totalnewbie

looking for a 14" bike for my 4-year-old. most bikes that I have seen are equipped with pneumatic tires with rim brakes. This particular one is equipped with foam tire with a brake system that I am not familiar with - it looks like something that press right up against the tread of the tire (I assume you can't use rim brake on plastic/foam) Would anyone know what the name of this brake system is and whether it is considered safe?

PBC peugeot

that is a really cheap design, and by cheap I mean not very good
the best type of brake for a small kid is the traditional coaster brake
young riders do not have the finger strength to use bar mounted brake levers effectively
but they do have the leg strength to use a coaster brake,
having a combination of hand and coaster brakes is also an excellent idea
that way they have the stopping ability of the foot brake, while getting used to hand brakes

Moe Zhoost

That's similar to the spoon brakes that were used a century ago. They were not all that effective, though these may be sufficient for a young rider who won't be riding very fast. The key is that your child must have the finger span and strength to be able to use these. Many kids just can't use hand levers. Coaster brakes are the way to go.

I do like that they have the bike set up for the right-hand lever to actuate the front brake. That's the way I set my bikes up.

WhyFi

This isn't an answer to your question, but...

If your kid needs training wheels to operate a pedal bike, I wouldn't even go this route. Skip the training wheels and go with a balance bike, or a pedal bike with the crankset removed, and let them learn balance and pedaling separately - it'll be much easier for them and less frustrating for you. Their feet will be their brakes until they graduate to pedalling.

FWIW, my kids didn't have the hand strength to effectively use hand-actuated brakes until moving to discs.

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Kapusta

This is one of the only handbrake setups I have seen that actually worked for a very small child:

soyabean

I see the OP is in Taiwan (Republic of China).

Oh yes definitely get that bike. Safety standards don't apply there, so any bike is fine

Bigdarbs

That type of brake is very, very poor if the tyre is wet. I wouldn't buy it.

Iride01 

Just going by looks, that's not a bike intended for serious riding by kids. It's more intended just for playing in the yard and driveway in a not very demanding way. Everything on the bike looks poorly made for the things a very active child will put it to use for.

I think it truly belongs in the toy category.

totalnewbie

my kid has been riding on his balance bike and everytime he sees a tricycle he jumps on it, thus leading to me thinking of getting a pedal bike w/ training wheels so he could start developing his leg muscles (his legs are a bit weak, sometimes he goes kind of awkward pedaling a tricycle) and when he is used to that pedalling motion I will take the training wheel off. He is at an in-between height now (too short for a 16" but near the top end of a 14") once he grows a little more I want to get him a better-engineered one like woom. right now I just want to get him a filler bike to fill in over the next few months. anyway, off topic a bit but do you think a disc brake bike is easier to trigger? coz I also have this option in the photo

totalnewbie

haha, indeed. the safety standard here is indeed different (if there is any) for once, it is actually not easy for me to find a bike with coaster brake. big name manufacturers like Giant or merida simply use a front and rear v-brake or caliper for their kiddies. I wanted to get a better bike that is specially designed for kids like woom or cleary. but they were marked up at a premium over here (one might think that most of these bikes are made in taiwan, I could get one for cheaper but no) "foreign" brands actually sell for a premium here.

msu2001la

Just piling on here, but for a 4-year old I'd definitely get a balance bike. They don't need brakes at this age, they'll just use their feet, which also will help build confidence and balance. Training wheels don't teach them balance and seem to slow down the learning process.

My daughter learned on a 12" balance bike starting at 2, and made the transition to a 16" coaster brake pedal bike around 4 1/2 years old. She's 6 now, and still rides that same 16" bike. I'm really glad she has a coaster brake. She can easily skid the rear tire for fun (which I highly encourage) and I am also comfortable that she can quickly stop in an emergency situation. I don't think even now she'd have the hand strength to stop a rim brake bike quickly, plus those cheap calipers are a pain to keep adjusted.

For her next bike I'll probably go for a 20" with hand brakes, but will definitely look for a disc version. I hope to never buy a rim brake bike again.

msu2001la

Sorry, I missed this post. My daughter struggled with learning to pedal as well, when she transitioned from her 12" balance bike to a 16" pedal bike.

I actually took the pedals off the 16" bike, lowered the seat all the way down, and let her use it as a bigger balance bike for a few months. When we started practicing with the pedals it was clear she had no idea how that worked, so I put the training wheels on for a few days so she could get the hang of it, without worrying about balancing. That seemed to do the trick and she was off and riding without training wheels after just a few tries.

You mentioned Giant as a bike you can get. They have a 16" kids bike sold in the US that has a front rim brake paired with a rear coaster:
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/animator-c-b-16-2022

That's the same bike my daughter has, but without the front brake.

70sSanO

I don’t know if there are any bikes with coaster brakes available, but that is the way I would go. In my experience, there is no slow bike. If a surface has a down grade, kids will usually want to go faster.

The balance bike vs training wheels is a non-issue. People always want their method to be the best. If you already have a balance bike, get a pedal bike with training wheels, and a coaster brake. It won’t stunt his growth into cycling.

John

livedarklions

I have to guess that if the photographs that don't show the actual brake shoes are any indication, this is a token effort at putting brakes on the bike. I've never seen anything like that in the 21st century, so I'd think the burden is on the manufacturer to let you know how the brake is supposed to actually brake. Hard pass--that thing looks worse than nothing.

Definitely coaster brakes if you can get them.

livedarklions

I think there's no way to know what the required span and strength would be as they hide the way the shoe makes contact with the tire, and also what the shoe is actually made of. Also, kids can get a training wheel bike to go pretty fast

totalnewbie

just noticed that the same giant kids bike (in this case animator) being sold in taiwan are spec'ed differently from those in USA. rear brake is a V-brake vs a coaster in USA. big price difference too (about half the price in taiwan)

PBC peugeot

I never would have imagined a simple coaster brake could add that much to the price of a bike

Chuck M 

Exactly. I'm thinking foam tires are for indoor use to not damage flooring. For what this is for, brakes are there for looks.

totalnewbie

Giant USA lists the bike for $295. taiwan is about $155 when converted. maybe it's the "bell" (absent on the Taiwan model) that contributes to that big price difference.

soyabean

Have you seen the houses in Crazy Rich Asians?

Big enough to bike indoors, so definitely don't want to scuff any granite flooring.

Pratt

Agree, the bike in the OP looks like junk.
What ever you end up with, I'm sure the other posters will concur, any and every safety feature can, and will, be defeated by an enterprising child.

fooferdoggie 

my granddaughter is really small at 4 she is maybe 30 pounds and peddling was work. I broke down and bought her the smallest trek bike they made within a month we took the training wheels off. the cheap bikes are hard to ride.

PeteHski

OP's bike is junk.

As others have suggested, a balance bike is the way to go. Forget about training wheels too. Neither of my kids used training wheels and they learned to balance in an afternoon. Some of their friends who rode with training wheels made zero progress until they removed them, sometimes a year or more later!

Specialized88ds

I'm new to this community and not a bike expert. But I do have an engineering background and from a physics standpoint, this is terrible. Pressure = Force / Area. The large the area, the larger the force must be to apply the same pressure. Small disc brakes or pad brakes have a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller area than this terrible design, and therefore a child (or anyone) will be able to achieve the proper pressure on the wheel to stop with much less force. So this is way less safe if a child needs to stop abruptly. Stopping distance will absolutely be longer than other brake types.

As for balance bikes: my two kids rode with training wheels and then I taught them without. Had neighbors with kids who used balance bikes. Neighbors kids did pick up pedaling a regular bike much quicker. But we're talking total training time of 2-3 hours over the course of a week to get my kids riding. Starting from atanding did take much longer for them, but either way is fine. Don't stress it.

Specialized88ds

Agreed. Had a Royal Baby from Amazon that had the crank break. Cheap bikes are also much heavier, so parents do themselves a big favor as well. Life became much easier with Treks and Giants for me when I had to load/unload into the vehicle.