What inch bike do I get for a 5/6 year old?

[angelxbabyx]

I wanted to get my daughter a bike for christmas but every website says different inch wheels for different ages. Its so confusing.
My daughter is 5 but will be 6 soon. Do I get her a 12", 14", 16" or 18" bike?
I have no idea! Any mums that can help me out? Thanks 😊

It goes by their inside leg measurement for ref though my just four year old is 105cm (3.5 ft) tall and has a 16inch which is a little on the big side but ok.

How tall is she? My 6 year old got a new bike when she was 5 and it was 18". The best thing would be to take her to a bike place and try some, as we found even different bikes with the same wheel sizes came up differently as the saddle couldn't be lowered as much on some as others. She may also prefer different handle styles which affect how it feels when you're riding - i.e. the straight ones like mountain bikes or the more "U" shaped ones. Could you go and choose a bike together as her present and then surprise her with some cool accessories for it (spoke beads, handle bar tassles, a doll carrier, lights, a horn/bell etc) for xmas?

Id say 16", if she's average height

Also, it massively depends on how the bike is set up. We have two 16" bikes, with an 8cm difference between the lowest saddle height. I've no idea what the manufacturers of one of them were thinking, but my point is that the wheel size won't accurately tell you what height the saddle will be, and therefore what size child can ride it. Try to get saddle heights if you're looking at websites

Also, your DD's height matters more than her age. My DD is 110 cm tall at 4, so will probably be moving onto an 18" wheeled bike at 6. But she's taller than average.

We got DD to try out the bike she rides before we bought it, and I wouldn't buy another bike without doing that.

I would take her to the shop to try them.

I got ds a 20" for his 7th birthday a few weeks ago. We tried him on a couple. Bmx are 20" but quite a long frame so he couldn't reach the handlebar. Another 20" seemed to have lots of gumph in the middle which meant he had to go wider to put his feet dowm and couldn't reach. The one we ended up buying was super basic, no gears mountain bike. The 18" was the right size with the saddle up so figured he'd grow out of it really quickly.

I'd figure out some way of trying some out without letting on you're buying one as they differ so much