So my biggest satsuma is getting bigger by the day it would appear. She is current enjoying life on her orbea 20” wheeled bike but she is all legs and arms and at the age of 6 now I can see at some point we are going to need so consider the next size bike which is giving me a headache. The early rider Helions are lovely but how much?!!!

Question I’ve got for the single track great and good is are there any 26” wheel frames that play nicely with a 24” wheel that works are around 13-14”? My logic being that I can build with cheaper unfashionable 26” kit and then swap the wheels as she gets bigger.

Pretty much all of them should, it would just be proportionately long as a result, the other thing I found was crank size needs to be thought about, when they’re 24″ wheeled size 130-145mm seemed about right (to me at least).

Best thing you can do is assemble a light weight bike…

I’ve got a (at least) 10 year old xs giant talon or something that describes what you’re looking for to a tee. Think the seat tube is 12-13″ and works just as well with 24″ wheels as the 26″ it’s designed around. 3 of mine have used it so far and number 4 is just on the cusp of moving from her 20″ hotrock at the moment.
Should be able to pick something that old up fairly cheap I’d have thought.

At that age all of ours had similar bikes to what @transporter13 outlines.

XS, 26″ frame built with old air forks and light kit. One had 24″ wheels on fit a while.

I found up until last year I was constantly looking for the next bikes we needed – a few times bought them months or even a year in advance because they came up for sale and I didn’t want to miss them.

I’ve got an orange 5 Xs that I’ll be selling shortly, that works with 24 and 26″ wheels (only got the 26 at the moment), paired with a set of 145 cranks it should be feasible.

@mrhoppy I would be interested in this if the op isn’t. For the same purpose.

I’ve been thinking similar to the OP. My son is a tallish 7 on a 20″ wheel bike and I’m deliberating whether I can get reach short enough on a 26″ frame. The other problem I see is that buying/building 24″ wheels that aren’t boat anchors is getting expensive enough that if I’m not careful the cost side of the debate vs buying a 24″ bike isn’t so clear. However I’ve got 26″ bits coming out of my ears so it would at least last a while.

I think 24/26 mullet may be a good plan. Suffer the too big front wheel for a while but then it’s a quick switch to a 26 and effectively the next size up.

He’s not had the 20″ much more than a year. They grow like weeds. But at least he’s got it looking pretty worn.

We’ve just bought Kip Jr a 24″ Wild bike from Go Outdoors. She loves it, and the old 20″ Islabike was sold for enough to cover the cost of £240!
Once I’d compared spec etc with, amongst others, Hoy, Isla, Vitus, this was almost identical and by far the best bike for the money.
It’s apparently made by the Calibre people and it’s light too.
She’s almost 11 and 134cm with long legs for her height, so not standard dimensions (like us really) and it has resparked her biking enjoyment.
Also, I have a Genesis Core 30 650b in XS that she can almost ride (if it had narrower bars and she was confident with feet swinging off the floor). Was going to sell it, but probably won’t now.