My lad is getting close to outgrowing his cnoc 14 which will be going to his little brother. He keeps asking to go back to places with trail centre like surfaces/blues and so I’m half thinking a hardtail but don’t know where to start. any suggestions?

Little Miss CFH has one of these,

Raleigh Performance 20. It’s light,  brilliantly put together and goes like a stabbed rat when she’s on it! 😀

The Giant ARX range look good, too.

My lad had a CNOC 14. For his fifth birthday we got him the Commencal Ramones 20. It was massive for him initially and we kept the CNOC for skate park duties and skills training until little sis started pedaling.

Bit of a heavy bike compared to the CNOC but it is making him strong as hell. He has had the bike for around 18 months now and is chucking it around like he did the CNOC. It has sprung forks which he likes but there is no damping as you would expect with little forks like that.

Honestly, the options have grown in that 18 months. Not sure I would get the Commencal again due to the weight and I wonder whether crappy forks are worth having over light weight rigid alternatives. However, he was keen as heck in La Bresse this year to see ‘his team’ doing so well in the world cup.

He loves it.

At that age & weight suspension choices are pretty limited. I had considered an early rider for my lad, but I read some really mixed review of the forks. We ended up going for a beinn 20, which we’re pretty impressed with. The only downside is their insistence on fitting gripshift, which is rubbish if you’re a cold, wet 5 year old. Thankfully the sram trigger shifters are cheap as chips from crc.

If money were no object I’d be after one of these though:

i got my boy a Wiggins Chartres 20 (not his actual bike pictured)

saddle was slammed all the way down, it’s been raised a bit since then, and it should last him a few years now too… he’s loved learning how to do gears too

Buy him one of my miss beinn 20s

Well used one for 80 quid. Less used one for 200

Manc based.

Spawn yama Jama or Propain dreckspratz 20″ bikes have entirely weight appropriate and functional air forks.
You’re looking at 1000quid though

Nothing wrong with a Beinn 20 for surfaced trails, my daugher’s been ripping around on hers. Where are you?  If you’re in the south west I have a Beinn 20 that I’m about to clean and sell as she’s just moved up to 24″ wheels.

 He keeps asking to go back to places with trail centre like surfaces/blues

We started at the trail centres about 3 weeks after he got his 20″ moving from a BSO “Fireman Sam with Stabilisers”… within a couple of trips we were on reds.

9mo later we were moving to a 24″

If you want to ride trails then a decent Geo will go a long way over the all purpose Isla/Frog offerings…

If I knew what I do now and that this was going to become his main hobby (which you don’t until too late) I’d go for a Orbea MX 20… great geo, disc mounts even if you buy a rim version… cassette not free hub…

https://www.orbea.com/gb-en/fietsen/2016/mx-20-team

I have a 20” Evans Pinnacle Ash sat in the shed not used I’d sell for a reasonable offer… should you decide not to take my advice though 😀  (To be fair the other way is buy anything half decent used… if the bike then is obviously what’s holding them back in 3-4 months then sell it for more or less what you paid and then get something more serious/expensive)

Beinn20 for us – my 5yo went round the blue route and the berms on the red route (twice ☺️) at Kirroughtree on this (with proper MTB tyres at the time).

Not sure he’d benefit much from suspension given his weight.

Our Frog 52 has done for both mini-dwellers with fairly regular use on surprisingly proper off road.

Light enough, well made and long lasting.

Rigid but some nice foam grips from superstar went down well with mini dweller 2.

How tall is everyone’s 5yr old?  My lad is a bit of a short arse.  He’s outgrowing his Cnoc 14 now and gearing is a bit of an issue, but can’t see that he’s going to be ready for a 20″ for ages. He’s about 107cm.

My short arse 6yr old is on a Ramones 16. I’d rather he rode a bike that fitted than one that he grew into.

A beinn 20 small is for 112cm but it of course depends on inside leg measurements and so on but worth a look. We have one and its been well used by the original owner her wee brother and now her wee sister. Cracking bikes.

Just got babybgoode a Cube Kid 200. Awesome bike – rigid forks but that’s fine – I personally think suspension forks on a bike for a 5 yo just add weight with no real benefit.

Weighs in around 9.5 kg which it at the lighter end and he’s really taken to it. Proper bike with proper geometry and is exceptionally well made.

Oh and you can get it in an eye searing red/orange which is just what he wanted too!

I’m in the same boat – my 6 year old still fits his 16″. I’m going to wait until his knees are v near the bars – could be two weeks or two months! (growth spurt.com! )

The orbea mx pro is top of our list , although I love the look of the raleigh and will now have to check out the cube. – If i get him the Orbea it will be worth more than all of my bikes!

I think I’m more excited about the prospect of a new bike than he is!!

Just replaced a Benin 20 with an Orbea MX24 and another Orbea MX20 for my youngest. Great value, nice build, good weight…

Both came with 70mm stems which I changed to 35mm, they were a touch long. Other than that, really impressed.

I’m in exactly the same position with my boy (5 yr 4 months, 111 cm tall, 45 cm inside leg). He’s looking big ripping around on his Cnoc 14. Looking to probably get him the next bike for Christmas.

– Benin 20 small is the default choice and I’m keeping my eye on eBay for a decent one.

– I like the look of that Orbea though…

– Another option is a Vitus 20 which looks a bargain at £160. Pity they only have the orange left as the purple looks lovely

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-twenty-kids-bike/rp-prod162646

Our 5 y/o is on a borrowed (Thanks Colin) EarlyRider Belter 16 (great bike, quite pricey for what it is imo)

He’s just about grown out of it now so I ordered the new Kona Honzo 20 which arrived today.

https://konaworld.com/honzo_20.cfm

Islabikes are definitely worth a look….and that Orange is sweet….. 🙂

Could be interested in that @rossburton. Would mean I’d have to come on a surf trip to the SW too. Shame.

The Beinns are excellent. Ended up with 2 as they grow too fast.

And more blatant advertising I’ve got a Green 20″ Beinn in small.

Islabikes Beinn 20 Small in great condition. Scratches as expected on a kids bike and some cosmetic damage to the shifter shown in the pictures. Front tyre changed to a bigger version for comfort and rear is essentially brand new as it was removed from the front. £200 posted

More pics https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomlevell/albums/72157673655465268

We had a Hotrock 20 off ebay for under £50, V brakes, Gears, Aluminium frame all good, other than the Pretend suspension forks (par for the course) it’s been a fantastic buy…

The Wiggins and Frog options both look excellent IMO but weren’t about (at least not in budget) when I was looking…

I often think you’d have to be a maniac to buy an actual new kids bike, Or pay the used prices Isla’ seem to go for on fleabay, when they’re still that young, it’s going to get dropped and treated like crap by default, so why hurl cash at it…

Our boys – 5 & 7 – have always been on (and loved) their spesh hotrock’s – started with stabilisers on the 12, then the 16 which they refer to the 16 as their ‘BMX’ (it’s too small for them now) and are both now on the 20.

They’re well built and importantly don’t weight a ton as are aluminium, all have been bought used as it saves a fortune! Just found a well priced 24 which has gone in the in-law’s garage for Christmas.

I got a Vitus 20 for my five year old daughter, great bike, she loves it and it’s been brilliant for her on the trails!

@tomlevell Could well be interested – will PM.

I often think you’d have to be a maniac to buy an actual new kids bike, Or pay the used prices Isla’ seem to go for on fleabay,

Done ad infinitum, but you pay the Isla price on fleabay because, by the time you come to sell it on to the next person, the new price will have probably gone up which means the used price for a slightly-more-used-than-when-you-bought-it bike is the same as you bought it for – aka free bike!