Boys bike sizes- which sizes did you buy & how tall/old do they need to be for an adult bike?

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Basically am trying to save money over the long term. According to the halfords in-store chart my son is in the 16" range but also at the bottom of the 18" range. But 16" bikes are much cheaper and there are few 18" bikes around. I figure if you buy 16" then the next one you would buy is 20". If I got an 18" the next one I would buy is the 22" one.

But how tall do they have to be for adult bikes? Do some kids miss out the 22/24" ones and go for adult bikes.

Thanks if you've read this far! (I have tried freecyle and friends kids old bikes to save more money. Nothing happened with the former and got given an old one that couldn't be fixed)

anyone?

there must be some who has bought bike from kids from 5-12?

i got ds 3 a bike for his birthday and the woman in the bike shop said the rules for boys were they had to be able stand up with they're feet on the ground over the bar or they could do themselves damage, i think you have to think of his crown jewels!

ah they don't mention that on the sizing websites. They are all so different and halfords online differ from halfords instore. Most annoying.

Was it flat feet or on tiptoe?

They are just so wildly expensive and last such a little time and we only really cycle at weekends as his school is 5 mins walk away. But then you don't want it to be so cheap its had to ride or falls apart.

it was flat feet, cos we sat him on a bigger bike and he was able to stand on tip toes but i wouldnt risk it cos ds only has one testicle and i didnt want to risk him losing the other one, i didnt tell the people in the shop about his testicle, and he doesnt go near the bloody bike!!!!!!!!!

We bought a new bike for ds for his 7th birthdays. At the time he was nearly 1m30cm tall.
He had just outgrown his size 20 bike.
The lady in Halfords tried him on a size 24 and it was perfect. He could just place both feet on the floor (flat I think, but may have been slightly tippitoed)
Ds is now nearly 9 and the size 24 bike still fits him brilliantly. Dh has of course had to put the handlebars and saddle up to accomodate a growing ds, but the bike has at least another year if not two of 'growth' in it for ds.

There was a huge leap between the size 24 boy's bike and the adult bike. Ds would not have been able to cope with an adult bike, not only would it have been too tall for him, but also too big and heavy. (and ds is a tall and solid for his age boy)

hth

Thats interesting. Thank you everyone. My Dh is adament we get him an 18" so I hope we can then go to a 24" then adult. As they don't actually seem to make 22" bikes and don't want to buy an 18 and 20" too. He may hate cycling by then though!

I remember I got my first bike that extended and I used it from 9 to 32! It had small wheels though.

Some excellent advice here

Thanks I saw that one. they don't mention 18" ones though. My ds is a tall almost 5 yr old. hes well into the range of 16" and at the start of the 18" wheels. he could ride the 18" in Halfords. Not many places make 18" though and they are all bloody awful combat themed too.