The folks at Guardian Bikes think Kids’ bikes should be as safe to ride as they are fun. By adding the SureStop braking system, Guardian hopes to completely eliminate the possibility of an over the bars crash caused by too much of the front brake. The concept isn’t exactly new in the world of brakes, but the inclusion of the system on a kid’s bike is intriguing.
Skid (or don’t) past the break and see how it works and if it’s the right bike for your little minions…..
Guardian bikes uses the Surestop braking system in which there is only one brake lever for the entire bike. The lever works as any other rear brake with the cable from the lever going to the rear of the bike. Once the rear brake is activated, the pad on the right side gets pulled forward in the direction of the wheel’s rotation thus pulling the cable that goes to the front brake. This works fine, but if for any reason the rear wheel looses traction, (i.e. lifts off the ground), the active brake pad snaps back into the holder immediately releasing the front brake. So, shouldn’t every kid have this?
In short, this is a great idea for urban or neighborhood riding, but, and that is a big but, I can’t see this being safer in a situation where the child might be on a rough bike trail. When riding anything more technical than a paved trail, you need your front “primary brake” at all times. If your rear wheel bounces going down a hill, you loose your front brake and we all know how effective a rear brake alone is when trying to stop or slow down quickly going down a hill.
Still, a great idea for our most valuable possessions for the right circumstance. The Guardian bikes come in both boys or girls, in single speed for $259 or with gears for $399. They said they are also working on a 24″ wheeled bike due in Spring 2016.
