Light, slack hardtail that doesn’t cost the earth?

The most important thing is that he’s having fun, plenty of time in the future to worry about all the other stuff. It might be worth going for something slightly heavier if it’s more durable, unless you’ve got unlimited funds. Kids can be hard on bikes when they’re pushing the limits.

Douglas,

Maisey at the club has a S Scandal. Sandie has a S Transmitter. We have a M Pinnacle Iroko that I built as a mullet last year which is super nice. R could have a demo of all 3 I’m sure. Ive run my Scandal with 120mm forks and its grand, drops the front end a bit and as for a “Non compliant” rear end…. I suspect a 50kg kid really isn’t going to notice either way.

Tom

+1 on wheels and tyres being more important than a couple of hundred grammes in a frame.
Same with fork – a better functioning for a light rider over saving a few grammes.

Another +1 on wheels/tyres/ weight saving (but agree that the lighter frame > heavier frame if everything else is equal). Using that Marley linked to earlier shows even with ‘decent’ spec bikes there’s plenty of weight saving opportunities: going tubeless from inner tubes saved 300g per wheel, rear tyre a further -250g, also a faster-rolling Ardent in place of the Minion DHR2. Rim swap saved 160g per rim. Handlebar another 150g or so. But obviously if starting from a frame-only it’s easier to spec what you want.

I’ve not had the Marley stripped to bare frame to know the weight, wish I had.

But very much this:

The most important thing is that he’s having fun

Maisey at the club has a S Scandal. Sandie has a S Transmitter. We have a M Pinnacle Iroko that I built as a mullet last year which is super nice. R could have a demo of all 3 I’m sure. Ive run my Scandal with 120mm forks and its grand, drops the front end a bit and as for a “Non compliant” rear end…. I suspect a 50kg kid really isn’t going to notice either way.

Great ! We won’t be around for a few weeks due to a busy racing month but will try next time we’re there, though geo suggests S might be a bit wee.

The most important thing is that he’s having fun, plenty of time in the future to worry about all the other stuff

Absolutely! Not sure anything I’ve said suggests otherwise, simply wondering what the best option is at a reasonable price, and not wanting to get into the silly arms race of expensive machinery that shows up at many kids races.

There is actually what looks like a small or medium Vanquish on eBay just now, if you wanted to split the frame out. Never seen a cracked one, except where my partner dropped hers on a very sharp bit of the turbo trainer 😬 And we had it fixed.

I would love to design him a custom Downshift, he would be a lucky boy! Raced to a bronze at loch ore SXC I have you know

There is actually what looks like a small or medium Vanquish on eBay just now

Found this one which is a large, if there’s another one send me a link as my searching skills are clearly failing me!

Raced to a bronze at loch ore SXC I have you know

Clearly a versatile bike since I hear it was the antithesis of downcountry terrain!

“Absolutely! Not sure anything I’ve said suggests otherwise, simply wondering what the best option is at a reasonable price, and not wanting to get into the silly arms race of expensive machinery that shows up at many kids races”

I wasn’t criticising you, just saying at that age it should be all about fun and trying different things.

It’s just the orange one, I thought the seat mast was medium/small kinda size, but couldn’t see a size in the listing. They don’t come up very often

XC hardtail but mullet it?

It’s just the orange one, I thought the seat mast was medium/small kinda size, but couldn’t see a size in the listing.

Yeah that one, sorry forgot link. It’s a Large. There’s an XL on Facebook marketplace and Throttle L on Ebay too, nothing smaller yet !

Merida Big Trail might be worth a look, more trail than XC. Loads of stand over and Guy Kesteven raved about them in his review. A few bargains left on leisure lakes too.

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/merida-big-trail-400-review/

Guy Kesteven raved about them in his review.

He doesn’t seem to have any other review mode than that! hahahaha

Just found a Throttle & Vanquish in size M!

Just found a Throttle & Vanquish in size M!

If that’s your size… BUY! :D