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How fast can a child go on a tricycle?

Submitted: 45 days and 20 hours ago.

Category: General

Value: $9

Status: CLOSED

Posted by MJ 45 days and 19 hours ago.

Answer

Hello XXXXXXXX, and thank you for your question.

It would depend on the child's size, skills, and fitness, and on the particular tricycle, and on the riding surface. A general range of 5 to 8 miles per hour would be about the limit of what the average child who is within the expected age group to be riding a tricycle (say 3 to 5 years old) could get up to on an average tricycle. An older child deliberately racing a particularly speedy tricycle might reach 10 to 15 mph - similar to the speed that an average child on an average bicycle might reach.

I hope this information is helpful, and if so please click the green "ACCEPT" icon as this is the only way that I can be paid for my answer through JustAnswer.
Feel free to ask additional related questions.
Thank you.

Edited by MJ on 10/8/2009 at 1:34 AM

45 days and 16 hours ago.

Reply

Do you have any source you can cite supporting the speeds in your answer? Does it help to be more specific, like saying the child is three or four riding a typical pre-bike tricycle?

Accepted Answer

Hello XXXXXXXX, and thank you for your followup question.

I'm not sure if you're interested in this from a scientific standpoint, or as someone concerned about safety of a child on tricycle, or some other reason?

If the first, then I'd recommend this article which gets into the physics of the speed of a bicycle under various conditions (a tricycle works on nearly identical principles):
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0031-9120/44/4/005

But, if you're interested more in the safety potential: advice on cycling for children usually suggests that if a child can ride a tricycle faster than the average adult walks briskly or jogs (which is typically in the 4 to 10 mph range) then the child is too old for a tricycle and should be transitioned to a bicycle, with or without training wheels, as the visibility is much better due to the height of the bike.
This would suggest that a three or four year old probably would not be expected to ride a tricycle any faster than 8 mph or so on a flat surface (downhill is of course an entirely different issue), whereas a 5 or 6 year old may be able to exceed the 10 mph jogging average, and would then presumably be ready for a 2-wheeler. This is what I based my information on.

I'm not sure that there is any data out there specifically relating to speeds of children on tricycles. Some adult tricycles - of the sort that might be ridden by people with balance or coordination issues instead of a bicycle - have recommended and maximum safe speeds specified by their manufacturers, and these tend not to be any higher than 8 to 15 mph for tricycles that are manually operated - but, this does not necessarily mean that it's impossible to get them to go somewhat faster, however unsafely. This also does not necessarily related directly to top speeds for children's tricycles, which on the one hand are much lighter, but on the other hand would be expected to be pedalled with considerably less force. Unfortunately, manufacturers of childrens' tricycles do not seem to supply information on their tricycles' top speeds.

I do hope this information is helpful, and if so that you will please click the green "ACCEPT" icon as this is the only way that I can be paid for my answer through JustAnswer.
Thank you.

Edited by MJ on 10/8/2009 at 2:28 AM

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Answered:	10/8/2009

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45 days and 5 hours ago.

Reply

MJ - Thanks for your help. In truth, I was looking for a more definitive answer, the way there are average mph numbers for many animal. Say, a four year old travels at about 3 mph on a tricycle, if this was accurate.. Again, thank you.

Posted by MJ 44 days and 20 hours ago.

Answer

Thank you very much for the Accept, XXXXXXXX.

I'm sorry that I couldn't find a source that has a definitive speed or range for a child on a tricycle. I'm sure somebody out there somewhere has studied that at some point, but I exhausted all the sources I could think of.
I think you'd be pretty safe with the 5 to 8 mph range that I initially gave you. Think about it this way: an average walking speed for an adult is about 3 to 3.5 mph (for that fact there are lots of sources!) and a 3 or 4 year old on a tricycle can generally outpace an adult who is walking at a normal pace - but the adult can outpace the child on the tricycle if the adult speeds up to a brisk walk or a jog.

Thanks for the interesting question!

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How fast can a child go on a tricycle?

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Do you have any source you can cite supporting the speeds in your answer? Does it help to be more specific, like saying the child is three or four riding a typical pre-bike tricycle?

Accepted Answer

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MJ - Thanks for your help. In truth, I was looking for a more definitive answer, the way there are average mph numbers for many animal. Say, a four year old travels at about 3 mph on a tricycle, if this was accurate.. Again, thank you.

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