Frog MTB launch

Frog Bikes Now With Added Bounce For Little Shredders

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Frog Bikes, the British brand making bikes specifically for children, has today put on sale a mountain bike range for ages eight to 14. Tested to the same ISO standards as adult mountain bikes, they’re hardtails with suspension forks ranging from 65mm to 100mm travel depending on the size, and prices range from £590 – £610. Let’s take a closer look.

Interestingly, the bikes come with Frog branded forks. Frog says they’ve worked with OEM fork manufacturer with many years’ experience making forks for global bike brands to develop these junior-specific suspension forks. They’re adjustable air-sprung forks which Frog promises are very responsive at low pressure levels – allowing for an appropriate amount of travel even for the lighter riders. It must have been a fair amount of investment for Frog to develop these, but it’s good to see confidence that the junior MTB market is worth the effort.

There are three sizes of bike:

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Frog Bikes
Frog MTB 62

The Frog MTB 62 is aimed at children aged 8-10, or with a minimum inside leg of 62cm. It has 24 inch wheels with a 24 inch specific 65mm travel Frog fork which comes with a lock out function. It retails at £590 and has a claimed weight of 11.3kg, with a 9-speed Shimano trigger shift gear set up.

Frog Bikes
Frog MTB 69

The Frog MTB 69 is aimed at children aged 10-12, or with a minimum inside leg of 69cm. It has 26 inch wheels with a 26 inch specific 100mm travel Frog fork which comes with a lock out function as well as rebound and damping control. It retails at £600 and has a claimed weight of 11.4kg, with a 9-speed Shimano trigger shift gear set up.

Frog Bikes
Frog MTB 72

The Frog MTB 72 is aimed at children aged 13+, or with a minimum inside leg of 72cm. As per the MTB 69, it has 26 inch wheels with a 26 inch specific 100mm travel Frog fork which comes with a lock out function as well as rebound and damping control. It retails at £610 and has a claimed weight of 11.5kg, with a 9-speed Shimano trigger shift gear set up.

For parents looking for a step up from a rigid bike, these bikes enter the market at an inviting price point, and it’s always good to see brands pushing for better and more options for children. Frog has also done away with the ‘splat ‘ graphics of the rest of its range, giving it more grown up feeling graphics. Again, for parents looking for something for a rider who is not quite ready for the XS bikes in adult ranges, this ‘PTL’ range – which stands for Push The Limits – from Frog may well be tempting.

Frog MTB launch
More grown up, for playing like a big kid?

 

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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Comments (7)

    £600 for a kids bike?

    Is it aimed at the kids or aimed at the parents?

    Normally kids bikes have components like Tourney shifters, POS forks with no kind of rebound damping – basically just a spring inside, making for a great pogo stick, and often sporting a 7-speed screw-on freewheel, mechanical disc brakes that are often too stiff at the lever for a kid to comfortably use and other such utter niceties, and those bikes tend to cost around the 300 mark. This bike seems to cost just the same amount as a similarly specced adult bike.

    You can choose whether you want your kid to ride a crap bike, or a decent one. I have swapped XT brakes and shifter for some parents at the shop for their kids bikes after they realized how bad the original components were….

    … and some brands’ “kids bikes” also weigh 14-17 kg. I am not kidding.

    Better than the £600 for a rigid canyon of the same size, and if the fork is better than the old zoom I got on my old HT when I first upgraded from a full rigid, then £600 isn’t too bad! esp when you consider this is still a 10th of what many folks pay for their bikes!

    Could be a competitor to the Creig, it’s a good price. Trigger shifters too. I’d like to compare them side by side to see how the geometry stacks up. Typically I have found Islabikes have lower bottom bracket than frog. Could be the case here, as the 26” frog is recommended for slightly taller riders.

    Agree the Canyon and Whyte alternatives are pretty heavy, having lifted a few over a gate recently.

    Regarding “why pay x for a kids bike”?

    My 11 year old daughter will ride down the same rock gardens as me. I wouldn’t fancy following her on a bike that was 50% my body weight, with brakes made from pasta and forks with all the damping of a broom handle. Why would I ask her to ride on some junk from Argos, whilst I have all the benefits of a fancy trail bike?

    Similarly, my 8 year old daughter was complaining of aching hands and arms after a long descent on rim brakes, on her fully rigid Beinn 24. Not surprising really, I switched to discs years ago for the same reason. Looking seriously at this Frog as her next bike.

    When it’s time to move bike n on, I will be able to sell it for close to what I paid, whether Frog or Islabike.

    Got my Son a rigid Frog last year as I’d started to recoil more than a little at the price of a new Isla. They’re just as good in every way and I echo the comments above about not selling your kids short, if you can afford it.

    Keep up the kids bike reviews. Resale value is a good reason to buy a quality kids bike. Frog v Isa pls !

    Great sensible comments above !

    Cheers !

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