Been looking at 24" bikes for my (almost) 10 year old son. He's small for his age so probably more 8 year old sized. The Islabikes Creig 24 looks nice if I ignore the price, but seems to have a limited gear range and that pesky grip shift changer.
I like the idea of front suspension but am trying to convince myself that the brakes don't have to be hydraulic disc.
The Marin Bayview Trail 24 Disc looks good. Just wondered what the collective would suggest.
My daughter has just outgrown her 24" Trek mt220. She loved riding that bike, the main virtues being fit and light weight.
Discs aren't critical on a 24" bike, well set up v brakes work fine for a kid.
Inspired Skye? And until he's tall enough to use it properly you could pick up some street trials?
At the cheaper end Voodoo Bakaa from Halfords in a recommend what you have kind of way.
The Trek MT220 weighs in at 12kgs, the Hoy Bonaly is down at 9kg, those suspension forks add a fair bit of weight, does he really need them??
My lad has been very pleased with his Bonaly but it will depend on what type of riding your son will be doing.
Genesis core 24. rigid forks, but fitted bigger tyres and theres been no complaints. The other one has a Carrera Luna but dropped the terrible forks for a set of rebas. Also changed the bars and seat post for something not made of pig iron. Still looking at the chainset as I have an SLX sitting in the box..
Frog bike - two sets of tyres. Used by 8yr old daughter for crits, cx racing, club sessions on grass etc. She weighs nothing and hasn't asked for any suspension or discs...
Bookmarking thread for later as i am looking for one for jnr.
we've had Islas and Frogs - both second hand and good but I also bought a 24" Specialized HotRock on ebay for my 10yr old daughter and am actually quite impressed. They are certainly cheaper than the kids-only brands. The only thing really lets it down are the hefty useless forks (which at least hav e alockout) and over long stem (a cheap fix)
It's really easy to apply your own standards to your kids bikes but really they don't care as long as it fits and works - critical thing being can they pull the brakes and do the gears go low enough. They certainly don't need hydraulic brakes and all that stuff - yet
Orbea MX are supposed to be pretty good and aren't badly priced. Very nice frames if you're prone to upgradeitis.
Spinner for reasonably priced and not actually s**t forks through their European outlet.
Haha...just going though similar...
I've gone with a custom build!
XS Cotic frame
Carbon forks
24" wheels
Mixture of choice parts and bits lying around.
Does she need a Thomson seatpost or Deore hydronic brakes? No BUT I've already checked the fit and it'll be good and more importantly when she's grown again in another great or two I'll whack some 26" wheels in and some suspension forks if required!
Totted it up to be costing about £500 (but I've gone a bit OTT promising her some shines purple big's). However the 24" Isla bike is about £450 and I'd be changing that in 18 months time.
It's worth it to me though, I enjoy building bikes, she's finding it fun and she enjoys ridding her bike.
If it doesn't work out I'll probably be able to sell it at very little loss!
I've been eyeing up the Saracen Mantra 2.4 for my daughter but can't find dimensions for it anywhere. Would like to find out before I ask the local Evans to get one in so she can try it.
This has been useful. I have managed to drop the requirement for disc brakes but will definitely need suspension. It would be nice ot find a bike other than the Isla Creig 24 that uses the RST F1RST 24 as that seems to have good reviews.
So far the choice has become:
Trek Superfly 24
Cube Kid 240 or Cube Kid 240 Disc
Marin Bayview (he already has sandles)
A 1X isn't going to work as it simply doesn't give the gear range he would like. He used to use an Isla Bein 20 which had a low gear of 32x32 on a 20 inch tyre. Would need something like 32x24 or 36x24 on a 24 inch tyre to achieve the same low gearing.
Have a look at [url= http://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR=DERS&KB=22,32,42&RZ=14,16,18,20,23,26,34&UF=1900&TF=90&SL=2.6&UN=KMH&GR2=DERS&KB2=32&RZ2=12,15,18,21,24,28,32&UF2=1540 ]gear-calculator.com[/url]
What do YOU ride and what will she ride ?
What's in your parts bin ?
If you really want to ride trails then disc brakes are nice....not mandatory but why not keep flexibility ?
What you and her ride is also important for frame choice. There isn't much weight wise but geometry differs a lot.
My kid has a Cannondale 24 .. the chain stays are the same length as my 27.5 trail bike and only a cm less than my XC frame. This makes for a great XC frame but pretty limited as a trail bike. I didn't really think at the time that it would reach its limits so quickly and it came with the RST First for £250 ... it's works out as he races XC and we now have a full sus for downhill and Enduro that gets used for most trail riding now but if he wasn't racing I'd get rid of it.
If you think what you'd ride on a adult XC then adjust jumps and drop offs for the 24 wheel.
If I was buying a 24 hard tail again I'd go for the most basic Orbea (for geometry and disc mounts) and potentially stick some F1rst forks, Stans crest wheels and spare SLX or XT from the spares bin or as it's on offer.
I work in an LBS, we sell loads of kids bikes.
At 10 years old I wouldn't bother with 24in, he's probably too tall for one already.
Earlier this year I took my 9 year old nephew round Swinley on a 13in framed 650b Trek. It fitted him perfectly. Both him and his (same age) cousin are outgrowing the 24in Specialised we got them 2 years ago....
He'll need a small framed adult bike now.
Thanks for all the info.
I ride a Whyte 901 small frame.
We went for the Trek Superfly 24 in the end. The triple chain set gives a decent gear spread and there are mounts for disc brakes on the frame which provides an upgrade path in a year or twos time for better forks and discs.
Although 10 years (well, 10 in July) old he is small for his age and is probably the height of an 8.5 year old so the bike should last a good few years.