New bike day – Sophie age 6

For sizing, my son (age 5.5 50th centile) is 113cm tall and just swapped from 14” to 20”, whilst my elder daughter (age 8 75th centile) is 131cm and just moved onto 24”. Both on Islabikes but with the biggest tyres possible replacing the skinny hybrid tyres – the trails here are pretty smooth and neither of them are sending it large!

That Orbea looks great! Happy girl!

Kids bikes nowadays are flipping ace, arent they? I was on a Townsend BMW with crossbad pad and pressed mild steel caliper brakes when I was that age.

Can’t wait till my lad is old enough to start getting into it, he’s just getting the hang of his Puky balance bike recently.

I’ve been adding some purple touches to the bike. Headset top, Hope seat clamp, halo hex key clamps, bolts for the bottle cage and chain guide, cable end, centre lock for the discs and cassette. Also got her a pair of 5-10s too. I’m jealous of the bike.

Great dad skills.

These are firmly on the radar for the jump from 20 to 24. Cheers!

The tippy toes thing. Hmmm.

The Bikeability people round our way agree with that, but it’s only good for short stop start rides.

I coach at a Go Ride club, and as they are riding for good long periods I want their saddle in the right position to ride.

I don’t expect tippy toes when on the saddle. One foot on a pedal a tippy toes perhaps.

But better if you can at 6 or 7 to be teaching standover when stationary and on your first pedal stroke you move your bum to the saddle (or pedal out of the saddle for a bit).

After that it’s scoot starts and CX mounts 😉

Still good to see them riding though.

You’ll be asking if Hope tech 3 levers are suitable for small hands next 😀, I bet you’re dying to put a dropper on now, go on, you know you want to.

I love it when a dad (or mum) builds the bike up sort of for their son/daughter but also for themselves a little bit. Not a dig btw, totally the opposite!

I’ve done EXACTLY the same.😁

Everybody wins. Haha!

Don’t joke.

Hydraulic disc brakes are good for children as they don’t need much hand strength and they don’t go stiff with water and corrosion in the cables.

And Hope Tech and Tech3 levers are really easy to adjust for hand size.

Tubeless is also particularly good for children.

Dropper posts not so much. My 10 year old is too light to make his BrandX go down again.

Trust me.

I bet you’re dying to put a dropper on now, go on, you know you want to

The more expensive versions come with droppers. I’ll get one eventually once she has mastered the larger size of the bike.

The tippy toes thing. Hmmm.

Sophie lacks confidence in riding so being able to touch the ground is important. I did put the saddle up a bit more. Once she gets the hang of it I’ll put it up. We don’t do long rides and her confidence is more important at the moment.

You’ll be asking if Hope tech 3 levers are suitable for small hands next

don’t need too lol Lewis has had hope brakes on his bike for a while but if I was going to spend over £350 on brakes I’d just have got the more expensive bike with the dropper and the air fork instead. Plus she is 6 and will be using the bike for play around the estate, don’t want the bike getting stolen.

With a bike like that she’ll soon be better than dad if she’s not already.

With a bike like that she’ll soon be better than dad if she’s not already.

🙁

She asked for her saddle to be put up

Mine arrived yesterday. Very pleased with how it looks. Looks very well thought out and constructed. The hydro discs in particular feel great. Haven’t unveiled it yet though, that’s for the weekend!

@poah – looks like Winstanley’s have bumped the price to £560 (in line with everywhere else tbf) so we got in just in time B)

I actually seen someone else with one in the same colour a few doors down. More popular that I thought it seems.

Her confidence has sky rocketed.

she can do both sets now in a row without stopping.

Ha, nice. I’ll have to crack the whip harder – I’m sure my boy couldn’t do that!

😎🤘👍

couple of new bits and the bike is almost finished. Got the mudguard from rather be riding

https://ratherberiding.co.uk/collections/mudguards/products/whippetmudguard?variant=37845253980325

bell is from amazon

Brilliant! I’ll pinch that link to the mudguard too!

Got my 6 yo an Orbea MX20.

Its a lovely little bike. But I couldn’t resist swapping some of the components.

It came with a 70mm stem which seemed massive for a kids bike, that got swapped for a 50mm one. The Sunrace 9 speed cassette weighed a ton and got ditched in favour of an XT 9 speed cassette I had lying around. The rotors were centerlock but really cheap heavy ones, again I had some nicer rotors in my spares so these went on. Swapped the grips to little lock ons – mainly to make it easier for me in the future.

The rims are taped for tubeless! So i tried taking the tubes out and sticking some valves in but the wire beaded Kenda SB8s are way too slack on the rims.

Any one know of a tubeless compatible 20″ tyre?

SB8s ghetto well if that helps.

For your wallets sake, Do not look at fresh goods friday.😀

Absolutely awesome 👍. My daughter is 7 and just moved to a Hoy Bonaly 24. She’s small for her age and is right on the limit but she loves it

Untitled by Tony H[/url], on Flickr

Untitled by Tony H[/url], on Flickr

For your wallets sake, Do not look at fresh goods friday.

thankfully the nukeproof stuff isn’t suitable for sophie’s bike. The seat post is not the correct diameter and the pedals are just too aggressive (plus I have chromag radar youth pedals). Be something for the older kids.

The orbeas really are nice. My eldest daughter (8) has improved loads since we got her an MX24. She actually trusts the disc brakes where rim she never did. She was right on the size limit and we put ordering if for a while. First ride showed it was the right decision. Took a little while to get the controls in the right place but now she is doing so well.

Can I just say, during lockdown our ten year old graduated to my wife’s old Five Diva (repainted and much respec’ed) and our 14 year old grabbed my Alpine 160.

They ride them better than we ever did.

But we have better skills compensators now. 😉

@couchy great to see. what is the helmet?

@poah it’s a kiddimoto one 👍

progressing at a shocking rate. This bike has really helped with the confidence. Next step will be doing stuff without a hand at the start.

@poah I saw on another thread that you have now fitted some manitou junit forks. What was your route from 100x9qr to 110×15?

Havering over buying one but want to know what the upgrade route is for the future……. For daughter obvs….. 😜

Ps: apologies if my wife has been Instagram stalking you after seeing your daughter at comrie at the weekend!

@Shackleton yeah they are Junit forks (100mm) with an external cup. Also put a KS lev SI 75mm dropper on it and swapped out the bar/stem for the SDG jr one (trimmed 15mm off each end) & a spank spoon 318 stem (30mm) as well. Front hub is an XTR boost hub stock is a QR 100mm. I had a 20 inch rim already from a specialised riprock so used that for the wheel.

Haha! Bless her, great stuff mate.👍

@poah Brilliant, thank you!

The fork works really well. If she was to start going faster I’d have to put more air in it.

My lad is 4 1/2 but tall (mam is 6’4”) and he’s been on a 20” frog since January. I’m working on the one foot down, one on the pedal starts as I’d like to lift his saddle up a little. I was looking at the suspension seat posts as on the last long ride we did (13 miles!) round Elan valley he was not enjoying the bumpy parts. Gone to larger tyres at less pressure to hopefully help. I’m amazed, like others, at what bikes are available for kids now and also how much disposable income we have as parents to spend on bikes for kids! My first bikes were all bought used right up to my 10th birthday and it didn’t stop me having fun. So much more choice now, including where to ride.

@poah – well done mate, lovely looking bike and your daughter looks absolutely stoked!

I’m amazed, like others, at what bikes are available for kids now and also how much disposable income we have as parents to spend on bikes for kids!

It’s gotten better even in the last couple of years, Orbea being a prime example.  What is abundantly clear from my experience with my 2 boys is that spending a bit of money on their bikes and kit, possibly at the expense of your own, makes for a better experience for everyone.

You don’t have to go mad, for 24in wheeled bikes my boys had Saracen Mantra 2.4 bikes with upgraded tyres, posts (lighter to start then dropper), pedals (nukeproof plastic with proper pins) and in the end slightly wider bars.

As I am “mountain bike guy with kids” at work I get the “what bike should I buy my kid” and the answer used to be easy – Islabikes, significantly more complicated answer now.

You never forget how to ride a bike, and you never forget the day you get a lovely new bike!😀

My daughter Mia is really into riding her bike. However, she is a right shorty so only on a Frog 43 with 14″ wheels (and I don’t see her moving up anytime soon). At that wheel size, it certainly makes rougher stuff more of a workout for her, but she does well.

She has become really good at standing up on pedals with her feet level recently (and in turn pedaling whilst stood up). Just working on getting her to keep that position when descending rougher trails rather than sitting down with a leg or two out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNff8ffBPNJ/

Damn you @poah, my daughter saw the pictures, remembered your daughter from comrie, and my new fork fund is now down the price of a laufey 20 h30!

Coming tomorrow apparently!

Sophie’s first jump – so impressed and proud

@Shackleton lol