Giant KJ165 a good bicycle for a 4-year-old?

[Omniloquacious]

Does anyone have any views to share on the Giant KJ165 PU90 kids' bicycle?

I want to buy a bicycle for my daughter's 4th birthday next week, and this one looks a likely candidate.

[asiababy]

My daughter was given that bike recently (she's five). I find it too long and clumsy. I can't fit it in the trunk of my car. The baskets get in the way. My daughter finds it hard to push around. And I can't see her learning to do any good turns on it once she gets to take the training wheels off. (She does like the color.) My son has the KJ182. He got that when he was four. He's seven and we recently took the training wheels off. I want to get him a bigger bike but he LOVES this bike. My daughter likes his bike, too.

[sandman]

Mine just adores his FirstBike (check their Facebook page). Doesn't have pedals -- its a kick bike -- but its WAAAAY faster than any kids pushbike, smaller, lighter and WAAAAY cooler.

[Shaktipalooza]

A friend of mine recently bought her daughter one of those. She's doing fine with it and recently took the training wheels off.

I bought my son a different model Giant but didn't care for it only having hand brakes (no peddle brake). If a kids learns to use the pedal brake they have a much easier time stopping on a hill. Downside is the learning curve transitioning to bigger bikes with no pedal brakes.

I've been favoring the Trek bikes for both my boys. They have pedal brakes and have lighter aluminum frames. Not sure if Trek has girls bikes with groovy baskets.

[914]

We have this and another one, both by gant and bought in error but cant return.

This one is fine for our three year old to circle round downstairs, but the other one is more smooth. But this one is fine too and the basket, bell, and stand are a nice bonus. The other one we got was the same price but without any accessories. Both bikes are sturdy, even i can ride them, which I do.

[Teddoman]

Apparently the new fangled training method for kids these days is no training wheels on a no pedal bike. I have seen two year olds just propelling themselves along with their feet on these no pedal bikes.

My wife also finally learned how to ride a bike at a session for adult learners. It was also no pedal bikes on a short strip of road with a slight incline.

The key is balance, not pedaling, so training wheels actually slow the process by not allowing the child to learn to balance.

[Nuit]

The key is balance, not pedaling, so training wheels actually slow the process by not allowing the child to learn to balance.

Whilst this is true, I don't believe any harm has come to the millions of kids world-wide who've gone down the trusted training wheel route.
There's also the rite of passage in learning to balance with the training wheels removed, that's one of my favourite childhood memories.

Back on topic.... I looked at all the Giant bikes for my 4 yo last year, and didn't really like any of them.
In the end we found a nice pink one for her in a Bianchi shop (the make is Leader). It's been just fine for her over the last 18 months. Was cheaper than Giant, too.

I could post a pic if u like.

[Teddoman]

Whilst this is true, I don't believe any harm has come to the millions of kids world-wide who've gone down the trusted training wheel route.
There's also the rite of passage in learning to balance with the training wheels removed, that's one of my favourite childhood memories.

Totally, I did the same thing when I was growing up.

[Teddoman]

I'm not trying to convince anyone (sorry if it comes across like that), but I randomly came across a Slate article today talking about balance bikes, just in case that might affect your purchase decisions.

I sort of have this intuition that this re-invention hasn't spread to a lot of the West, much less Taiwan, so just thought I'd share in case anyone was interested.

[Omniloquacious]

Thanks for all the replies.

We got "trapped" in Hualian by the landslide that closed the Suhua Highway, so had to drive back to Linkou the long way, via Taidong, Pingdong and Kaohsiung. As I refuse to drive on any of Taiwan's freeways unless I absolutely have to, and equally avoid all but the most lightly trafficked expressways, it took us until this afternoon to get home, 3 days after the birthday, and I haven't been able to buy the bicycle yet. I'm almost certainly going to get the Giant, but I do like the idea of those kick-bikes, so might get one of those as well.