and no added weight up front from a cheap suspension fork (he’s as light they don’t work anyway)
That's pretty light then as mine was using a cheap RST F1rst Air from before his 6th birthday.
this next bike should do next couple years?
I thought that when I bought mine a 24incher for her 7th Birthday. 1 year later it's looking pretty small on her. (FWIW Rigid Orbea MX Dirt - https://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicycles/kids/mx-kids/cat/mx-24-dirt)
I must confess I've avoided any suspension on kids bikes. Rightly or wrongly I think the extra weight/pedal effort for a youngster is far too big a sacrifice for a small bit of downhill speed.
Incidentally will be selling this once I rip off the forks, brakes, drivechain and hope headset and put the originals back on...(Assuming this embed works)
Would have a brand new spare shock for £375
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Or with the SID forks / wheels / drivechain (still less than a Creig)
the last bike he had was fitted with Suntour XCM (i think) forks and they did absolutely nothing, all they did was add weight he didn't need up front. The plus size tyres help to absorb some of the smaller bumps anyway.
My boys both had Saracen Mantra 24s for a couple of years and we were pretty happy with them for the money.
Suspension forks were basic but actually worked, the disc brakes were OK and 30.9 post so you can fit a dropper (we fitted Brand X externally routed posts).
We also fitted some Schwalbe Rocket Ron tyres which were lighter and much more suitable to the UK Slope and Grime than Kenda Small Black 8s
Sold them now but their riding came on in leaps and bounds with them, by the end they were riding laps of Monkey and Follow the Dog at Cannock on them.
I assessed most of th above mentioned bikes and it ultimately came down to the Creig 24 and an Earlyrider Trail Mx24.
Settled on the earlyrider in the end after great experience with a Belter Trail 3 and poor experience of a Beinn 20.
Also was able to get the Trail 24 at a decent discount from France.
It’s a beautiful thing! A proper MTB!
Cant wait till his 8th birthday in november.
Hey
Thanks for all the comments, the Earlyrider Trail Mx24 looks great but more than I want to pay out, but looks great.
I think I have pretty much settled on the Whyte 303, the 403 is about 18 months off in size.
The Cannondale Cujo 24+ looks good similar to the whyte 303
