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I'm after some suggestions from the all-knowing STW knowledge bank...
My 10 year old son needs a new bike. He currently has a Scott Scale junior 24, which he loves. Problem is, he's getting too big for it. Virtually every ride he's asking me to put the seat up, but it's at its max height already. The frame has a really low top tube and seat tube so consequently the maximum seat height is not that high!
I've started looking for something bigger, but I think there must be a lot more choice out there.
My search criteria:
It's critical the bike is light. He's not big built and finds long climbs tough going.
Air suspension would be great as I could tune it to his low body weight (never managed to get sag right with his current bike).
Disc brakes (preferably hydraulic).
Proper shifters for the gears (I.e. not grip shifters which he's never found easy to use on any of his bikes).
Preference for 1x gearing (not a deal breaker though)
So far the only thing I've found that seems to fit the bill is the Frog MTB 69.
My concern with this is how long it will last him, though it does sound like it's very well designed with kids in mind.
Any suggestions for standard adult bikes in smaller frame sizes?
For what it's worth, we've just done the red routes at Glenlivet and then Laggan this week (half term holiday in the Highlands) and he's loving it. He seems very competent at the pretty technical rocky stuff at Laggan and loved the swoopy, bermy stuff further down. The jumps and table tops in the bike park section at Laggan resulted in much grinning!
Any ideas?
https://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/kids-bikes/kids-bikes/voodoo-nzumbi-mountain-bike-26-wheel ?
It's been as cheap as ~£325 this year before BC discount.
Thanks for the voodoo suggestion - looks really good. Cheers!
Any other ideas out there to look at?
Look at bike discount or other online German shops for xs cube frames like the attention. They are pretty small and still have good standover even with 27.5 wheels. Then do a spare parts bin/ classifieds/ new build to suit your budget. Even better if your lad can help build it too.
My lad was also flying around laggan last week. Great little trail centre, lots of fun if your kids are handy on rocks.
I'm going through this. My son - 10 in January has outgrown his 24" and will be racing U12 next year. The options seems to be - because most circa £500 bikes come with a coil aka rubbish/heavy fork:
a) A Whyte 403
b) A small Giant Talon 1 - or any other small 650b with an air fork, which he'll cope with an grow into.
He wants the former.
I'll have s look at frames on bike discount - thanks for the pointer.
Anyone got any experience of the Frog bikes? They certainly look good on the overall weight to price ratio.
I think at this age suspension forks are not worth it. They make the bikes very heavy, and the kids are not heavy enough to pre load them properly. My suggestion would be to forget the fork and go rigid.
Failing that something like this, if you can wait a month. Looks awesome value for money to me
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-nucleus-26-kids-mountain-bike-2019/rp-prod173139
The OP's kid is flying around rocky red trails at Laggan. I would say a suspension fork is well worth it. Yes, you could get away with a rigid on the lower bikepark trail if you are smooth and hit all the landings nicely but a suspension fork would also give a bit more margin for error there too.
My son has a manitou marvel fork. Air sprung and pretty light. It's a straight steerer one so I could use a fully integrated headset to keep the stack low. You can go with an external lower cup for a tapered steerer, but you add another 10mm or so for the lower cup.
The OP’s kid is flying around rocky red trails at Laggan. I would say a suspension fork is well worth it. Yes, you could get away with a rigid on the lower bikepark trail if you are smooth and hit all the landings nicely but a suspension fork would also give a bit more margin for error there too.
My mistake, got bored half way through the OP and didn't read that last paragraph.
The Vitus looks spot on to me in that case.
Vitus looks good aside from the fact that post might be a 27.2, which makes dropper choices a little limited. Not insurmountable though.
Orange do a very nice 26er hardtail now too. The Zest.
The Vitus looks spot on to me in that case.
Except for the Spinner fork? Can that be serviced if you have the finesse and DIY skills of the Gorilla that plays drums oil the Cadbury's advert?
Orange do a very nice 26er hardtail now too. The Zest.
Yup, £999 though. Expensive to grow out of.
I've just seen oil Saracens page the have a new 26" Mantra coming for £650, looks good.
Thanks for all the suggestions - I'll certainly have a look at the Virus. He definitely needs suspension as he's got used to having it now and certainly makes use of it at trail centres.
I'll try to keep my posts more concise in future trailwagger!
https://www.jejamescycles.com/diamondback-lumis-1-0-27-5-mountain-bike-15-wmh1276.html
https://www.jejamescycles.com/diamondback-lumis-2-0-27-5-mountain-bike.html
Are Diamondbacks so not the best brand out there but they are 15" and carbon and most importantly very cheap.
Surely used, but loved is the way to go
Have you looked at Hoy bikes, they do a good 26” model. My son has had one for two years, no problems.
no suspension though so not fitting your needs perfectly.
Alternatively the new Trek Roscoe fits the bill, with nice 27.5 plus. They do small sizes.
Hey eemy, that bike is actually very interesting.
I'll send you a PM (if I can work out how to do it!).
I got my 10yr old lad a 14" voodoo soukri from halfords, £350 at the moment. Wanted a nzumbi but his size was sold out. The soukri is sold as a ladies bike but you cant tell looking at it and the shorter reach suits him. He seems happy with it.
Thanks all - some great suggestions and ideas.
Have something sorted with eemy, but plenty else to look at if that doesn't suit nobbingsford junior.
Cheers!
Vitus Nucleus 26 is 27.2 seat tube but should take the Brand-X Ascend CX post as the frame is has internal routing for the remote... check with WiggleCRC to make sure.