Having been involved in recent years in purchasing bikes for my grandchildren, I have discovered there are not a lot of appropriate products for children between ages four and eight. Most are too heavy and based on a mountain bike design with chunky wheels and tires.

I continue to search for the mini coaster brake bikes for kids that were available in the 1960s and '70s. Here is a photograph of my daughter, Ellen, then age seven, in 1974 with her brand new kids Raleigh girls' coaster bike. Light and sturdy with responsive handling, it proved an immediate hit.

Michael Clague