hrt4me

Parents, Breathe Easy: New Bike Grows With Children
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Popular Science


A new bike concept from the German design firm Kilo would allow a bike to grow along with kids, which is sure to save parents a heap of money over the years.

The tricky thing about buying a bike (or anything else) for a kid is that there's a 99.9-percent certainty they'll outgrow it. The genius behind the Kilobike is that while they're between the ages of 6 and 12, the bike will grow with them.

The Kilobike, a concept by German firm Kilo Design, comes with swappable joints in the frame's top tube, which expand it out diagonally. When teamed with standard seat- and handlebar-height adjustments, these joints allow the bike to grow right along with a child's ever-lengthening limbs while ensuring they ride with proper ergonomics. Not to mention saving mom and dad a few dollars over the years.

It's one of those conceptual designs that seem so simple that they would have to have existed in the mainstream by now, right?

arej00dazed

like to see what happens when a kid tries his first BMX stunt on this.......

masiman

It is an interesting idea, but it would be nicer if the crank arm length and the rim size increased. There legs are getting longer and the better rolling of larger tiress and more ground clearance would be good things to have. If they are just tooling around the neighborhood and getting from point A to point B, they could probably do fine on some like this.

tcs

I could have sworn I'd heard of a radical new bike design that accomplished this grow-with-child concept once before, in years past.

S-c-h-w-i-n-n S-t-i-n-g-r-a-y.

I dunno. Maybe not.

tcs

masiman

The Stingray was not as adjustable as this in that the top tube on the Stingray was not adjustable nor the fork length. But the bar was more adjustable on the Stingray.


Banana seaters were great to beat up on.

kuan

That'll be just fine for kids who want to ride a toy.

mamaC

Hmmm, I like the concept... just doesn't look like they have it quite right yet!

(says the woman looking for a bigger bike for her 7 year old)

Sixty Fiver

My daughter has been riding her 1980 Raleigh Saffron since she was 10 (she is now nearly 12) and will be able to ride this bike when she is 82.



It will also accommodate me...



She commutes on it every day and we rode 14 km (round trip).

Her little sister just outgrew her 20 inch mtb although her 20 inch 3 speed cruiser is still fine... I am looking for another Saffron for her as I consider it to be the ideal bike for a young lady / commuter as she will eventually outgrow her beloved blue bike which is a 1973 Raleigh.

badmother

Try this in the folding forums and the guys would not agree with you. Also cranks can be easely swapped, my 13 yrs old can do that in 10 minutes.

There are plenty folding bikes around already that can be used for children that are growing. Just make sure the brake handles are not too big for small hands and so on. I think SixtyFiver posted his girls riding folders in this forum.

Edit: Exactely, there they are. Did not read all the post before posting myself . My son is riding folding bikes all the time and learning how easy it is to take them on a bus or folded innside a car.

twentysixtwo

Biggest issue is pricing. They will probably make this cost 3 times what a big box bike costs, so where are the savings?

If you have more than one kid then it really doesn't make sense - we have 2 big box bikes so far, but with 3 kids it make sense since the younger ones will ride the hand me downs.....

Sixty Fiver

I just swapped out the brake levers on my daughter's Saffron for some Dia Compe BMX levers with adjustable reach (they also look so much better) and another option is to use a canti lever with adjustable reach as the longer lever helps with leverage and small hands.

My youngets daughter will probably get a Raleigh twenty if I can't find another Saffron which is not nearly as common a bike here.

If I could afford it I would be getting us all Bromptons...

Velo Dog

This is what I was thinking...it's going to cost a lot and weigh a lot, and if you factor in swapping cranks as the child grows (which I probably wouldn't do, really), you wind up with a gimmicky, expensive ride. I have a folder that's surprisingly nice to ride, but it cost quite a bit more than most "kids'" bikes. Seems to me to make all the monkey motion work on this thing, you'd have to make it so precise you couldn't maintain a cost advantage.
As for the big box bikes, though...I walked through WalMart today (I very rarely shop there), and I was really surprised at the low quality and poor assembly of the bikes on display. I could turn the headset locknuts by hand on the two I picked up. You'd think liability alone would keep them from letting those out of the store.

NormanF

A folder bike is ideal for any age. The seatpost can be raised as the child grows and you save a heap of money. What could be more simpler?

Sixty Fiver

The one issue with a folder and a smaller child is that the reach to the bars may be too much for them to deal with but at a certain age a folder makes excellent sense.

If you are raising your kids to see bicycles as a transportation option as well as a recreational one you might fined they appreciate things like fenders and chain guards... my daughters will ride in almost any kind of weather.

arej00dazed

a chain guard is a must for any kids bike. when I bought my new bike, one of the things I was looking for was a front sprocket/chain guard cause my kids luvs to turn the pedals and I was affraid of fingers gettn stuck in there.