16" wheel kids MTB w/ gears? Anywhere?

[Pskhaat]

Does anyone know of who makes a 16" wheel kids mountain bike, yes with gears. Acquaintances of ours back in AZ had a relatively new kids 16" wheel bike with a 3 gear cassette and shifter, cannot remember the name of the bike.

...and can't find ANYTHING anywhere. Any of you put a small set of gears and derailleur/shifter on a 16" bike?

 

[Jay H]

I have assembled hundreds of kids bikes over the years and cant think of a 16 with gears, they mostly all have coaster brakes, and occasionally a coaster brake and a a hand brake. Once your up to 20" there is a ton of them out there, the Gt stomper comes to mind. I would think you best option for adding gears would be an expensive three speed hub laced to a 16" rim. This will cost. An issue is that 16" frames frequently lack rear brake bosses of any sort and are generally 120mm rear hub spacing rather than 130 or 135.

 

[Pskhaat]

Yeah, 20" is simply just too big for a 3yo. 16" is too, but at least is the next step for him for the next 2+ years.

I've thought about a 3spd hub gear with coaster brake. I'm not sure how the smaller # of spokes would thread through the larger # of holes in said hub?

I'm surprised there are no 16-18" wheel gear bikes. A lot of kids are ready for some decent gearing (especially here in CO) well before they fit into a 20".