My lad is shooting up, so it will be time to replace his Squish 18 come his 7th birthday in September.

Probably don’t want to go full kids MTB with him – he is a great cyclist, but his Autism means he struggles with too much change, not going to force the gnarr on him

Thinking 20 inch, gears currently thinking Giant Arx 20.

Have looked at and discounted Orbea MX 20 and Specialized Jett – weight, loose ball bearings respectively.

Could go Squish again, Forme look nice.

Would hope to get 2 years from it. If there was a super low standover 24 inch, that might be tempting.

What are your experiences?

Hmmmn, starting to reappraise the Jett. Could get the lad a 24 inch and get more years out of it…

Hey, I’m in rhe same boat: 8yr old and completely out grown her 20″ er. I’ve been looking at the Vitus 24 (or 24+). I don’t think they get away from loose ball bearings but do have 8spd trigger shifter.

Also, feel your pain ref change: my 11yr old is AS and refuses to let go of her 24er inspite of clearly having out grown it

Ernie

I keep coming back to isla, despite the bearings. For a general purpose kids bike I don’t think they can be beat until into xxs adult frame territory. The frame geometry is just that little bit better and you get bigger wheels for a given size of child. I’d be looking for a used beinn 20l or 24.

Sophie has just turned 7 and rides an Orbea Laufy 20. Their MX bikes are decent for an all round bikes.

Whatever you get make sure you can get replacement mech hangers.

We nabbed a very cheap but badly maintained Wild 20. The mech hanger was bent and ended up costing almost half what I paid for the bike to replace, and that needed a bit ground off to fit well.

My lad is 8 in may and also has autism. He’s not keen on loosing his current cube 20”. I was given an xs cube hard tail with some nice parts on it, only it has 26 wheels. Hoping because he’s a lanky bugger it will work

My son had a racing bmx at that age. They are super light and pedal well as they’re really low geared. Oh and the resale is good. My view is Don’t buy the wrong size for them to grow into – it’s a guaranteed way for them to lose interest.

I’d be looking for a used beinn 20l or 24.

My two went through the islabikes and the beinn 20 was awesome but the beinn 24 just didn’t work, weird geometry. I think there are better bikes at 24 inch now.

The giants look but when I was looking for a 24″ bike I went for a frog as it had clearance for 2.1inch tyres.

My 6yr old (now 7) is on a Trek Wahoo 24, rigid, lightweight and a very decent all rounder. I especially like the weight, circa 21lb so not intimating at all.

Can only recommend it. Will get a second for my 5yr old when he grows a little bit more (currently on a trek precalibure 20)

Frog make some decent kit as well.

Check what shifters the bike has…I’ve understood why some companies think gripshift is a sensible choice for a kid’s bike – they need a strong grip, try to avoid accidental shifts and then really struggle when the gear cable starts sticking or the shifter needs serviced (which seems to be more often than an underbar shifter).

I’ve got my 7 year old daughter a BMC Blast 24. They do a 20 as well. Think it’s called two-stroke now.

Big thick tyres (2.4 inch) means it’s nice and squishy.

It’s beautifully made, quite light. very impressed with it and daughter seems to like it. Only think wrong was it was it was over geared. A 30t chainring, drop link and 11-42 cassette has sorted that.

As an aside, before getting the BMC I looked at the Orbea Laufey – looked like a great bike too, not much in it. Went with the BMC as we are more XC than trail.

Numerous great options at 20 & 24″ now but my go to would still be an Orbea MX in either size. Great looking bikes with good geometry. A proper kids mountainbike and loads around at reasonable prices.

Not sure what you’ve got against cup and cone bearings. I’ve never ad to touch one on any of my kids bikes and short of jet washing them to death I can’t see them giving any real issues.

Best of luck.

My two are 11 and 12 now and were on Islabikes all the way from balance bike to Beinn 20. When we started looking for a 24 there were a few considerations that came into play

1. Islabikes get even more eye wateringly expensive when you get to the 24 and above
2. All of a sudden Isla wasn’t the only one making bikes for small people – lots more choice
3. At 8 years old what they really wanted to do was choose their own bike and ride it home

Both times, we went to the LBS a mile away and they sat on a few (Orbea, Specialized, and Cube IIRC) and rode home on an Orbea MX24. Some of this was comfort, most of it was looks. Amazing what a difference bright orange decals make, especially when you can add a bright orange bottle cage!

In summary – when they were little I chose their bikes (giving them the illusion of choice of course!) based on weight, components, basically making it as easy as possible for them to enjoy riding. Now they are a bit bigger they want to make their own choices and enjoy riding enough that as long as a bike looks good they will want to ride it.

We’ve went 16 inch Isla, 20 and 24 inch wheel frog and now 26 inch wheel Squish. Only the 20 inch frog was bought new.
All are pretty good. The frogs and Squish are 8 speed with a Shimano paddle shifter and seem fine for small hands. The squish has slightly less good gears (I think Acera vs Altus) but they seem to work fine. Squish didn’t include mudguards and second pair of knobblyish tyres but it is a nicely made and light bike. I thought it needed a new hanger and established that it is a standard one but in the end it just needed tightening up.
I think that Frog and Squish sell through bike shops.

7 is a funny age for bike-sizing. Our’s is on an on XS 26″ with 24″ wheels, which I had painted bright pink 🙂
Some of her pals are only just on a 20″. When we bought a 20″, it was a wee fat bike (riprock), I swapped the tyres & forks off and took over 4Kg off the weight as well as making it lower. As she grew, the tyres went back on (not the forks though as they were rubbish).

IMO, everyone here has a bit of bike-knowledge so it’s all about taking the bike which can be made to fit for the longest period & doing the required mods to make it as ideal as possible. That, or spend a fortune on twice as many bikes.

Have looked at and discounted Orbea MX 20

Which one?

My daughter is on a Team Disc and it was miles lighter than a lot, the dirt is heavy because of the steel forks but the alu forks are light.

Can weigh it if you like?

7 is a funny age for bike-sizing. Our’s is on an on XS 26″ with 24″ wheels, which I had painted bright pink 🙂

You are not wrong fella!

Did a height check yesterday. 123cm.

Reckon he will be close to 130 by his birthday (September) which does put him at the lower limit for a lot of 24ers.

Now they are a bit bigger they want to make their own choices and enjoy riding enough that as long as a bike looks good they will want to ride it.

Also a very sound point. I’ll sound him out this summer.

Cheers Alex

My youngest has just grown out of his MX24 dirt, great little bike, a bit heavier than you’d expect at around 12kg but that never seemed to be a problem. Suits 7 – 10 years give or take a year depending on height.

Now I’ve got the headache of selling it.

I also really rate the Orbea Laufey 20 – my son (6) has one and it feels like a proper bike. Hydro discs, reliable gears with a decent range etc. I don’t have loads of experience with kids’ bikes but I’m very happy with the purchase, and my son loves it.

As above, the sizing is a weird one. It’s a bit big still and most of his mates are still on 14-16″ bikes, but I’m sure he’ll be after something bigger in a couple of years.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-20-kids-bike/rp-prod194920

Got one of these for my 8 year old recently as she was finding her 24″ Islabike too big.
Seems light enough for a mini fatbike and she’s getting on with it much better

My 8 year old daughter rides a Beinn 24 and is very happy with it. Bought secondhand and will no doubt be sold again for close to what we paid for it.

Bump of my own thread.

Has anyone had any real works experience with either:

Merida Matts JR+

Or

Scott Roxter

The boy swung his leg over a Scott Roscoe 24 today and was very enamoured.

Not paying 600+ notes for a joke ds bike at this stage though!

Cheers Alex

As long as it’s not a crazy plastic clad lump of iron, a bike they want to get on is important.
Think spec, generally avoid suspension and 1x is usefully light/simple. (Providing it’s a wide range cassette)

I just got a Trek Roscoe 24 for my 7 year old as he loves having a small fat bike.

Others will love the speed of a crossover.