Hi-I am looking for a decent bike (hardtail) for my son, preferably with hydraulic disc brakes and forks with erm…air in them. Also got to be quite light so he can keep up with his old mum and dad!

I have been looking at the Lapierre Tecnic 500, would prefer something cheaper and lighter (27.5ish pounds and £700) but can't have it all I suppose! He also has expressed a preference for green and white or green and black but I think that is going to be a difficult order.

I am a bit unsure about the sizing, he sat on a Giant Talon 14" in a shop recently and the guy said he thought a 13.5" would be better for him however the Lapierre only comes in a 16" smallest size? He is around 5ft.

Any suggestions very gratefully received.

LMBL

BTW If anyone happens to have something second hand also please send me the details.

I'm surprised he can't fit on an XS talon- he sounds the perfect size for it and we've sold a lot of XS Giants to people below 5'1".

If it interests you we've got one Giant XTC 4 left from last year in XS that's down to £450 and is a similar weight to the Lapierre. Depends what he wants to do though as if he wants to get a bit more rough then the Talon is, without doubt, the tool for the job. They're fast, fun, very agile and tough. I think they're great bikes.

If you need *really* small then Trek do their bikes in a 13" which is very small.

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/mountain_hardtail/4_series/4900e/

Too big I'd say, though they rocket up.
I sourced most of my lads bike s/h, he was 12.
Spesh Rockhoper 13.5"
80mm forks which are often cheap and light
Mix of Deore and XT.
Deore discs
Truvativ, Easton and just about every other brand went into it.
Came out very light. Got a 2nd first time round then a win so just shows you don't need to splash the cash.Cost about £220.
Warning though regards expense. He was 12 and was fine on a 13.5" he is 13 now and 5'9"+ All I've done is bought another cheap frame and transplanted everything.

Islabike Creig 26

RS Recon air, juicy 3's, SRAM S5 gears = £600

A 14" framed 26" wheeled bike should be fine for him if he's 5ft or so. My son moved onto a bike like that when he was still a little under 5ft and it's been good and he's still fine on it now he's a few inches over 5ft (although since I've just built him a 15" framed bike his mum has now decided she's having it).

After looking around I decided building him something with 2nd hand bits was a better option so that's what I did, based on a small jump type frame and mostly bits I had lying around. A 14" Inbred frame would be ideal.

This is his little bike which, with 105mm MX Comp ETA's, XT and Deore drivetrain, Shimano M505 wheels and cable disks, only cost a few hundred to build and is fairly light:

12 year old on a 13.5" having fun

You could always put 24" wheels on for the moment, and put the larger ones on when he's taller.

If it interests you we've got one Giant XTC 4 left from last year in XS that's down to £450 and is a similar weight to the Lapierre. Depends what he wants to do though as if he wants to get a bit more rough then the Talon is, without doubt, the tool for the job. They're fast, fun, very agile and tough. I think they're great bikes.

One of my sons has this XTC, its a very good bike and reasonably light.

Age is clearly not the key thing here, my 12 year old was riding a 17" Rockhopper ! Not a perfect fit, but its only going to get closer to the right size in the future.

Thanks all-love the photos and love those Islabikes-very good if you are not mechanically minded enough to build your own, just a bit of a journey to get there.

Am not too worried if it is a little big sure he will grow into it (and out of it!), according to the lapierre website he should fit a 16"(41) which is kind of confusing. He has ridden my Trek which is 16" is definitely to big for him and heavy. Best to go and have a look I guess.

Thanks LMBL

My lads 1.5M which is around 4ft 7''? He rides a 15'' Rockhopper it's certainly not too big, there about 3/4'' left to go on the seat post. This will get replaced with a carbon longer one. He has a good position on it, not overstretched. It weighs around 23lb with RS SID Race forks, Hope pro111/355,racing ralphs, Easton xc90 bars (narrow), sram x9 changers etc. The chainset needs to go as does the seat and post to loose another 1.5lb's roughly. All weights are rough, there's very little difference between his bike and my stumpjumper though.

PB

1.5m closer to 5'0" I think