two fingers without shifting your grip, which matters a lot for smaller hands. Then you take the bicycle out on the quiet lane behind the shop. Ride up and down a few times, try the brakes and the gears, and tell us what feels wrong. We adjust again until it does not.
