One of my kids is growing out of his Islabike Beinn 20. He’s pretty handy on a bike and got bundles of stamina but still mainly likes to just doss around. However I feel that we’re at a cross roads where with the right encouragement he’ll choose a cycling path and be pretty good at it. Of course I’d be keen to have him coming out with me more on a mountain bike, but on Sunday he did a local CX race and he loved it. Prior to this he’d already seen a cross bike and now he’s dead set on one so anything else (rigid or hardtail e.g. Creig/Beinn 24) could be a tough sell. I suppose we could limit mountain biking to the double/gravel track we have around here (plenty of it) and if this CX racing takes off he’ll be loathe to race on anything other than the real deal. Anyone else been at a similar cross roads? I have one bike and it’d be highly inappropriate for one of my kids to have more…

Also anyone had a look at the Giant TCX Espoir 24 (https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/bikes-tcx-espoir-24-2018) or its predecessors or have any recommendations at the £400 mark? Reviews of the Giant are thin on the ground. Like the rest of the family he’s a short-arse so likely needing a 24 inch wheel.

I’ve got two kids that raced cross last season ages 7 and 10. The younger was on a regular frog bike, the other is on a raleigh drop bar bike – we swap the tyres out weekly depending on if she is riding off road or on tarmac.

Personally I would stick with a islabike/frog type at that age, giving the kids the chance to join the xc series as well as cx – drop-bar bikes are not allowed in the xc series.

We’re about to change the eldest daughter’s raleigh – and will be looking for a fast hardtail to replace it – she can still race cross on an mtb, but will be able to do some mtb racing as well..the hardtail allows both routes

Cheers allfankledup. Cheeky bump for the evening crowd.

cheap one on the classified right now – not mine and no link to whoever it was that posted it- to just give it a go?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-dawes-espoir-boysgirls-roadcyclocross-bike-24-wheels-1

I have one bike and it’d be highly inappropriate for one of my kids to have more…

Sounds like a fine opportunity to n+1 up to me 🙂

My son (8) does a bit of everything and at the moment he has an MTB, a road bike and a CX / grass bike. In truth, the road and CX bikes could be merge but they were dirt cheap, so I don’t mind them being separate at the moment. We have been an MTB family for years, so I would never be without one, but we now both do a lot of road riding and really enjoy and I don’t think you can really do both justice with a single bike. One thing’s for sure – if he’s riding his road bike, I certainly couldn’t keep up with him on my MTB any more, which more or less mandated me to have one too!

Next year, I’ll build him a less rubbish CX bike and perhaps a new road bike, but for now what we’ve got works ace and didn’t cost (too) much money. Kids love riding, so give them the tools to do it if you possibly can 🙂

Personally, a half decent MTB and a Luath (26 or 700c depending on leg length) would seem a really flexible combo and cover you for pretty much any riding.

I agree with the above, N+1 is the way forwards (funds depending obviously). My lad has a Frog 52 mini mtb thingy that he rides most of the time, but at the ‘cross race last weekend he tried and immediately fell in love with a Frog 58 road / ‘cross bike.

A bit of eBay scouring and I found a brand new (ex-display) one without the 2nd set of tyres for a right bargain. Bought the ‘cross tyres (Small Block 8 DTC’s) today and he’s getting it when he gets home. Can’t wait to see the look on his face as he thinks he’s got to write a letter to Santa to get one 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YjBXBD]#frogbikes #teamsky #cyclocross[/url] by Steve Bowman, on Flickr