The benefits of riding a bicycle are self-evident. For children who are naturally active, riding a bicycle can get in touch with nature, exercise their social skills and responsiveness, and exercising happily with their children is also conducive to parent-child exchanges and communication. More and more parents realize that the earlier they ride a bicycle, the more beneficial it is for their physical fitness and parent-child education.
However, many people's understanding of children's bicycles may still remain at "smaller bicycles", but in fact, the scope of children's bicycle sports may be deeper and wider than we think. Whether it is practitioners who are struggling to find a way out or parents who are having a headache about parenting, it is actually very necessary to take the initiative to understand the large market of children's bicycle sports.
Children's bicycles mainly refer to bicycles that are different from adult bicycles. They are designed specifically for the body proportions of 2-16-year-old children and take full account of their physical conditions for continuous growth and development. They are divided into balance bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, electric-assisted bikes, leisure bikes, etc. according to the age of the audience and the use scenario.
In recent years, the youth and children's bicycle market is showing great potential. One out of every three bicycles sold in the United States is a youth bicycle. The Chinese market has also shown a trend of rapid expansion in recent years. Although my country has always been a major bicycle country, the market for children's bicycles has not had a large audience. It was not until the implementation of the family planning and "double reduction" policies, and more importantly, with the changes in people's lifestyles and concepts, parents began to pay more attention to the character development of their children and the health of bone development. The Chinese children's bicycle market has ushered in explosive expansion.
However, with such explosive growth, children's bicycle-related products on the market are still mainly complete vehicles. Taking into account the differences in children's bones and body shapes, the handlebar length, seat length, crank width, brake stroke, transmission system and other accessory specifications of children's bicycles are different from those of adult bicycles. However, there are currently few accessory categories specifically designed for young users, and many manufacturers can only use parts from adult bicycles for assembly, which has greatly restricted the development of children's bicycles.
Take the belt drive, which is gradually becoming the mainstream of children's bicycles, as an example. The most important features of children's bicycles are "safety" and "easy maintenance", which just fits the advantages of belt drive. Therefore, more and more children's bicycles choose belt drive solutions.
The application of belt drive on children's bicycles has the following advantages:
Lightweight and safe: Since the belt drive system has no metal chain, rear derailleur and flywheel, it is much lighter than the traditional chain drive, allowing children with less power to control the bicycle better. In addition, traditional chains and sharp gears are a big safety hazard for children. Belt drive can reduce sharp metal parts such as flywheels on bicycles, which can better protect children from injuries.
No oil stains and easy maintenance: Belt drive does not have oil stains, which is an important advantage for children's bicycles. When children ride, all parts of their body may come into contact with the chain, and metal chains need to be frequently added with chain oil to ensure their normal operation. Belt drive bicycles completely avoid this problem, no chain oil is needed, and they are clean and easy to maintain.
Quiet and will not hit children due to jumping: Another advantage of belt drive bicycles is their quietness, no extra chain noise, and no metal chain will hit children due to jumping, which can provide a safer and quieter riding environment.
In general, the application of belt drive in children's bicycles has outstanding advantages, however, there are also some disadvantages, such as there are very few brands specializing in belt drive for children's bicycles on the market, and it is difficult to buy accessories. As a pioneer in belt drive solutions for two-wheeled vehicles, the century-old American brand GATES naturally saw the vacancy in this market and brought a new belt drive series specifically for children's bicycles at the European Exhibition last year.
Among them, EarlyRider, a classic children's bicycle brand, chose Gates' belt drive. EarlyRider started out as a balance bike and specializes in bicycles for teenagers and children. The models cover 12 inches to 24 inches, suitable for children of all ages.
When the belt drive solution appeared, this professional children's bicycle brand realized the huge advantages of belt drive in children's bicycles, and gradually replaced the traditional chain drive that is dangerous and easy to stain clothes in most models. Now, except for pedalless balance bikes and off-road models, almost all models are equipped with Gates belt drive systems.
EarlyRider's 14-inch kids bike has a stand-over height of only 36.5 cm, making it easy for little riders to jump on the bike. It's the brand's lightest bike with a drivetrain, weighing less than 5.5 kg. The belt drive system eliminates the need for regular cleaning of grease and dirt to keep the bike running smoothly and freely.
20 inches is suitable for taller and older children. Generally, these children have more power and can handle more terrain. Therefore, Belter 20 adds a 4-speed internal transmission system, equipped with Gates belt drive, maintenance-free Sturmey hub and beautifully clean belt drive system, without the need to regularly clean "mud glue" and greasy chains, toothed discs or flywheels, but at the same time has the advantages of terrain adaptability brought by speed change. Incredibly, the 4-speed internal transmission system has a 210% gear range, which can cover almost all terrain ranges that children of this age are exposed to.
In fact, the application scope and method of belt drive system in children's bicycles are wider than what people generally think. Belt drive was once thought to be only applicable to single-speed bicycles, but when the internal transmission technology gradually matured, the application scope of the disc brake system became wider and the weight became lighter, the belt drive, with its unique advantages of maintenance-free, clean and quiet, and most importantly, no other metal parts, will be more and more popular in the children's bicycle market.
In the future, it is obvious that there will be more competitions and activities in the children's bicycle market, and more parents will be willing to participate in these activities in order to enrich their children's extracurricular life and improve their children's character and physical fitness. This will derive more market segments for children's bicycles, and more brands and merchants such as Gates will join in the production and research and development of professional spare parts, especially in the mid-to-high-end price range. Faced with the trend of increasing families with two children and three children year by year, the future children's bicycle market and the belt drive market, which has huge advantages for children's bicycles, still have huge development potential.
