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Apart from the obvious (no future grandchildren!), what are the dangers of poor stand over height for a child, (orthopaedic or handling)?
Reason for asking is that now I finished building my Solaris, my 11 year old (151cm tall) has stolen my Soul (26). It’s a medium – which is at least 1 size too big for him. He slammed the saddle right down and proceeded to ride it better than I ever have. The frame is quite compact and reach is fine, he can extend his legs properly – at first glance he looks really natural on it - but the seat tube is too long really – demonstrated when he gingerly dismounts!
He’s loving riding it around the garden and local streets, and perhaps unsurprisingly finds it lighter, better geared, better braked and more manoeuvrable than his ancient Specialized Hotrock (24) but when the lockdown ends I am concerned he is going to hurt himself on anything more technical, (he’s only into Swinley blue level at the moment).
I have always believed in making sure a bike fits properly and was previously looking out for a smaller frame for him to strip and transfer the parts from the Soul to – but not sure if I should bother now – what’s the consensus?
I've always thought the biggest dangers of kids on too-large frames was denting their confidence or putting them off riding. Doesn't sound like it's a problem here.
I'd let him choose some grips or saddle in a colour he really likes so he can make his mark on it and let him play.
(My 11yo enjoys grabbing my bikes whenever he can - unfortunately he's quite tall and looks pretty natural on my large Stage 4. I can see me losing that soon).
I have recently built up a 26'' (13'' frame) for our 8 year old.
He can straddle the TT without interference (cough) and we have actually had to raise the saddle height but the sis more due to using 150mm cranks.
The piece that we wrestled with a little was reach but a short stem (I may still go shorter) and a reversed layback post mitigates this.
Proper bike fit for children isn't the same as bike fit for adults.
Bit of pipe lagging on the TT for the next 6 months?
After that He'll have had a growth spurt, will be towering over you and will want a 29er.
Thanks for the responses - good - you've saved me some time and money - for now at least! We'll see how he goes.
BTW Re. the confidence: It's been interesting to see how much more confident he is hopping off kerbs and various lumps and bumps now he has a decent fork and brakes (even though they are 15 year old mono-mini's they are light years ahead of his v-brakes for feel and stopping power).
If he's confident on it, then crack on. We stuck our 5yo on a 20" at Christmas, despite him being comfortably off the bottom of the size chart. We were a bit nervous about it, but unnecessarily so. He's completely comfortable riding it, and has found his own ways to deal with the fact that he can barely touch the ground when stopped even when over the TT not the saddle.
Like your son, his riding has leapt forward thanks to being on a better bike that he loves.
I wouldn't suggest it for a less confident rider, but the only real "danger" I've seen is the occasional ungraceful dismount when stopping on an incline. The bigger bike comes with longer cranks and a higher BB, so when pedalling with the saddle slammed his legs are a little bit more bent than is ideal.
Went for a longer ride with him today, (don’t worry only 30 minutes round the deserted local streets to make sure he gets ‘some’ exercise). I can’t get over how weird it is to have him cruising around on the bike I have been using as my only bike for the last 7 years (until last week)! Even worse is the menacing sound of my old Hope hub coming up behind me...at least he’s loving it!