Search forums

Forums

Export thread

Tires or new bike?

Jun 3, 2015#1

WasabiPoptart

Lily wore one of her bike tires through and it popped. The remaining tire isn't in such great shape. So we should replace them both. A pair of 14" bike tires are going to run us about $30. That doesn't sound so bad except that buying her a whole new bike would only be about $80. Considering that she is already close to 4 feet tall I'd imagine that her 14" bike isn't going to last much longer anyway.
Aussie and I both agree spending $30 on tires sounds ridiculous if she has nearly outgrown the bike, but buying a whole new bike is not so smart either since the current one only needs tires.

So I'm turning to you, Forumites. What would you do?

Jun 3, 2015#2

ThatNickGuy

I say new bike. You can adjust the seat and handlebars as low as possible and she'll grow into the bigger frame. If she's close to growing out of this one, might as well get the bigger one now while you're thinking about it.

Jun 3, 2015#3

Dei

My daughter is like... 4'2" and on a 24" bike. 14" bike on someone her height sounds crazy.

Jun 3, 2015#4

WasabiPoptart

I ride a 24" bike! Holy cow!

Jun 4, 2015#5

klew

See what you can get selling/trading in the old one and put it towards a new bike.

Jun 4, 2015#6

PatrThom

I'm with @klew. Try to sell the old one, take the proceeds and put towards new bike. If old bike doesn't sell, then get new tires and force her to hunch for an extra year or two.

--Patrick

Jun 4, 2015#7

ThatNickGuy

PatrThom said:
I'm with @klew. Try to sell the old one, take the proceeds and put towards new bike. If old bike doesn't sell, then get new tires and force her to hunch for an extra year or two.

--Patrick

Well, I have a new exclamation for Dill to shout (in a "Great Caesar's Ghost!" style):

"Quasimodo on a bicycle!"

Jun 4, 2015#8

fade

I say neither. I say used bike. I'll bet you can find a 20" from a friend or a base bulletin board for next to nothing. Everyone's got kids who grow out of those things.

Jun 4, 2015#9

SpecialKO

I'm generally inclined to agree with Fade from the perspective of utility, but with the caveat that you should probably get any used bike serviced before using it, and different bike shops will charge really different prices for that (my two local-ish ones have different policies; one services kid bikes for free but charges for full-on part replacement, the other charges a small service charge but gives you a discount on things like replacing tires).

Jun 4, 2015#10

GasBandit

Replace the bike.

Jun 4, 2015#11

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
Replace the bike.

...but keep the tires?

--Patrick

Jun 4, 2015#12

drawn_inward

PatrThom said:
...but keep the tires?

--Patrick

Put the old tires on the new bike. duh.

Jun 4, 2015#13

WasabiPoptart

fade said:
I say neither. I say used bike. I'll bet you can find a 20" from a friend or a base bulletin board for next to nothing. Everyone's got kids who grow out of those things.

That's is very true. I hadn't thought about that even though we got Noah's bike for free from a friend who was moving.

Jun 4, 2015#14

Gared

Trade Lily in for a shorter daughter.

Jun 4, 2015#15

PatrThom

Gared said:
Trade Lily in for a shorter daughter.

Or just restore her from an earlier save.

--Patrick

Jun 4, 2015#16

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
...but keep the tires?

--Patrick

drawn_inward said:
Put the old tires on the new bike. duh.

Melt down the tires and then p̪̭̤͔̓͒̎oͨ͌̀u͈̳͈̝ͫr̟͕̝̭̣͋̋͛ͦ ̩̳͖̬̰̏̈́ͫ́̃̀ͅťͣh̟̍ͨ̏e̤̬̯͇͓̠͕̓͆m͕̬̫̩̥͐͑͂ ͖̫ͮͫ͊͑̆̑oͮ͛u̘̲̣̤̞͇̳ͨ͂̇̊̾ͣ̆t͚̬̽̓͗ͮ̓ ̤̘̱͔u͕̹̺̰̹̲ͭ̊̾̊ͧͮp̯ͬo͓̲̟̺͇͚n̮͔̗͖͓͎ͬ̍ ̻̹̺͖̺̒͌ͮ͑ͅt̤͎͎͔̘͔̀ͥ̅̓̚h̹͔̼e̹͙͍ͩ̉͑̚ ̰ͩ̍͐̉̋̽̂c͚͇͚͊́̒̽h̜͚̦͍̮̟͋̽̃ͭ̐͒̿ͅḭ̈́͒̾͌l̻͚̙̞͍̤͒͋̅̓ͅd͉͉͙͍̹̖ͤͦ̿̓ͨͦͯ

Ia! Ia!

Jun 4, 2015#17

ThatNickGuy

Keep in mind, though, many bike shops offer one year of free tune-ups and service if you buy a bike from them. Or something similar. It's pretty common practice from locally owned shops. So if you buy new from one of them, you also get tune-ups for no extra cost.

Jun 4, 2015#18

Dei

WasabiPoptart said:
I ride a 24" bike! Holy cow!

It came down to the fact that if we got her a 20" bike, she was going to outgrow it way too quickly to be worth it, so we got her the bike where she can only touch with one foot at a time and she learned to deal with it.

Jun 4, 2015#19

DarkAudit

ThatNickGuy said:
Keep in mind, though, many bike shops offer one year of free tune-ups and service if you buy a bike from them. Or something similar. It's pretty common practice from locally owned shops. So if you buy new from one of them, you also get tune-ups for no extra cost.

This. Very much this.