There really hasn’t been a better time to get your kids into mountain biking, or cycling in general. More and more bike brands are designing quality bikes for young riders that handle like proper bikes, come with kid-friendly components and don’t weigh the same as that rogue planet currently floating through the universe.
Below we’ve listed 10 kids bikes that will get every child in your family, from toddler to teen, out on the trails this summer and away from the dreaded games console and that bloody stupid Fortnite game..
Commencal Ramones 12
- Price: €159-€199
- From: Commencal
Let’s start with the tiniest riders in your household, we’re talking toddlers who want to hit the dirt and start winning races like Amaury Pierron and Myrian Nicole. We’re sure many of you were probably on a trike of some sort at this age, but with the advent of balance bikes, kids can actually start proper riding from a really early age.
The Ramones 12 is the smallest bike in the Commencal lineup, and while it might just be for toddlers to learn on it still comes with a lightweight, aluminium frame, proper tyres, ahead set and stem and even an optional disc brake mount.
Andi’s youngest has been riding her Ramones 12 since she was just 2 and is now moving on to her first pedal-powered bike, a Ramones 14.
Vitus Fourteen Kids Bike
- Price: £139.99 or $175.99
- From: Chain Reaction Cycles
Moving on to pedals, the Vitus Fourteen get’s 14in wheels, super tiny cranks and V brakes front and rear, with adjustable levers to suit smaller hands. The frame is a lightweight 6061 alloy model available in blue or red, with a complete bike weight of 6.4kg or 14.1lbs.
What’s really impressive with the Vitus Fourteen is the low-price of just £139.99 or $175.99 if you’re in the U.S. The Vitus is also available in a large 16in wheel version too for the slightly high price of £166.99 or $215.99.
Isla Bikes Cnoc
- Price: From £289.99
- From: Isla Bikes
Isla Bikes has built it’s brand around quality kids bikes, and its range is brimming full of lightweight options for riders of all ages.
Isla Bikes tend to be less aggressive bikes than what we see from the likes of Commencal, meaning frame tubes are thinner, rims are narrower and tyres and skinnier. The upside of this is weight is much lower, meaning smaller riders are able to manoeuvre their bikes with ease.
The Cnoc comes in sizes 14in – 20in (wheel size) and are suitable for riders aged 3+
Orbea MX 20 Dirt
- Price: £249.00 . or $321.00
- From: Treadz
Spanish brand Orbea is another manufacturer that takes kids bikes seriously. The MX 20 features 20in wheels an alloy frame and low standover height, perfect for building confidence up. V brakes are used again for stopping duties, while Shimano’s 7-speed Atlus drivetrain offers a good introduction to gears.
The MX 20 is available in either Blue/Pink or Black/Green colour options and costs £249.00 which is roughly $321.00.
Spawn Cycles Yama Yama
- Price: £1,049 in the UK or $1150 in the U.S.
- From: Spawn Cycles
Spawn is a Canadian based bike maker who has been producing kids bikes for riding around the North Shore since 2011. Their bike range includes hardtails, dirt jump bikes and even full-on kids downhill bikes.
The Yama Yama is a 24in wheeled hardtail designed for riders aged between 8-12. The bike is clearly aimed at aggressive young riders who enjoy dirt jumps and trail riding, with the alloy frame sporting ISCG-05 tabs for a chain device and internal routing for a dropper post.
Up front is an 80mm travel X-Fusion Velvet fork that has been specifically tuned for lighter riders, while SRAM handles the drivetrain. The final touch is a set of Tektro AURIGA disc brakes.
The Spawn Yama Yama costs £1,049 in the UK or $1150 in the U.S.
Frog MTB 62
- Price: £590.00
- From: Frog
Frog updated it’s mountain bike range earlier in the year and has added a ‘junior specific’ air fork to certain models with lockout and damping controls. The MTB 62 is aimed at riders between 8-10 years old and features a lightweight alloy frame, Shimano 9-speed groups and hydraulic disc brakes.
Lil Shredder Phenom DH Bike
- Price: From $3495
- From: Lil Shredder
Lil Shredder actually has its hardtail and full suspension frames manufactured in California. The brand has a team of young riders, who will easily ride rings, jump hoops and shred the trails better than most of us, so its frames are designed to handle some really serious riding.
The Phenom is Lil Shredders trail/DH full suspension bike designed for riders who are between 4’3” – 5’3” and runs on 24in wheels. As mentioned above each frame is handcrafted in the U.S with complete bikes built up using only top of the range components from brands like Spank, Fox, Deity, Kore, Shimano etc.
In addition to the Phenom, Lil Shredder also builds the Prodigy which runs on smaller 20in wheels along with a couple of hard-hitting hardtails.
Propain Yuma
- Price: €1799
- From: Propain-Bikes
Propain bikes might be known for its World Cup team, and enduro bikes like the Tyee we reviewed a few years back, but the German brand also builds a range of kids hardtail and full-suspension bikes.
What’s interesting about Propain’s kids’ bikes is that most models have been designed to accept 2 wheel sizes meaning that the 24in wheeled Yuma can also accept 26in wheels allowing the bike to grow with the rider. A great feature especially when considering the cost.
The 2018 version of the Yuma gets 140mm of rear wheel travel with a max of 150mm up front. Build kits include parts from Manitou, SRAM and RockShox with pricing starting from 1799 Euros.
Commencal Clash
- Price: €1799 – €2499
- From: Commencal
Commencal released the Clash earlier this year as a freeride or “Super Enduro” bike for adults only, but for its new 2019 range the Clash has spawned 3 smaller bikes designed specifically for kids. The Clash kids bikes come in 20in, 24in and a Junior model running 650b wheels.
Each version comes in the same sand colour as Commencal’s team bikes, and each one is built for aggressive riding on proper trails. It’s quite common to see Commencal’s current Supreme 24 up in the Alps, so rest assured these bikes are made to last.
Orange Zest Kids Bikes
- Price: £350-£850
- From: Orange
Orange has a new range of kids hardtails based on the Zest. The bikes include the Zest 20, available in either fully rigid or with a suspension fork up front, or a larger Zest 24. Orange’s hardtails are made in Taiwan but the bikes are assembled in the UK, and like the adult models, each Orange kids frame can be custom painted.
For smaller riders, Orange also offers the Orange Pop with 16in wheels, rigid fork and V brakes.
Have you had any experience with the above kids bikes? Or is there a bike you think we should have included? Let us know in the comments below.
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You should have the Cannondale Cujo 20 in there. It’s an awesome 20″, disk braked, mini-fat that has given my daughter tons of confidence offroad. Lovely little bike.
+1 for the plus bikes. Specialized Riprock and Scott’s version, my kids loved them.
I do get tired reading: “…fits 2 wheel sizes, allowing the bike to grow with the rider”.
Swapping in bigger wheels does NOT make a bike fit a bigger rider! If their knees are hitting the handlebar, bigger wheels won’t change anything about that.
Bigger riders need longer reach and higher stack, both of these are frame measurements, nothing to do with wheel size. You can adjust for a growing rider with stem and handlebar choices, no wheel swaps necessary.
Ah, yes those Specialized plus bikes are very cool. Spotted a few around Tignes the other week. Thanks 😀
Trek Fuel Junior should be in there, our son has done chair lift Alpine runs on that yet it’s still light enough to ride XC loops in the UK. A genuine scaled down adult bike with weight tuned shocks too.
No mention of Black Mountain. Innovative home grown design from a new brand specialising in children’s bikes which are up for a design award. Thought they would be worthy of being on the list?
I can, or rather my son would, recommend the following:
Moustache Walkbike Mercredi 12.
– Great balance bike with a trick ‘righty’ single blade fork.
Ridgeback MX-14.
– Bombproof kids bike.
Pinnacle Koto 16.
– Another bombproof kids bike.
Trek Superfly 20.
– A lightweight first MTB. Proof that big bike companies can give the kids bike specialists a run for their money.
All ridden be my son and they’re now starting to be handed down to my daughter.
There are more primo bikes out there but these are the best balance of price vs. durability.
Next up will be a Hoy Bonaly disc 24 or, if he choses the dark side, a Hoy Meadowhill 24.