You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Daughter is at the end of the usable range of her Beinn 20. It has been ace and the lad will be able to grow into it when he finishes with his cnoc 16.
However, the thought of blowing 350 quid on a 24" bike that will only last a couple of years (and take up shed space) sucks..
Any other alternatives to Isla that people would recommend or should I just jump her to a 26"?
Seen a few reasonably priced Hotrock 24's on Ebay.
I have been wondering the same. Get a small 26" and start upgrading the parts so she ends up with a decent bike with parts that are transferable when she needs a bigger frame.
I was thinking something like a 2008 giant trance with the low standover but I haven't looked yet. I'm guessing they will still be too big though even in a small.
Doubt it (obviously heavily depends on her size though)
See comments from me and stevextc here:
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/another-kids-24-bike-trying-to-be-a-bit-different-work-in-progress/page/2#post-8512876
Had a similar dilemma and made the jump - from a hoy bonaly to a Whyte 405. TBH it was a big jump up and the bike took a bit of growing into but he got the Whyte at Christmas, did not use it a great deal and fits it fine now. But had he been using it a lot initially I would not have been very comfortable with it....but got away with it due to it being a chrimbo pressie.
The only way you will be able to tell comfortably is do what I didn't do and go check it out with your child - it's nigh on impossible to tell by looking at a bike without them with you.
I think *if* you can find a XS 26" frame and then put 24" wheels and a tiny stem on it you *might* be able to keep the frame and just change wheels/stem as she grows. Bit of a risk that she doesn't fit though.
I rebuilt a £40 eBay 24" Carrera Blast with relatively decent parts (1x9 Shimano drivechain, Deore brakes, etc) and will decide when my son outgrows it whether to sell the bike and buy a new one, or just transplant everything but wheels and fork to another battered frame off eBay.
I rebuilt a £40 eBay 24"
Actually, that sounds like a decent plan. Get to play in the shed then too 😀
Daughter went from a Frog 55 to a Genesis Core 26 (grudgingly), but once she'd ridden the Core, she loved it. Definitely the right move for her.
Can only speak for my son - he's 8.5 and about average height for his age. He moved onto a Creig 24 just before his 7th birthday and this was right at the minimum height limit for it, even though the Beinn 20 still had a bit more life left in it. He's now in the sweet spot on the Creig - it's perfectly sized for him as he is now. A Beinn 20 would be way too small for him now.
I also have a 26" Giant Liv full sus in size XS (these are like hen's teeth to find!) and it's still way too big for him. In fact, his sister can just ride it comfortably and she's nearly 11.
I also have a Major Moda road bike, on 650c (26") wheels and my son is again at the bottom end of the limit on this, but he gets away with it as running a larger road bike is much less of a problem than a larger mountain bike, which is far more likely to curtail his fun on technical terrain.
So, in short, for my son at least, taking him direct from a 20" to a 26" bike would certainly have compromised his riding where he would either have been too big for the 20" bike or too small for the 26" one and this would have been a real shame when he's loving his riding so much.
Hope this helps in some way.
Actually, that sounds like a decent plan. Get to play in the shed then too
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/my-carrera-blast-24-rebuild has the full tale, woes included.
I pondered the jump to 26" but it quickly became clear that it wasn't going to work. There are two major issues: one is achieving low enough gearing with suitably short cranks; the other is the height of both the front end and the BB.
You say you have a younger Small Person who can inherit the hand-me-downs so you should get plenty of use out of it.
Pinnacle Kauri 26". Lower standover than the others, seems to be designed like a small adults 29er. I think my 8 year old will go straight from her 20" to this.
The biggest issue is having to put the seat up to get the pedalling right, and getting her confident riding with a higher seat.
our oldet has gone 20-24-26. 20-26would have been way too much of a jump.
Great for him to be on 26 now though, for parts comptibility, quality and price 🙂
My lad went 20" to 24", 26" would have been way too big, leading to loss of confidence. He then went to the XS 26" I built, but has now gone back to a 24" Fatty.
If your after a cheap(ish) 24" I need to sell his Hotrock.
However, the thought of blowing 350 quid on a 24" bike that will only last a couple of years (and take up shed space) sucks..
Buy a used decent frame, superstar are back selling 24" Crest wheels ... stick on some decent parts.
Your lad will also be able to benefit.
You might get away with a kids 26 as opposed to an adult 26 XS but not in that price bracket.
I'm not looking to change, the lad will keep his 24" hard tail for XC so I'll need to sell my own XC to make shed space but he needs a decent FS for get the most from uplift days and it will certainly be nicer on the trails
Whereas he can "ride" my medium 27.5 around a car park he can't ride it on trails... so it completely defeats the purpose.
I could probably stick the lad on a Trek fuel jnr or possibly a Norco 6.2 but the former only has 90mm of travel and the Norco looks still a bit big.
Buy used. Kids grow and you replace their shoes to fit. Bikes are the same.
Buy used. Kids grow and you replace their shoes to fit. Bikes are the same.
...and buy wisely too. Done right, you should get most of your money back at the end. I've bought new Islabikes for my kids over the years and while the capital outlay is high, I've actually lost very little money on them, mostly because they keep increasing their prices and the used market follows this. I know people that have bought good, used bikes, kept them for two years and then sold for more than they paid for it due to the increase in prices!
24" bikes are a pain - at this age, stock hardware (especially cranks and forks) are either too big or crap. Once they get onto 26" bikes, they're usually big enough to tolerate adult-sized bits and you have a much wider range to choose from. You can also transfer hardware between frames as they grow.
Personally, my boy's Creig 24 will be his last Islabike and we'll move onto garage-built frankenbikes from here on. That said, their pro 26" bikes are lovely... 🙂
Just been through this with both my kids this year, been an expensive year!
No way on earth would either of them go straight onto 26in from 20in.
Not only would the frame be too big, the cranks (as a rule) would be too long the extra stack height of the 26in wheel and fork would mean the bars would be stupid high.
After some spreadsheet fun and far too many hours staring at spec sheets etc, I came to the conclusion that the Orbea mx 24 trail and the Saracen Mantra 24 were the best bang for buck. And seeing as you Orbea is like rocking horse poo at the moment, they are both now on the Saracens.
The stock Kenda SB8 tyres came off to be replaced by Schwalbe Rocket Rons.
The seatpost was replaced with a shorter and significantly lighter unit from Carbon Cycles.
Decent flat pedals were fitted (Nukeproofs with metal pins for the eldest who struggles with keeping his feet straight on the pedals) and DMR V6s for the youngest because blue.
The youngest had his first ride on his new bike on Saturday, safe to say he is very happy with it.
I bought a used Kona Hula for £100 over 10 years ago. It was fine for my two and then passed on to my nephew and then niece - who's still riding it now. A Trek 220 would be fine too. Don't over think it. You want V brakes, gripshift and some new grips (kids are always dropping their bikes and that cuts the ends). I've also sourced Hotrocks, an A1 FSR 24 (proper FS bike 🙂 ) and a Giant off here for other nieces and nephews (there are quite a few of them).
Save your money, but be prepared to pay a little more than nothing for a quality bike - £100-125 will buy quality and cost you £50 if you move it on (I obviously don't). I personally think Isalabikes, whilst very nice, are over-priced. A used Frog would be a better value proposition now. But in reality, any of the mainstream established makers turn out nice alloy bikes, so you can buy with confidence.
Tyre choice is always limited, but Land Cruisers are cheap and fine off road and on.
Nem Jnr is tall and growing fast but he's had 20, 24 and soon either a 26 or 27.5 bike. He's had the 24 one for about three years now - it was a bit big to start and it's clearly too small now (he's around 5', 150cm).
My dilemma is 26 or 27.5. 27.5 would probably offer more options longer term I reckon though not so cheap second hand.
The eldest should be getting his new Scott Aspect (XS 650b flavour) this weekend to replace his now too small 20" wheeled Saracen.
If he did MTBing I'd be more inclined to get him a 24" wheel bike, but he can pedal the full size bike well enough to get him round the street and on family rides in the summer.
The rate he's growing there's no point in forking out for a decent 24" wheel bike and the cheap ones are getting big enough to weigh an actual ton
I have a Scott Voltage Jr sitting in the garage doing nothing, bought secondhand off here years ago, used for commuting by two of my kids, they have all outgrown it now. Doesn't owe me a penny so free for collection from Doncaster. 3x7 gears, gripshift, V brakes, everything works, but could do with a tidy up and some new grips.
[img] 
[/img]
We went straight from a Beinn 20L to a 26S. By the time we switched he was a bit big for the 20, but fitted comfortably on the 26 then, it didn't seem at all big - had sized him up 6 months earlier at which pointed he still fitted on the 20, but also fitted on the 26. Plan had been to build up a proper 26" MTB, and I was in the process of looking for a suitable frame when the offer of the Beinn 26 came up from a mate.
Clearly it depends on what 26 you're looking at, but it is possible, and even with a proper MTB with an XS frame from what I'd sized up.
I've seen a few comments saying they went 20-24-26
mine is currently on a strider balance bike and loving it. but I can see his wheel size journey going
20-24-27.5-29
Yup its normally too big a jump. Just have more kids, that way you get value, I've had 3 through a 'leggy bike', 16",20" and 24" .. top two are now 26" capable and keep dropping hints about Whytes.
Or straight to 29"? 😀
[img] 
[/img]
Trued that, riding wasn't a problem, stopping however...
(Mainly to reduce the amount of inner tube types I have to carry!)