My daughter asks me frequently if I’ve ever broken a bone before and I’m reminded of the time I went flying over the handlebars of my bike and broke my collarbone. Guardian Bikes is a kids’ bike company that created an innovative SureStop braking system that prevents this very thing from happening. They’ve simplified braking, pricing levels, quality, and size options to make Guardian the safest bike for kids, putting them on the top of our wish list. Let’s look at it in a little more detail.
Why Guardian is The Safest Bike for Kids
Before Ordering A Bike
Before you order a new Guardian bike, you might have a few questions like what size should you order or which Guardian bike should you choose. They make every step of the process as simple and effective as possible.
Five Size Options
Guardian Bikes are available in 5 different sizes ranging from 14″ to 24″ wheels. Their 14″, 16″ and 24″ bikes come in one size each, while their 20″ comes in two sizes. Like the 16″, the 20″ small is the best single speed bike designed for beginning to everyday riders. The 20″ large size, like their 24″ size, has gears for more advanced riders.
Guardian’s Virtual Bike Sizer
To help make purchasing the right size bike for your child easy, Guardian created a unique and clever tool called RideSizer. Simply enter your child’s height, inseam, birthday, and riding experience and RideSizer will display an avatar of your child’s size on whichever size bike Guardian recommends for your child. You can also change the bike to other sizes to see how your child would fit on them.
As an added bonus, if you enter your email into the RideSizer, Guardian will email you a chart of their estimations for how long your child will fit on the bike.
Two Pricing Levels
Guardian offers all of its models in two different lines – their entry-level “Ethos” line and their premium “Original” line. Both lines come standard with the same SureStop braking system.
The Ethos line has a steel frame versus aluminum, a threaded headset versus a threadless, and has a slightly lower level of components in the drivetrain. Although the Ethos and Original lines feature different frames, the body position of the child on the bike is the same on both lines.
Quality Build
If you’ve ever ordered a bike online before, you know it can be a major hassle to put them together. I recently ordered an adult bike that came from China and I never did figure out how to put it together. The Chinese instructions certainly weren’t any help and there wasn’t a service number to call for support. It will cost me an extra $100, and a month of additional waiting, to have the bike put together properly at a bike shop. It was one of the worst purchases I ever made, and it made me very cautious of buying another bike online.
I did my research this time!
Guardian is at the forefront of quality made bikes that are easy to put together. To ensure quality and ease of assembly, every Guardian bike is checked, tuned, and re-packaged by Guardian’s own mechanics in California before they are shipped out to customers. Bikes are never shipped straight from the factory to the consumer. Guardian bikes are super easy to assemble and can typically be put together in less than 15 minutes.
When you open the box, there is an owners manual inside as well as an online link to click. The link takes you to a video with step by step instructions and options after each step just in case it doesn’t work for you.
As if that’s not enough, there is another link for frequently asked questions as well as a phone number to call for immediate assistance. If all that fails, they will direct you to a local bike repair shop and pay for the costs. I don’t know any other company that offers that type of quality service.
Safe Braking
Guardian’s braking system allows kids to brake faster and with more control than traditional braking systems. The SureStop system completely eliminates the risk of a child being thrown over the handlebars as a result of braking with the front wheel instead of the rear, and it allows kids to stop up to 44% faster.
How Does the SureStop System Work?
Guardian’s unique braking system allows the rear and then the front brake to be activated sequentially with the pull of one brake lever. Guardian’s rear brake pad responds to the friction created between the brake pad and the wheel’s rim when the rear brake engages. This friction between the rim and the brake pad pushes the pad slightly forward. When the pad slides forward, it pulls on the attached wire that then triggers the front brake to engage.
With one brake lever on the Guardian bike, a child cannot accidentally brake incorrectly. They simply squeeze one brake lever and the SureStop system takes care of the rest.
On Our Wishlist
When I was an early adult, I imagined what my life would be like, what it would be like to have a family, and what my home would be like. I envisioned a house large enough to host guests with a staircase that my daughter could come down for prom. I pictured finding Easter eggs and opening gifts on Christmas morning. I pictured putting a bike under the Christmas tree with a big bow on it. I’d seen it on holiday movies and it always epitomized the perfect Christmas to me. It wasn’t practical when we lived in Canada because we weren’t really riding bikes in snow storms, but now it’s the perfect fit for my Christmas dreams, and Guardian’s quality, care, and safety make them the best option for our family.