My 9.5 yr old is ready for a new bike. His Hoy bike has been amazing but the next one will definitely have front suspension at least. I’m a complete non purist and love my over-specced Enduro bike. So it’s Isla / Frog for pricey hardtails, all of the other cheaper options I’ve seen have Suntour forks ☹️. Or go OTT on a full sus 24 inch bike (they’re horribly overpriced but might sell on well).
He’s fairly capable eg completely fine on the most difficult route at Haldon Forest (which I realise is quite tame) – I’ve yet to take him on a proper ‘away from a trail Centre’ route.

I paid a total of £640 for a Whyte 403 26 and a second hand fox float.  Jnr will go from 9.5-13yo roughly on it.

Do any suspension forks actually work under the weight of a 10 year old? (Unless he’s absolutely sending it!) Not disagreeing, just curious as my eldest isn’t quite 7 and is fairly light.

Would he be able to fit on an XS adult bike? My daughter went from her bigger kids bike to a small adult bike so frighteningly fast i wished i hadn’t bothered with the former.

They look an interesting option although the basic model still has a flipping set of Suntour forks!! Why do they put these on kids bikes when none of us would be seen dead with one??
I did wonder about an XS adult bike as he’s quite lanky.
Whenever we go out he always ends up saying his hands and forearms are vibrating and constantly stopping to shake his hands – even if forks don’t work great i sympathise as I tried his Hoy bike on some rough stuff and boy was it bumpy! That’s why I want decent forks as otherwise I imagine they’ll hardly do anything.

Do any suspension forks actually work under the weight of a 10 year old? (Unless he’s absolutely sending it!) Not disagreeing, just curious as my eldest isn’t quite 7 and is fairly light.

Yes BUT …..

Some work out of the box (RST F1rst) and other need tweaking.
By the time my lad was 10 and 32kg (+kit) my 32mm old Revelations worked with some low friction seals and 2.5wt in the damper. He’d probably still be using them but needed more travel and they max out at 150mm. He’s currently using my Pikes with Luftkappa and uses all 160mm available.

Those Suntour forks are comparable to the RS forks that have the same spec (Reba?), you just don’t pay the badge tax on them.

Mine got a Liv Embolden,. girls bike, but that doesn’t matter. His is a small, he’s 11. There’s an XS which fits his mate who’s smaller than him…

Great bike.

I’m a complete non purist and love my over-specced Enduro bike

I thought Jnr’s current 160/150 was over specced …. paid £250 for the frame and built before last XMAS.

I put some 26″ wheels on and properly sized cranks for his legs but he’s now capable of 27.5’s but I only let him use them on pedal days as I fear he’d wreck my best wheels.

We ended up with a older Bird MK1.5 that has 150/140 at the rear… which does come in handy for long pedal days. The rear shock is a CC DB air which has enough user adjust-ability …

What about a ladies/womens speficic suspension bike?

Spexialized for instance used to do really quite tiny versions of the Stumpjumpers etc, fiar bit shorter and lower than even the smallet mens sizes. Must be some old 26″ bargains about.

And if its pink with flowers on you can get a cheap powder coat job and make it rally feel like ‘his’ bike.

The XCR is fine, and if he’s not ridden anything fancier he’ll be perfectly content with it. It’s air sprung so you can drop the pressure right down. MBR are pretty glowing about it in this review-

Vitus Nucleus VR

Anyone used a Squish mtb?

Commencal make small fs bikes for kids.

Think I’m set on either a Mondraker Factor 24 or Marin Hawk Hill Junior – both based around 24 inch wheels but will fit 26 inch so should be good for the next 3-4 years (if I can stomach the cost)…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Giant-Liv-Embolden-2017-Full-Suspension-Mountain-bike-size-Small/143443750851?hash=item2165e9efc3:g:OW0AAOSwKHtdqyG3

Do any suspension forks actually work under the weight of a 10 year old?

Yes if you get an air one. Most bikes come with coil, even in S and XS, but some don’t. We were looking at the Calibre one in Go Outdoors.

We ran a Giant XS ladies Talon for my 10 yo. Very hard to find in that size. Black with pink accents which he really liked. Great bike. Sold it to a work colleague who absolutely loves it. That 10yo is now six foot and 85 kilos.

I’d look for a good quality used HT

Sorry yes also considering an XS women’s bike including the Liv Embolden – but on their website they seem to start at a height of 150cm and he’s only 130cm at the moment.

Ah, yeah I’d say 130 is a little small possibly.

I’ve bought a Dartmoor Street fighter frame for my almost 10 yo son for Xmas. Building up with quality 26″ wheel stuff I have in my garage not being used.

Size wise it’s like a slightly longer version of the whyte 403.

Stinky 2-4 off here for £350.
Secondhand RP2 air shock for £50.
Some 26” Rebas for £220.

Significantly lighter than stock (this matters) and the suspension works.

Eldest rode it from 8 years to 11 and then moved on to his mum’s old Five.
Younger brother is now in it.

Some other bits have gone on over the years that took the 36lb stock weight (think of the children) down to 26-27lbs.

If you want a full suss then this is a good option. Trek Ex Junior.
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=7973

It weighs around 13.5kg if I recall. My eldest did some good stuff on it when he was ten/eleven. Much more capable than his Iskabike Creig, but also much heavier.
If you know the steep climb near the end of Llandegla red route, just past the cave seat. He manages that fine despite the weight. He did the west highland way on it. Though I did carry it up all the big hills for him, which was tiring.

His wee brother has it now and loves jumping it. Send to cope well enough.

Also as someone above mentioned, Commenced do s cracking 24″ full suss. We hired one in Tignes 2 years ago and it was amazing for lift served stuff.

Propain has a line of sorted kids bikes.

Sorry yes also considering an XS women’s bike including the Liv Embolden – but on their website they seem to start at a height of 150cm and he’s only 130cm at the moment.

If you put 26″ wheels on and swap the cranks for some suitable length cranks then you’re not far off. Does it need to be before XMAS and how much longer can he use the present bike?

We jumped straight from the 24″ to the 27.5″ XS with 26″ wheels… but for a while he had both.
Forks are relatively easy to tune, some are better than others but shocks are more difficult depending on the leverage ratio of the bike. If you get one that already comes in a very light tune then it can be harder to reduce it further. (As I said earlier the CC has enough adjustment but I don’t think I’d have got away with a RS) … however… I paid £110 for the kids CC which is on a common pre-metric size (216×63)

This, surely?

What’s his height? You mention lanky..as such I doubt your in the sizing market for kids bikes any more and certainly not 24″ wheels.

My 9yo will go to a small sized Scott spark 27.5 and an XS BMC trail crew next year.
He’s big for his age but if he wasn’t I’d have sized down on an XS 27.5 spark future pro, or smaller still the 26″ wheeled version.
Most brands have a fairly decent XS or ‘junior’ option these days with wheel sizes that won’t be the limiting factor.

Sorry when I say lanky he’s lanky but little, he’s only 130cm tall but very skinny and weighs hardly anything. He can still just about get by on his Hoy 20inch with the seatpost as high as it goes.

Sheesh my guys a monster for 9 then.
VPace call for their 26 bikes starting at 130cm. 24 bikes as 115-140 depending on front or fully.
Bigger wheels help stay out of holes but if he’s only been on 20 then the move to 26 might be stretching him.
There are a few 24/26 convertible bikes out there, but most are compromised on one end of the sizing of the other.
Depending on your riding or bike park/morzine aspirations, a well spec’d and light (your budget driven of course) hardtail would be where my money would go for now