My son has just about outgrown his 20″ merida. I wanted to move away from cheap elasto useless suspension forks.
Can anyone recommend a 24″ rigid or decent (air) suspension bike that has disc brakes. Budget is £1000.
Many thanks.

Forgot to mention he is 130 cm tall.

Islabikes now do a front suspension bike. Has a Rockshox airsprung fork. And the usual decent quality kit that they spec. Think they’re about £700

He’s sort of 24″ wheel size, or for some bikes, xs or kids 26″.
So maybe the Whyte 405 in 26″, or an Islabikes Crieg in a 24″ wheel. Maybe give Islabikes a call to discuss sizing. Both of these have decent air sprung forks and disk brakes.

Or get a frame and do a homebuild? Although I would be tempted to wait until definitely an xs 26er size for that.

I’m keeping an eye out for a 24″ bike for my daughter, to start building at the end of the year. My current favourite is the Orbea MX24 Team LINK HERE
It looks lovely in the flesh. I’d then add disk brakes, an RST F1RST 24 fork and upgrade the gears. I’m going to have a chat with the local dealer and see if he can can get me the frame so that I can do a total cutom build.

I’m just finishing building a 24″ bike for my lad. Went for a carerra blast frame and rst f1rst 24 air forks. Got some 2nd hand sun singletracks on deore hubs for about £25 off eBay.

With your budget though I’d go for the orbea as above and some Stans crest 24’s from superstar.

My daughter went from a 20″ Carrera Blast to a rigid 24″ Frog. She loves it, lack of suspension and discs hasn’t fazed her, and she test rode hers on the blue taster at Kirroughtree, but that is the hardest level she rides.

Stupidly light bike makes her more willing on climbs, but if he needs suspension and discs for where he rides, the suggestions above look good.

My local is Dalbeattie 7 stane, he is ready for most of the red route, wandering if a little fatty bike would be an idea!
I will review all your suggestions and build a bigger picture.

With your budget you could get a little fatty and an upgraded Orbea.

IMHO at that budget build the bike up yourself
9 seed gear set up even 10 speed is pretty affordable- got full X0 9 speed with twist shifters for my two kids – cost was under £59 for both including mechs. Same applies if you go for standard bars and narrow.
Shimano Acera brakes are 4o for both and hydraulic- used for my kids
and tubeless wheels can be had at reasonable prices

Re shock I went for old 28 mm air sids as they have very low A-C and they are cheaper than the 24 er forks

Cranks are a bit pricey iirc at about £80 though

Personally I think the 24 ” market has very little of quality unless you want rigid.

Both my bikes for the kids are sub 25 lb as well with 100 mm travel

My 9 yo is possibly moving up from a 24″ wheel Hotrock to a Hoy Bonaly 26″ disc.
The hoy range looks good and that one is 11.8kg.

Frantically spending at tesco to use the points on double up boost now!

Stans crest 24’s from superstar.

wouldn’t bother, they are made with single gauge spokes so not that light.

my son’s only blast was sub 23lb but I would save £100 more and buy this. My son is 137cm tall and has one although its slightly modded from spec

http://www.plushhillcycles.co.uk/7408/products/2015-transition-bikes-ripcord-bluebird.aspx

Nice looking bike!

Last time I chekced – the three standard HT / Rigids for this size are the Hoy Bonaly, The Isla bike & the Frog.

We have the Hoy and I fitted an RST air fork & some Rocket Rons from bike-discount. Still lightweight so fine on climbs and descents, the kids have ridden them in the Alps, Bike Park Wales, Surrey Hills etc (although they did prefer the rental burly Commencal’s for the alps – until the hill pointed upwards).

Generally – big thumbs up for the Hoy though. Not worried about FS but disc brake mounts on the frame would be a bonus.

Just went through the same process with my son our budget was a little less than yours but we ended up buying a Commencal Ramones frame then shopped around for the parts.

I spent a while looking at forks I think the lightest 24 inch fork is the rst first air one but we ended up with a 26 reba that I reduced the travel to 80mm though this might have to go to 60mm as the BB is a little high.

We ended up with a 10kg bike which weighs the same as his old 20 inch. We did go the stans crest route though I built them myself with xt hubs and DT Swiss Champion Spokes. The plan will be to take all the parts bar the frame and the wheels and use them to build a small 26 when he is big enough.

If your not up for building a bike the Commencal meta HT 24 would be worth a look

^^^blakec that Ramones sounds like a great build can you give me some details about the spec paticularly interested in what cranks you used and the brakes for little fingers. Pics would be nice!

sgn23

Don’t have any photos but will try to get some tomorrow

Main spec below. Most of it came from shopping around or from old kit from myself of friends

Commencal Ramones 24
rockshox reba dual air 26 with 80mm of travel
24 stans crest with xt hubs
rocket ron tyres (soon to be tubeless)
Thorn 104/64 PCD Triple Crankset MK2 155mm (from SJS cycles) set up with a single renthal 32t chainring
xt m8000 groupset with 11-42 cassette
Shimano Bottom Bracket BB-UN55 Square Taper 107mm 68 mm the narrowest BB i could find
Shimano m395 brakes. (i wound the leavers in as far as they would go my son doesn’t have a problem reaching them. though I was expecting to have to modify the leavers a bit but so far he has been fine.)
35mm stem
620mm bars
and the most important thing a flashing led strip that gives his speed on the side of his wheel so everyone can see how fast he is going.

Don’t have any photos but will try to get some tomorrow

Currently toying with the idea of getting him one of the cheap dropper posts off of amazon instead of reducing the fork travel but he will have to wait a few months for that.

ade9933 – Member
Nice looking bike!

Last time I chekced – the three standard HT / Rigids for this size are the Hoy Bonaly, The Isla bike & the Frog.

We have the Hoy and I fitted an RST air fork & some Rocket Rons from bike-discount.

how does the hoy bonaly look with a susp fork fitted? my lads just bought a bonaly and has been harping on about suspension

IMHO at that budget build the bike up yourself

this is the best solution. with a 1k budget it should be quite easy to build a decent f/s bike running 10sp and on 24″ rims.

My plan for when we next move up a size is to buy a decent rigid 24″ (that Orbea up there is favourite). Strip wheels and gears off and replace with 1×10 that’s spare and build some wheels on Stans.
Upgrade forks to whatever is good.

Then eventually resell with the original equipment reinstalled.

Luckily it’ll go through 2 children and have resale or reuse value on the upgraded kit.

son23

pictures as requested
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nice bike there, I fitted crests to lewis’s ripcord today.

weight is 26.76lb with reverb and saint pedals. Kenda kentic and hutchinson toro are ~750g each. Crests went up tubeless (gorrila tape) no bother with the airshot

I’m still on the lookout for an xs 26″ frame if anybody has one for sale (I’m in Malvern) or any suggestions of something nice and light new – burly not required at all. To work with an 80mm travel fork as I have a very nice light one in my spares bin, along with most of the bits needed for a build.

For my boy who is 9 tomorrow – fitted on a Isla 26 last summer when he was 8.5, but still on his 20 at the moment so I probably need to get this sorted pretty soon.

have a look on the german sites for XS frames

It can be an awkward age depending on their height as getting out of Islabikes/Frog territory and into small sized 26/650. Our youngest, who is a tall 9.5 has just gone from a Beinn 26 to a 14 inch frame Genesis Core 20 (650b) and loves it. His 13 yr old brother has been on a 15 inch Cube Acid, also 650, since he was 12.

Both on air forks so can be set nice and soft for full travel

Anyone (‘s child) tried the Genesis or On-One fat Bikes with the 20″ wheels? Guess there a similar size to standard 24″ wheeled Bikes. 20+ anyone?

You’ve done a great job with the Commencal build blakec. If I was shorter I’d fancy riding that myself!