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Watching with interest as my 11 yr old has definitely outgrown his 24" wheel bike over the winter. No need for a full suss for his riding. Open to this post being considered as a stealth wanted ad 🙂
Our youngest is just growing out of a size 16 Orange Five, and I'd have to say it's pretty spot on for kids. Good standover, decent length top tube for their height, five inches of travel front and rear and pretty light as it's pre-CEN.
I'll likely be moving it on shortly as he's now my height, and while I used to ride exactly that size of Five before children, it now feels comically small.
We went from 24" Orbea bikes with shortened Fox Forx (you can drop travel down to ~60-80mm to match the A+C plus sag of the rigid fork they come with) to a small Kona 26" frame with the same 24" wheels, then on to 26" wheels and the Five. Before all that, we had a run of excellent Islabikes that all held their value really well. I can't give Isla Rowntree and her employees enough thanks for making such awesome bikes, by the way. Quite a legacy they've left behind.
Our youngest is just growing out of a size 16 Orange Five, and I'd have to say it's pretty spot on for kids. Good standover, decent length top tube for their height, five inches of travel front and rear and pretty light as it's pre-CEN.
I'll likely be moving it on shortly as he's now my height, and while I used to ride exactly that size of Five before children, it now feels comically small.
We went from 24" Orbea bikes with shortened Fox Forx (you can drop travel down to ~60-80mm to match the A+C plus sag of the rigid fork they come with) to a small Kona 26" frame with the same 24" wheels, then on to 26" wheels and the Five. Before all that, we had a run of excellent Islabikes that all held their value really well. I can't give Isla Rowntree and her employees enough thanks for making such awesome bikes, by the way. Quite a legacy they've left behind.
Our youngest is just growing out of a size 16 Orange Five, and I'd have to say it's pretty spot on for kids. Good standover, decent length top tube for their height, five inches of travel front and rear and pretty light as it's pre-CEN.
I'll likely be moving it on shortly as he's now my height, and while I used to ride exactly that size of Five before children, it now feels comically small.
We went from 24" Orbea bikes with shortened Fox Forx (you can drop travel down to ~60-80mm to match the A+C plus sag of the rigid fork they come with) to a small Kona 26" frame with the same 24" wheels, then on to 26" wheels and the Five. Before all that, we had a run of excellent Islabikes that all held their value really well. I can't give Isla Rowntree and her employees enough thanks for making such awesome bikes, by the way. Quite a legacy they've left behind.
Our youngest is just growing out of a size 16 Orange Five, and I'd have to say it's pretty spot on for kids. Good standover, decent length top tube for their height, five inches of travel front and rear and pretty light as it's pre-CEN.
I'll likely be moving it on shortly as he's now my height, and while I used to ride exactly that size of Five before children, it now feels comically small.
We went from 24" Orbea bikes with shortened Fox Forx (you can drop travel down to ~60-80mm to match the A+C plus sag of the rigid fork they come with) to a small Kona 26" frame with the same 24" wheels, then on to 26" wheels and the Five. Before all that, we had a run of excellent Islabikes that all held their value really well. I can't give Isla Rowntree and her employees enough thanks for making such awesome bikes, by the way. Quite a legacy they've left behind.
I have a small Commencal Meta Hip Hop in small that I'm probably going to have to accept is not going to see many more rides with me on board.
It's got 66 degree head angle, 140mm up front and 120mm travel at the back but it's more 4x than XC.
It's hellish fun to ride but my arthritic hips are necessitating the e-bike gets used more often.
It's set up 1 x 9 with a RS Pike up front with a 20mm hub, back end is 142 x 12. Set up tubeless and has a dropper fitted too. If anyone is interested I can take pics over the weekend and get more detail on the spec.
I'm 5'6 and find it on the small side, I think 5'2" with a short dropper would fit fine. In East Lancs area if test rides are required.
Giant / Liv or Trek do some great wee bikes.
In my experience, some brands 'small' just is not that small....
Mrs_oab is 5' and rocks this old tool:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/1846/29672658347_2d4db75448_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/1846/29672658347_2d4db75448_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Md58xH ]Giant Liv Lust XS[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/ ]Matt[/url], on Flickr
I've got an old Ragley Blue Pig I'm going to be popping in the classifieds soon.
It's a 'Medium' but has a 17" seatpost, and used to be my wife's bike who's 5ft 6in.
Proper fun little bike, it would be well suited to a taller kid. It's currently got a 170mm dropper on but I have a 100mm I could whack on instead.
Based in Leeds. PM if interested
Just going through a major upgrade programme with my kids' bikes.
Eldest was on a Scott Spark 740 fs 27.5 size small, which he's just outgrown. He was about 150 when we got it. It's a pretty good xc-er.
Middle one has just gone from a Marin Hawk hill Junior (aka a rift zone jnr) which is a 24 and/or a 26er. Intriguing because from a size point of view it grew with him for a few years. But I've just got him a Marin Rift Zone in xs size. He's 148cm ish. Finding the size was tough, but the bike is very nice indeed. Pic may or may not be attached to this post. 
Youngest is now on a small Giant Anthem 26er. She's about 149cm as well. Bit perched on it, but her rate of growth was taking her away from the Xs version at a rate of knots.
Like a lot of the other posters, I'll be advertising them in due course 😁
Just going through a major upgrade programme with my kids' bikes.
Eldest was on a Scott Spark 740 fs 27.5 size small, which he's just outgrown. He was about 150 when we got it. It's a pretty good xc-er.
Middle one has just gone from a Marin Hawk hill Junior (aka a rift zone jnr) which is a 24 and/or a 26er. Intriguing because from a size point of view it grew with him for a few years. But I've just got him a Marin Rift Zone in xs size. He's 148cm ish. Finding the size was tough, but the bike is very nice indeed. Pic may or may not be attached to this post.
Youngest is now on a small Giant Anthem 26er. She's about 149cm as well. Bit perched on it, but her rate of growth was taking her away from the Xs version at a rate of knots.
Like a lot of the other posters, I'll be advertising them in due course 😁
I'm in chesterfield and have a 16.5" Ibis Mojo HD3 that I was going to put in the classifieds once the new forum settles down.
Good timing on this thread, was about to ask the same question. My lad is 12 and about 150cm and needing to get a new bike, ideally one he can grow with for a couple of years at least. Some good options here for me to have a look at
LBS is always worth a check. Last year I was looking for a more capable bike for my (then) 11 yo and a Specialized Status 140 was on sale at my LBS, so we had a look. Before we went I had thought it would be far too big, but as soon as he had a ride it was clear it was fine, plus he really liked it, so I bought it. A year later and it's still great and probably has plenty of miles/growing in it yet.
LBS is always worth a check. Last year I was looking for a more capable bike for my (then) 11 yo and a Specialized Status 140 was on sale at my LBS, so we had a look. Before we went I had thought it would be far too big, but as soon as he had a ride it was clear it was fine, plus he really liked it, so I bought it. A year later and it's still great and probably has plenty of miles/growing in it yet.
Our eldest has just gone onto a 29" size small specialized chisel. She is 156cm and there is room so a 150mm dropper! Nice modern geometry and you can build them light without spending loads. There is very little in the way of modern and lighter, most of the more modern kids stuff has nice angles but silly heavy. Despite going up 2.wheels sizes she is already more comfortable than on her old vitus nucleus 26 (which I had already pimped out to drop the weight).
OP here... BIG THANKS to everyone (as ever on this lovely forum!) for your wisdom and ideas, some really good points in the above.. and the bike pics, some nice toys there for sure!
Having a look about I'm a bit torn now between finding an old Orange 5 complete or frame (and building up)... or scouting about for something more recent with a nice low top tube. Seems like the 'small' Calibre Bossnut is pretty much a XS in other brands, loads of standover, and there are a few of those around. That is going to feel like a bigger heavier bike than an Orange 26er though I'm guessing...hmmmmmm decisions decisions.
For what it's worth when I was 11 my folks bought me a 20" Trek 830 saying 'you'll grow into it' and now I'm 6'7" so I guess they kind of had a point, but boy was the top tube terrifying for a year or three.