- Cleary Bikes, San Fransisco -
Cleary Bikes makes lightweight, rad bikes. Just for kids. When you buy a Cleary, you’re joining a family. We’re dads and moms. We ride bikes. And, we want to share with you the experience of riding alongside your child, each of you laughing and smiling. That's our simple goal. Offer our fellow parents honest, outdoor, safe, parent/child, athletic, adventurous, empowering fun!
We’ve all carried a tired, frustrated, screaming kid, with his 40-pound landfill bike in the other arm, from a “fun” bike ride together. We feel your pain! That’s why we started this company! Come ride with us and see how great the ride can be.
Before we made our first prototype bike, Jeff Cleary and his 8-year-old son measured the entire first grade at a local elementary school. Was this attention to detail worth it? Yes. Can you feel it in the ride? You bet. Does the fact that Jeff didn’t bother to video this event prove he’s a preternaturally terrible marketer? Absolutely.
Kids ride our bikes in a balanced, safe-feeling riding position that gives them the confidence to ride further and over more varied terrain. Our bikes are all-around awesome. Kids race Hedgehogs on Phoenix BMX tracks, ride Geckos to school on paved bike paths in Minneapolis, go anywhere and everywhere through Portland on their Owls and even pop wheelies in Hong Kong on a Meerkat.
Cleary bikes have few moving parts to weigh them down or break. They roll smoothly and reliably on high-quality components made specifically to work well under the most abusive of conditions - kids.
We build every Cleary bike by hand from thin gauge steel and alloy component parts to the highest quality specifications.
A handmade steel bike frame weighs virtually the same as an aluminum frame at the 12”, 16” or 20” size. Cleary’s steel frames are painted beautifully with three layers of paint and protective clear coat so they stay gorgeous.
Steel is strong. Our bikes have no rider weight limit. You can ride a Gecko, Hedgehog, Owl or Meerkat. (You can balance on a Starfish, but it’s very tricky. Please send us the video.) You can pass down your Cleary bike to a younger sibling, cousin or neighbor. The bike will last forever. Elderly French people ride fifty-year-old steel bikes to the market. An aluminum bike frame older than a few years is a beer can, now. Or landfill.
Steel is tough. A parent (let’s be honest, it’s always a dad) drives over one of our bikes in his driveway at least once a month. We replace seats or pedals, but generally the frames survive with only a few scratches. Cleary bikes will survive anything your kids can dish out, and look awesome doing it. We guarantee it.
Each of our bikes has a lifetime warranty on all manufacturer’s defects.
Riding is fun! Don’t let gear slow down your child or leave you carrying a 40lb Princess “bike” and a miserable first grader down the bike path. Enjoy the ride on a Cleary!