Cannondale 2018, kids bikes

Cannondale 2018: The Kids Bikes

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This week we took a trip along to Gisburn Forest Trail Centre for a look at Cannondale’s 2018 range. There were all sorts of great new machines on offer – from the Synapse road bike to the new Moterra SE e-bike (and we’ll cover those in a couple more stories, but…) one of the things that the assembled CSG staff seemed most proud of, though, was the expanded kids’ bike range, so we thought we’d start there.

Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Come into my inflatable Cannondale lair…
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Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
The Cujo range: The 24in wheel in green and the 20in Cujo 20 in blue
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Lots to see.

Cannondale Cujo 24

The Cujo 24 is Cannondale’s take on a quality 24in wheeled kid’s bike. Featuring (obviously) 24in wheels, it also has disc brakes, narrow cranks, a lightweight alloy frame, smaller grips, cranks and saddles and chunky old 24 x 2.6in tyres.

Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Disc brakes on the Cujo 24
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Gears are as low as practical for easier pedalling. Nice Kenda Slant Six tyres too.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Could easily be a grownup paintjob, eh?

Other components are chosen for simplicity, like the eight speed Shimano Revo shift gears. The Cujo 24 is aimed at kids from 7-11 years old, with the Cujo 20 taking in those from 5-8. There are also more road-oriented models called the Quick 20 and 24 with skinnier tyres – but hey, who wants that when you’re eight? The Cujo 24 will come in around £419 with the Cujo 20 at £379.

Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Twist gears rather than triggers for simplicity.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Mudguard and rack eyes too! Lots of adventure-potential, reckons Cannondale.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
That’s a pretty sorted 24in wheeled bike we reckon.

Trail Balance Bikes

Cannondale wants to snag your child’s affections early on too. It has produced a simple, but fun looking pair of balance bikes that even have lefty forks. In theory, the green and blue bike is the Boy’s bike and the lilac and turquoise bike is for the girls, but Cannondale is wrong as everyone knows that ever since the lilac Fat Chance Shock-a-Billy bike in the ’90s that lilac is truly unisex… Anyway, the bikes have matching grips and fork colours, feature a Lefty, single sided fork and 12in tyres with very cool offset valves so you can actually pump them up with a decent pump, rather than struggling to get a pump head in between the tiny rim and hub.

Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Here’s a Trail Balance with Work Experience Fin for scale.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
How can you not love a kids’ Lefty?
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
The Trail Balance should fit 2-4 year olds.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
Probably enough traction with that tread.
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes
It’s bent on purpose, OK?
Cannondale 2018, kids bikes, lefty
Concealed headset includes an FSA alloy integrated unit.

 

Cannondale 2018, kids bikes,
The Balance will be £199

 

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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Comments (3)

    These look awesome but this does mean there will be more receipts to hide from the Mrs. How cool would it be having you child busting a Cannondale as their first proper bike?

    for the price of the 24 inch bike they could have put better gears on the bike.

    I’m not convinced that the twist-grip style shifters are easier than the trigger style – when my lad had those on a Focus 24″ they took a surprising amount of effort to use.

    1 x 8?

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