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Looking for a new bike for my daughter and am considering the Orbea MX range but a bit unsure on sizing. She’s 7 1/2 and fairly tall for her age (75th centile ish). She’s approx 129cm.
According to this sizing chart she’s in the height range for the 20, but towards the top end, but maybe a bit short for the 24 (recommended 135cm min height). But on the age range for the 24 it says age 7-9 which is odd as not many 7 year olds will be 135cm??
Does anyone have one and could advise on the sizing?
Im ideally looking at getting the 24 so she gets a good amount of use out of it but don’t want to get it if it’s going to be much too big
My daughter has the MX Trail 24. She got it just over a year ago when she was 8 and a bit.
No idea how tall she was at the time but she didn’t need the saddle slammed at all.
A year on and it fits her perfectly (she’s 10 in July) so I reckon your tall 7 year old should be ok.
She loves her bike. It’s not too heavy, the suspension forks are air and we’ve got them working for her pretty well.
After some time we tweaked the drivechain to give her more options on the uphills. First I binned the heavy ring and bashguard for a little as possible n/w kore ring from CRC. She was still struggling on the long ups so I got a sunrace cassette from Germany with a massive big sprocket. Haven’t found a hill she can’t ride up yet!
Now looking for some more burly tyres and I might stick some wider bars on for her for our Alps trip in the summer.
Sorry, went way off topic there! Great bike and I think it’ll fit her!
My son is 7 and I've only just put him on an MX20 (he was on a 20" before but it was a Frog and the geometry was sh*t) and it's pretty much perfect. He's just over 120cm and I've put some wider bars and a 35mm stem on it and it's a really good sized bike for him to ride.
If you don't mind her being a passenger for a few months+ go for the 24" version but if I were you I'd be buying the right size 2nd hand and moving it on when she's actually big enough for the 24".
Thanks for the replies. Still a bit unsure what to do. I’ll ponder and maybe have a look around at second hand options.
My kid was riding a 24 at 6 ... he's pretty tall for his age though.
One of his best cycling buddies now just 8 but smallest in the class has been riding a MX24 since he was 7.
Pro's and cons...
The 20 is better for skate park and DJ ... no question. the 24 is more like taking a 29er... If she wants to do big whips the 20 is way better. The Orbea 20 is really nice but its still essentially a BMX with gears..
On technical trails the 24 is just streets ahead ... the bigger wheels really make a huge difference rolling over rocks and roots. Jnr rode everything at FOD except the big drop-off on GBU on his HT 24... (and the Orbea 24 is better for that than his XC focussed HT) and point it uphill and the same. He and his smaller friend rode Afan Dig Deep/Dig Deeper twice back to back on the 24ers and next day rode the wall (ran out of time or we would have done that twice)... I really can't imagine that on the 20ers...
When he got his 24 he could barely get on but 15 mins later he was comfortable and 15 mins after that he was riding better than ever.
Same with his smaller friend... he tried my kids HT (my kid has a FS now as well so we had a loan bike) and the difference was huge from his 20.... for example the climb up to Leith Hill he slaughtered... whereas on his 20 he'd be struggling and probably have to stop a few times. He only just fit but his Dad bought a used MX24 the following week.
(IMHO the MX24's are pretty good all rounders... you just need to replace the cranks as in common with most kids 24ers they for some reason stick on really long cranks)
Our average height seven year old has an MX 24 and doesn't need the saddle slammed either. He moved up from a Beinn 20. The MX is a very nice bike; we got it after he tried out a friends' one and loved it.
We got MX24s for our boys when they were 6, and the extra confidence they gave them was incredible. Decent geometry and decent wheels. Swapped out the tyres for some Rocket Rons (tubeless is a doddle to setup as the rims come tubeless-ready) and dropped the chain catcher, bash ring and steel chainring for a lightweight NW 30t chainring, giving them better climbing.
Nice bikes.
Thanks for those last few replies which have swung it.....will be ordering the 24. Like the idea of tubeless and swapping out the chainring too. Thanks again.
If I was buying today I'd be getting a MX24....
Switching the chainring/cranks is however pretty much required if they are doing any real pedalling as the ones that come in at 152mm. (you can get various options depending what you want to spend) 152mm about what they might be on once they have just about outgrown the MX24... and something around 140mm is about right for "just moving to the MX24" and add the NW to that and keep the 152mm for when they have grown.
The cheapest option is buying some solid cranks like SRAM S600's and shortening them or there are a few other options. My cheapest was some £15 Alivio's (I gave away on here as they were surplus to requirements after upgrading to external BB ) .. If you have a hacksaw, file and decent drill, 13mm bit and pedal taps its really <1hr job.