Hi Folks,

As my 9 yr old comes out on more rides with me, the need to get some proper grippy mtb tyres and some critical joint protection becomes rather important.

Have you any recommendations (and links if possible) to good 24″ tyres?

Suggestions/experiences of elbow and knee pads?

Have looked on CRC and wiggle for tyres, seems the continental explorer is where its at?

For pads, I have no clue – CRC has LEAT stuff, or I could go with cheapy from decathlon type store – but I am concerned that pads should be a) comfortable, b) protective and c) not too expensive!

Thoughts and experiences greatly appreciated.

Kev

Conti Explorers are good, but they are really heavy for such as small tyre – something like 680g or thereabouts. You can get some rocket rons from somewhere, and they will be light, but they may not fit a lot of kids bikes due to the clearances on the stays.

I looked into this and ended up with the explorers on an islabike beinn as I wasn’t sure that anything much bigger would fit. If someone can prove me wrong about the rocket ron, then that would be good to know.

Sorry – no experience with kids pads etc.

Schwalbe smart sams, they come in 2.1 and 1.9 nice and light, some good deals around too.

Sorry they are black jacks by schwalbe. My 8yr old gets on with them fine round the lakes.

+1 for the Schwalbe Blackjacks my 9yo uses them in the Alps and they are a good compromise between weight grip and puncture protection.

Some info on pads here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/pads-for-kids-1

And this thread might help with tyres:

http://forums.mtbr.com/families-riding-kids/20-tire-recommendations-alternatives-mow-joes-789480.html

It took me months to find some cheaper than full retail Mow Joes in 20″ so I suggest you set up a few ebay searches and / or google alerts to help.

I’m interested to hear what you go with / find out regarding pads as I want to get some for my 6 year old.

Bringing her home with bashed knees or elbows won’t help my cause!

I went for Smallblock 8s in a 2.1 for UK use (Islabike) and a Big Betty and a High Roller for alpine use (Stinky 2-4).

I got a pair of 24″ folding bead Rocket Ron’s from Bike Discount for my daughter’s bike. I think they were about £16 each.

the leatt kids pads are pretty good, I’ve got a set for my 9 year old. they are basically the same as the adult version. tyres you can get rocket ron’s in 24×2.1 and the big betty mentioned above.

Fox do most of their pads in youth sizes which are quite small.

Schwalbe Mow Joes here – good combination of grippy and light.

My 9 year old has Fox Launch Pro knees – very nice they are too. He has the small and they’re fairly snug on his skinny pins.

Smashing stuff, thanks. Might just pop for the leats, thanks.

Tire wise, big Betty’s sound like the ticket – muddy as hell at the moment, want to give a chance for some grip. Currently running a pair of small block 8ish tyres, so looking for more.

Will report back soon.

To all running Rocket Rons/ Big Bettys – what bikes are you running these on? Plenty of stay clearance?

The Big Betty is on the front inside a set of Rebas – so somewhat unsurprisingly no clearance issues, and the High Roller at the back is on a Stinky (albeit the 24″ version) where I think it was the stock tyre.

I think I had to order the Big Betty direct from Schwalbe’s website – not many in stock elsewhere.

Edit: I did

BIG BETTY Freeride Folding 24 x 2.40 Black, Part #: 11600090.01, GBP£ 48.99

ok – cheers. I had asked Islabikes this question and they had not tried them so didn’t know. I’ve measured it and not sure they will fit.

the rocket ron’s are on a carerra blast with an RST 24 first air fork. no clearance issues front or rear.

I’ve just done a bit of searching on MTBR (which has an active Family riding forum) for recommendations for pads for kids. In summary, across a few threads, there is a preference for G form pads for knees and Fox Pee Wee for elbows.

Fox:

“Other option is Fox PeeWee which come in lil’ sizes, you can also use adult elbow pads for kids knees.”

“Peewe are good. Knees are internally padded with hard plastic outer and extend down shin, elbows are soft. They can be picked up very cheap compared to some of the other brands but see if you can try before you buy or get them with a return offer. They also do a roost (body) protector which covers chest, shoulders and back if the kids are doing bike parks or jumps. Much better than the basic plastic skate ones.”

“For elbows our son uses Fox Peewee size s/m elbow pads which he likes. He actually preferred the fox ones for elbows anyway as the gform ones fell down unless we taped them up”.

“For BMX racing he also wears the fox peewee roost chest/shoulder gaurd. Saves lots of headset/stem and handlebar hits to the sternum and he finds it comfortable to wear under or over his jersey – as a 3/4 year old he wore the size s/m but when we replaced it recently as all our gear was stolen we got hime the size m/l which is a bit big still – he is now 5 and 3 months old and tall for his age.”

“He likes the Fox Pee Wee knee pads for skateboarding”

“my girls run the fox peewee pads and the evs mini pads.”

G form:

“Ive actually just invested in the GForm pads for my 5 nearly 6 year old. I believe that Demos lil shredder also uses them. Not cheap as you’ve found out but Ive used d30 type pads before and they are light & flexible and work. Biggest consideration is size and I think only GForm do pads in XXS”

“We have found the G Form knees in size XXS excellent for our 4 (now 5) year old. They are comfortable and work very well. Our son has had many falls off his mountain bike while wearing them and even landing on sharp rocks have not damaged the pads and he doesnt even seem to feel the hit. When mountain biking he seems to land knee first in falls”.

“Oh and the G From Knee pads cover 2/3 of his shins anyway so we dont bother with shin guards – just the knee pads. He uses shin grater pedals and has not his his shins on the non protected part of his shins yet.”

“We ended up getting the XXS G forms direct from G form (they still have them from last year). He is a large 4 year old and they fit great. The knees fit well under pants and he forgot he had them on until he ate it. The elbow ones he is less excited about and wears his Fox Pee Wee elbows. Knees seem to be the best as that is where most of the bending is. Only downside to G form is if pants kinda hard to get them on underneath(got to lower thight), and pants exposed (as opposed to pads that go over pants). But upside to this is that if your kid is one of the older “too cool for pads” types they fit under everything and noone knows.”

“We will probably send the G form elbows back as he seems pretty happy with the Fox Pee Wee elbow pads and $10 vs $50. If you can’t find the G form knees small enough for your kid you could consider getting XS elbows and using them as knees (not tried, just an idea). “

“I recommend G-Form. Light, sizes that fit kids, and a cool technology that makes them better than anything I have seen. They have a soft rubbery pad that turns hard on impact. Pretty cool. My 5 year old and 7 year old can put their pads on themselves, take them off themselves, and the pads stay in place without issue. Only issue is they are a little spendy compared to others, but in my opinion, a little extra money for protection saves you in both medical expenses and time off the trails. Definitely worth it. I ride the same pads and they are the best I have ever worn. Comfortable to wear, stay in place, easy on, easy off, and take and impact without issue. I don’t even notice them on when riding. First pads I have had no complaints about.”

Other:

“my girls run the fox peewee pads and the evs mini pads.”

“661 2×4 work as shin/knee pads for kids “

“Troy Lee makes youth forearm/elbow and knee/shin guards that are awesome”.

“My 8 year old rocks the Troy Lee knee/shin guards and Fox forearm/elbows(which fit awesome BTW, they have a mesh sleeve to stick arm into that keeps them in place and they are very flexible).”

HTH

smurf, jsut cehcked back in – many thanks for that. Didn’t think to look on MTBR. Excellent.

My 4 year old just got the Fox peewee pads for his birthday. The elbows are great. The knee pads seem a little plasticy and stiff (and there is only one size from age 4 to 9) but he rode for over an hour in them with no complaints. They are so much cheaper than other options too, but I think my 8 year old will be getting more mtb specific pads.

Thanks for the input peabrain.

I like the look of the Fox elbow pads so I think a couple of pairs for my 2 girls is the answer there.

For knees – the G form ones seem like a good bet but are so much more…cheapest I’ve found them so far is £40 from http://www.physioroom.com/.

Useful to hear about the fox ones….could always give them a try, sell them on if they aren’t ideal, and not loose much.

CRC have the leatt pads for £30 at the moment and you can get another 10% off them as well with the GIFT code.

Thanks, I need to speak to that Santa guy…