NRissy

I have a five year old son who loves biking (and a 2 year old and one boy on the way) who we got a wee ride bike to attach to the back of my bike. We decide to go with this option as it is easy to switch between bikes. The burley piccolo even though it has gears needs a rack and it cost $400 the wee ride cost me $95. I trade the wee ride between two of my own bikes and my father-in-law also takes him on his. The problem we are running into is it is a single speed bike and most of the time he is just free wheeling. below 10 miles per hour he is helping pedal but over that he is just spinning his wheels.

I would love to add some gears to this bike but don't know my options. Could I find a cheap internal hub and have my local bike shop install it? Could I put a small rear derailleur on it? what would be my best options. I am ok spending over a $100 on this bike because it will be used for the next 5-8 years.

Soody

fixed gear drivetrain and clipless pedals

Andrew R Stewart 

Knowing what the crankset or chain ring is spec wise might help us guide you. Knowing what type of rear drop out it has might help. Andy (who's sometimes too tired of doing research to answer questions and wishes for links or photos to make his life easy)

NRissy

I don't know much about the rear drop out? I am fairly new to doing my own maintenance on bikes. It has a standard free wheeling hub. The number of teeth on the bike, 29 front and 19 back. With a 20 in tire.
I would post a pic but can't because I am a new member.
If you google Weeride you will see photos of the bike I have.

Soody

It's the green one right? If you can find a 20" wheel with a cassette/freewheel on it (which will probably be wider than your hub), seeing as it's steel, you can just bend the frame open like a gorilla and fit it in there. Shifting will be handled by a derailer clamped on with a claw-adapter, like most tourney models. And you can run full length shift cable, or clamp cable stops on the frame. And put a basic 7spd trigger or thumb shifter on the bars.
I would look for that 20" wheel at a tip (rubbish yard iunno what you call it) or other kids bike being junked to steal it off and overhaul the bearings on it. Don't pay $$ money for this. The claw derailer and shifter likewise could be stolen from junk.

honestly this kids seat is kind of s**t. It weighs 15kg lol.

icemilkcoffee 

Chances are, this bike has an old fashioned one-piece-crank, which looks like this:

If this is the case then you have a wide variety of BMX chain rings (AKA sprockets in BMXland) to choose from. They look like this:

They have a smooth hole in the middle, and another smaller hole off to the side for the pin.

IMHO 5 yo is old enough to ride his own bike.

NRissy

Soody, Yeah, the bike is kind of s**t but last year my son and I but on 1,000 miles on it; he loves it and this summer he really wants to do a long ride (over 30 miles) with me on it.
Thank you for the ideas I will definitely look into this!

NRissy

Ice,
Hey he has his own bike; this summer he will learn to ride without training wheels; he enjoys riding with dad being able to go fast. Currently where we live it is hard to have him ride much on his own because of car traffic and the hilly terrain.
Our next step will be a tandem; then little brother will be four and on the weeride.

ARider2

You might want to check Ebay for a used Adams Trail-a-Bike. I do not see a new one available with gears but I think they used to have one with gears which you may find used. They also made a tandem Trail-a-Bike at one point. The basic one speed new today goes for about $250 but can probably be found used for half or less. If you can find one with gears it may be just what you are looking for.

NRissy

I looked for almost a year on Ebay, craigslist, and Facebook trying to find a geared one that would fit my needs. I about went with the Burley Piccolo. Thankfully I didn't because I would have had to buy three rear racks and probably three connectors as well. It would have cost me over $600 by the time I was done. I just wished they still made a geared option for those of us who don't want to pedal 6-8MPH with the child.

Andrew R Stewart 

Thanks Soody, for the images. Note that the single speed uses a drop out with a rearwards opening slot, much like track bikes have. So a traditional rear der mounting bracket won't work well for this. Lucky that Shimano produces at least one of it's lower cost ders with a compatible bracket and I know of a Rochester LBS with a couple in stock (and would love to get rid of both). The next point that might be an issue is the width of the chain ring, many one piece cranks (long ago called ashtabula cranks) use the 1/8" wide teeth and der bikes use a 3/32" chain. So the ring might need replacing. The rear hub (or wheel complete) likely doesn't have the space to accept a multi cog freewheel and the frame might also be too narrow for a wide enough hub/axle. The frame is Al, by the looks of the welds, so setting the frame wider might be a problem too. Note that the feared version uses a different frame, or at least the rear drop outs are different and likely the BB shell too given the cotterless crank on that version. Andy

dedhed

If you want a bunch of cracked shins and kid never wanting to go on it again.

My kid used to actually fall asleep back there some times.

Soody

I was joking

Ironfish653

Rather than try to source all the parts individually, I’d just look for a 20” kids’ MTB; and take the rear wheel, RD, and shifter.
You should be able to find one for less than $50 on your local CL.
Most of them are 1x6 or 1x7, so you really don’t need to change the crank unless you want to.
I never thought about converting mine to multi-speed, but I guess it could be a good training aid for when they get their own geared bike.