For my 10 year old son, ful suss or hardtail, as long as it’s got decent ‘ish suspension and brakes. Anyone have any ideas? Cheers.

Isla Bikes are often mentioned on here and we have one ut yu will have to add your own suspension forks .

Lilshredder’smy mates son has a full suss frame from these guys and rates them very highly.

Cheers, thinking about getting a second hand one will be cheaper, some nice lil bikes though!

Chris85 – my kids have had Islabikes right the way through until my daughter got a much more expensive pony. Although the first one you buy is a hard hit on your pocket, the second hand value is so high, the cost per year is probably lower than many cheaper options.

I could eulogise about the fit, the kiddie friendly brake levers, sensible gearing etc but a quick search will get you lots of people doing that. It’s an investment you won’t regret as your son will want to bike with you as his bike will work uphill as well as down.

Good luck

http://www.commencal-store.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=2068033

Grand and half mind you.

Halfords Carrera kids bikes aren’t bad. Cheaper than Isla second hand.

Depends what you want to do with it.

My sons had Kona Stinky (full sus, very strong, quite heavy, slightly rubbish front forks). Other son had Marin Bayview Trail SE – really nice, light, rubbish fork (replaced with air fox – secondhand – running almost no pressure). both used in the alps.

my boy (9)has a carrera blast thats been upgraded. Isla bikes are light and decent spec but a lot of money if they don’t take any interest in it. there are full sus bikes like mentioned above but again very expensive. The kona is probably the best of the bunch, the commie is a DH bike and very heavy.

Lewis’s carrera blast 22.78lb

Been through Treks, Specialised and Ridgebacks, all second hand, all fine bikes. Daughter (aged 7) now on a Carrera Luna/Blast, eldest is 10 and has the basic Decathlon Rockrider, perfectly fine for £160 new

I don’t know how tall he us, but my son has been on a small framed 26″ bike since he was 9. Tiny spesh rockhopper frame, then built it myself. Turned out light…. And my son could tell everyone mum built his bike :0)

Abigale was on a small Giant Reign at 10 and Katie on a extra small Giant Trance built from second hand parts and frames mainly off here. Decent builds and air forks can be done on a very tight budget and then the frames can be sold on as they out grow them and the old bits put on a bigger frame. It all depends what they want to do with it but ours had to be built to do everything that we rode including two weeks in Verbier every year

Kona Shred 24. Bought new for my son now my daughter has it but just about outgrown so will be looking for a new home soon.

Upgraded parts: Bomber air forks, 9sp deore gears, cane creek lock on grips, dmr v8 pedals, Deore lx rear mech.
Everything else as standard spec.

Considered a Frog? Bit like Islabikes but cheaper and just as good!

Daughter loved her 24″ Cube – just grown out of it this year (and delighted with the rebuild of her mothers old Marin FRS)

In a world of very heavy kids bikes the Cube was a light alloy XC rocket ship

At the age of ten they don’t need suspension; they are not going to ride down a mountain. Suspension doubles the weight of the bike and kids that size don’t have the weight to make it work properly anyway. Do him and your pocket a favour and buy him an Islabike, then sell it for almost the same money when he outgrows it.

The Bheinn 26″ comes in small or large size, it’s a superb bike and rides beautifully:

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn26.html

I disagree on the suspension thing. We bought good, old air forks off retro bike (Marzocchi x-fly, Manitou Mars and a Fox Talas32), and fitted them to an Islabike Beinn 26, a Trek 4300 and Specialized Hotrock WSD. Thes forks work, and they are pretty much the same weight as the Islabike steel forks.

All our lads have been on theses since about 9 yeas old.

Assemble your own… XXS 13.5″ Rockhopper (eBay) with Rebas (eBay). Short stem and flat bars to keep the front low. He’s had this since he was 11.

Poah tell me more about you son’s bike please, it looks really good.

Have you changed the hubs so that the rear has a proper freehub? Also did you change the forks?

Build your own and get your son/daughter involved, they’ll have more of an attachment and learn something too.
I started both my kids on Scott voltage Jnr 20’s which they rode in the alps but I did upgrade to disc brakes and 9 speed gearing, now I’m moving them over to small sized adult frames (2nd hand) but I’ve built up the wheels to 24″ and shortened the cranks so they’ve got ground clearance. They’re running some nice kit, but it will last and follow an upgrade path, rather than paying for some compromised kids bike every other year.

Cheers

15.5” steel ht…. lovely.

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1543096/

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lovely-155-steel-ht

curvature – Member
Poah tell me more about you son’s bike please, it looks really good.

Have you changed the hubs so that the rear has a proper freehub? Also did you change the forks?

current spec

forks – RST F1RST air 24
Brakes – avid elixir 3 160mm rotors
Crank – Thorn 150mm + RF NW 30t
Pedals – DH sport direct from china
Chain – KMC X10 93
cassette – XT 10sp
Rmech – SLX shadow + medium
shifter – zee 10sp
Wheels – superstar switch evo (rebadged Novatec D881SB front and D882SB) laced to Alex ACE 20 rims with sapim race DB spokes. titanium QRs
tyres – schwalbe rocker ron set up tubeless
saddle/seatpost – SDG bel air & Kore T-Rail post
bar – eXotic Scandium Riser Handlebar 620mm
stem – standard
grips – uberbike lockons

All depends how big they are – my youngest has skipped her sisters 24″ wheeled Raleigh and gone from a Spez Hotrock 20″ to a XS Kona 26″ wheel

That’s a pretty pimp spec 😀

+1 for Carrera

Cheers Poah.

My soon will be on a 24″ bike early next year and not sure what to do but that is a real inspiration!

That’s the nicest Carrera I’ve ever seen 🙂

Definitely build your own – you get want you want then, rather than having to make compromises where you don’t want to. Finished this earlier in the year for my 9 year old:

Little Kona by Jonathan Bateman, on Flickr

Thinking about some Thorn cranks for it as the Raceface ones are a bit long I think.

sweet ride, whats the spec?

the thorn cranks made a huge difference even though they are only 15mm shorter that what the bike came from.

I wrote a small blog article on them

kids cranks

Just been out looking for my lad who is on the short side of things, thought a 24 inch would be the way to go, but after trying one and then a 13 inch myka as it was all they had in stock, a small framed 26 inch is the way to go for us.

Thanks for the links poah – gives me some good ideas for my daughters Carrera Luna. Already has a set of RST XMO forks (1.5 lb saved in one hit) and lighter tyres, but your articles on the blog are very useful!

Can I ask for the contact at Alex rims? Been looking for a way to get hold of some ACE20s for a while…

Poah – useful blog on the cranks. Those RF ones are 165 and were a bargain etc, but probably are at least 10mm too long for him. At least if I get some Thorns now I’ve got the rings and bash to fit.

Frame is an old Kona stuff which was a bad ebay buy (needed welding), fork is fancy cut down Pace things (lightweight coil, adjustable travel). Shifters and mechs are old XTR/XT 9sp stuff I had knocking about. Wheels are Spank Tweettweet rims on SLX hubs. Deore brakes – cos shimano levers are the best for little hands I think. Funn Enduro stem and Answer bars, Raceface Deus XC post (in stupid 27.0 size), silly light San Marco Saddle and Schwalbe mow joe tyres. He loves it 🙂

Bought one of these for missj (7) today. In alpine bikes sale for £200. She loves it.

24inch Cube Race for my daughter. Got it at age 7 and she turns 10 in a couple of weeks and loves it. Good thing is that it’s unisex in colour so it can go to my son next year when daughter moves to a 26, she can ride my small 26 with the seat right down now 🙁 they grow up so fast,

At the age of ten they don’t need suspension; they are not going to ride down a mountain.

They will if you take them to one:

Innerleithen:

MiniDH

Any used 24″ bike from a mainstream manufacturer; Trek, Scott, Kona, Specialized, will be a fine bike. Hotrock 24 fsr if you can find one (my nephew has one) if you want full suspension. Buy used unless you have a defined hand-me-down path.

OP. In a word. No.
Sourcing small frames and air forks, machining long cranks to make them short cranks, adapting nonmatching drivetrains by the power of bodge, building light 2cross wheelsets, for road, mtb and cyclocross bikes for 2 growing kids has basically taken over my life. And shed. It never ends. It’s awesome.
D 🙂

Good resource for kids bikes/components here:

http://faqload.com/faqs/bikes/kids-bike-weightloss

At age 10 a 26″ wheeled hardtail with small frame should do nicely, depending on how tall he is.

We started our boys on xs rockhopper frames, really nice ride. Used 14″ on one scandal too, but too long in the top tube for kids.

I had no problem with 170 cranks for my 10 year old. Probably not perfect, but then my boys have quite long legs. 13 year old now wears 32″ length trousers, they soon grow! My oldest is now on his 3rd 26″ wheeled hardtail frame.

My oldest actually outgrew one frame before I built it up! Bought him a knolly xs frame for the alps just after last years trip (when he still used his norco b line 24) , but by the time I got around to building it up he had outgrown it. His little brother loves if though….

Simone

Saw a kid on the school run on Monday on a mini Carrera full sus rig. Setup looked pretty tidy and like you could easily chop a few grams off it, also had front and rear disc mounts on the frame and forks.

Get an on one frame they did a small one or a dj frame from anyone an some shorter forks 120mm them some 24 inch wheels an build it with what you want