You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Spectacular!!!
That looks rad!
That looks awesome!
Excellent Dadding!
It's so good that kids have proper bikes (even compared to a couple of years ago) to get them started these days!
Scale that up and it wouldn't be a bad looking adult bike.
She must be chuffed!
very happy. You can get them with a dropper and a suspension for if you pay extra. 66 head angle
Awesome. Great work.
Orbea make fantastic kids bikes.
Yep. Chris Porter would be pleased with that 😁
Nice one
LLS! (Little Lady Stoked!)
Looks great. Happy riding!
Nice! How tall is she, by the way? Just wondering about options for my shortly - to - become - 6 YO.
Kids riding bikes just makes me smile.
Super cute, but that long cage rear mech might not last long 🙂.
Saddle height! Think of her knees.
Apart from that - fantastic.
Wait til she a) gets her first full suss and b) starts leaving you for dead on every descent.
but that long cage rear mech might not last long
That is a worry but for what she rides I think it will be fine. Can change it later to something shorter
@rich_s I'll do some measurements tomorrow. Probably a bit cruel to wake her the now lol
What a beautiful bike. Have a happy birthday Sophie.
🙂
Awesome! She looks well chuffed with that.
What lid is she wearing there? I need to start looking at a new one for my 6 year old.
Saddle height! Think of her knees.
tippy toes when sitting on the saddle. I'll put it up a bit once she has got used to the bigger size. Dropper would be handy.
What lid is she wearing there?
Giro Tremor - not a great fit though. The sizing is crap on it.
Super cool.
The head angles are awesome on these kids bikes. My 7 year old's Scott Scale 24 is slacker than my Stanton Switch9er!
Kids on bikes rock 🤙
And that looks an ace bike. 👍
I’ll do some measurements tomorrow. Probably a bit cruel to wake her the now lol
Priorities! 😜
Reason being, Imogen is already looking too big for her 20" so I'm thinking 24" for her 6th... I'm not sure I'm going to have much choice tbh unless I buy another, bigger 20".
Looking great!
Orbea do seem to be making some great kids bikes. I was looking at the Orbea MX20 for my 5yo, but the Laufey definitely looks like an upgrade... Maybe time to splash the cash.
I think he might struggle on a bike that size but he's outgrown his Cnoc 14 and I want to get him on a better bike for the summer. Any advice?
Great looking bike.
Tons of threads on here - just have a look.
FWIW I'd go straight from 14 to 20. He's 5 so quite capable of (basic) gears. When Immy was 4 she got going on an Isla 14 and it lasted a month before I had to put her on a Frog 16. That lasted nearly 10 months before a 20" and now we're looking at a 24" for her 6th (she is mahoosive though)
Availability is likely to be an issue so buy early. Lots of buying groups on Facebook for Frog and Isla. Lots of ideas on here too.
Saddle height! Think of her knees.
tippy toes when sitting on the saddle. I’ll put it up a bit once she has got used to the bigger size. Dropper would be handy.
I have exactly the same problem. I see my 6 year old pedalling her Frog 52 and she's getting nowhere near good extension. Knees look very high and I'm thinking I need to raise the saddle. But then when I get her to stand over the bike, she's up on her toes.
What lid is she wearing there?
Giro Tremor – not a great fit though. The sizing is crap on it.
Thanks. That's a pity - it looks really nice online.
Bet she's stoked with that. It's a great looking bike.
Thats made my morning. First class parenting right there!
@poah any chance you could weigh it? I can't find the weight anywhere online. I'm just weighing up (ha!) the difference that an extra £120 gets over the MX20 team.
The more expensive one looks cooler, possibly thanks to the discs but I wonder if it actually ends up heavier? My 5yo has strong legs but I am keen to keep the weight down.
Kids on decent bikes makes the world seem a much better place 🙂 nice bike, lots of fun ahead!
I was reflecting yesterday, that there isn’t much more enjoyment to be had in life than going out with my seven year old daughter on our mountain bikes. She planned the route yesterday and made sure she included sprinting, technical climbs, challenging descents and lots of jumping. Best money I’ve ever spent was on her bike!
any chance you could weigh it? I can’t find the weight anywhere online. I’m just weighing up (ha!) the difference that an extra £120 gets over the MX20 team.
@Superficial reason I went with this over the team is the disc brakes and the geo.
I paid £479 from winstanleys
stock the bike with the pedals it comes with is 9.665KG or 21.3 lbs
Going to try and make it tubeless once the valves come.
You're a star, thanks! 9.66kg certainly seems ballpark right for that price - only the early riders (£££) seem substantially lighter at ~8.7kg. At any rate it seems like the discs don't add too much of a weight penalty and obviously look cool (even if they're probably not necessary in terms of stopping power).
9.66kg is half his weight though! Like me riding a 40kg monster!
Doesn't really affect the kids that much TBH
Ordered one in the black rainbow colour. Can't wait to see the boy's face when I surprise him. Still nervous that it'll be a bit big/heavy for him at the moment but he'll grow.
@superficial mine took a week to come from winstanleys. Came by DPD.
impressive
For sizing, my son (age 5.5 50th centile) is 113cm tall and just swapped from 14” to 20”, whilst my elder daughter (age 8 75th centile) is 131cm and just moved onto 24”. Both on Islabikes but with the biggest tyres possible replacing the skinny hybrid tyres - the trails here are pretty smooth and neither of them are sending it large!
That Orbea looks great! Happy girl!
Kids bikes nowadays are flipping ace, arent they? I was on a Townsend BMW with crossbad pad and pressed mild steel caliper brakes when I was that age.
Can't wait till my lad is old enough to start getting into it, he's just getting the hang of his Puky balance bike recently.
I've been adding some purple touches to the bike. Headset top, Hope seat clamp, halo hex key clamps, bolts for the bottle cage and chain guide, cable end, centre lock for the discs and cassette. Also got her a pair of 5-10s too. I'm jealous of the bike.
Great dad skills.
These are firmly on the radar for the jump from 20 to 24. Cheers!
The tippy toes thing. Hmmm.
The Bikeability people round our way agree with that, but it’s only good for short stop start rides.
I coach at a Go Ride club, and as they are riding for good long periods I want their saddle in the right position to ride.
I don’t expect tippy toes when on the saddle. One foot on a pedal a tippy toes perhaps.
But better if you can at 6 or 7 to be teaching standover when stationary and on your first pedal stroke you move your bum to the saddle (or pedal out of the saddle for a bit).
After that it’s scoot starts and CX mounts 😉
Still good to see them riding though.
You'll be asking if Hope tech 3 levers are suitable for small hands next 😀, I bet you're dying to put a dropper on now, go on, you know you want to.
I love it when a dad (or mum) builds the bike up sort of for their son/daughter but also for themselves a little bit. Not a dig btw, totally the opposite!
I've done EXACTLY the same.😁
Everybody wins. Haha!
Don’t joke.
Hydraulic disc brakes are good for children as they don’t need much hand strength and they don’t go stiff with water and corrosion in the cables.
And Hope Tech and Tech3 levers are really easy to adjust for hand size.
Tubeless is also particularly good for children.
Dropper posts not so much. My 10 year old is too light to make his BrandX go down again.
Trust me.
I bet you’re dying to put a dropper on now, go on, you know you want to
The more expensive versions come with droppers. I'll get one eventually once she has mastered the larger size of the bike.
The tippy toes thing. Hmmm.
Sophie lacks confidence in riding so being able to touch the ground is important. I did put the saddle up a bit more. Once she gets the hang of it I'll put it up. We don't do long rides and her confidence is more important at the moment.
You’ll be asking if Hope tech 3 levers are suitable for small hands next
don't need too lol Lewis has had hope brakes on his bike for a while but if I was going to spend over £350 on brakes I'd just have got the more expensive bike with the dropper and the air fork instead. Plus she is 6 and will be using the bike for play around the estate, don't want the bike getting stolen.
With a bike like that she'll soon be better than dad if she's not already.
With a bike like that she’ll soon be better than dad if she’s not already.
🙁
She asked for her saddle to be put up
Mine arrived yesterday. Very pleased with how it looks. Looks very well thought out and constructed. The hydro discs in particular feel great. Haven’t unveiled it yet though, that’s for the weekend!
@poah - looks like Winstanley’s have bumped the price to £560 (in line with everywhere else tbf) so we got in just in time B)
I actually seen someone else with one in the same colour a few doors down. More popular that I thought it seems.
Her confidence has sky rocketed.
she can do both sets now in a row without stopping.
Ha, nice. I'll have to crack the whip harder - I'm sure my boy couldn't do that!
😎🤘👍
couple of new bits and the bike is almost finished. Got the mudguard from rather be riding
https://ratherberiding.co.uk/collections/mudguards/products/whippetmudguard?variant=37845253980325
bell is from amazon
Brilliant! I'll pinch that link to the mudguard too!
Got my 6 yo an Orbea MX20.
Its a lovely little bike. But I couldn't resist swapping some of the components.
It came with a 70mm stem which seemed massive for a kids bike, that got swapped for a 50mm one. The Sunrace 9 speed cassette weighed a ton and got ditched in favour of an XT 9 speed cassette I had lying around. The rotors were centerlock but really cheap heavy ones, again I had some nicer rotors in my spares so these went on. Swapped the grips to little lock ons - mainly to make it easier for me in the future.
The rims are taped for tubeless! So i tried taking the tubes out and sticking some valves in but the wire beaded Kenda SB8s are way too slack on the rims.
Any one know of a tubeless compatible 20" tyre?
SB8s ghetto well if that helps.
For your wallets sake, Do not look at fresh goods friday.😀
Absolutely awesome 👍. My daughter is 7 and just moved to a Hoy Bonaly 24. She’s small for her age and is right on the limit but she loves it
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007190472_f54de40090_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007190472_f54de40090_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kHkbEu ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/153018338@N03/ ]Tony H[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007189107_d13f82e5db_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007189107_d13f82e5db_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kHkbfX ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/153018338@N03/ ]Tony H[/url], on Flickr
For your wallets sake, Do not look at fresh goods friday.
thankfully the nukeproof stuff isn't suitable for sophie's bike. The seat post is not the correct diameter and the pedals are just too aggressive (plus I have chromag radar youth pedals). Be something for the older kids.
The orbeas really are nice. My eldest daughter (8) has improved loads since we got her an MX24. She actually trusts the disc brakes where rim she never did. She was right on the size limit and we put ordering if for a while. First ride showed it was the right decision. Took a little while to get the controls in the right place but now she is doing so well.
Can I just say, during lockdown our ten year old graduated to my wife’s old Five Diva (repainted and much respec’ed) and our 14 year old grabbed my Alpine 160.
They ride them better than we ever did.
But we have better skills compensators now. 😉
progressing at a shocking rate. This bike has really helped with the confidence. Next step will be doing stuff without a hand at the start.
@poah I saw on another thread that you have now fitted some manitou junit forks. What was your route from 100x9qr to 110x15?
Havering over buying one but want to know what the upgrade route is for the future....... For daughter obvs..... 😜
Ps: apologies if my wife has been Instagram stalking you after seeing your daughter at comrie at the weekend!
@Shackleton yeah they are Junit forks (100mm) with an external cup. Also put a KS lev SI 75mm dropper on it and swapped out the bar/stem for the SDG jr one (trimmed 15mm off each end) & a spank spoon 318 stem (30mm) as well. Front hub is an XTR boost hub stock is a QR 100mm. I had a 20 inch rim already from a specialised riprock so used that for the wheel.
Haha! Bless her, great stuff mate.👍
The fork works really well. If she was to start going faster I'd have to put more air in it.
My lad is 4 1/2 but tall (mam is 6’4”) and he’s been on a 20” frog since January. I’m working on the one foot down, one on the pedal starts as I’d like to lift his saddle up a little. I was looking at the suspension seat posts as on the last long ride we did (13 miles!) round Elan valley he was not enjoying the bumpy parts. Gone to larger tyres at less pressure to hopefully help. I’m amazed, like others, at what bikes are available for kids now and also how much disposable income we have as parents to spend on bikes for kids! My first bikes were all bought used right up to my 10th birthday and it didn’t stop me having fun. So much more choice now, including where to ride.
@poah - well done mate, lovely looking bike and your daughter looks absolutely stoked!
I’m amazed, like others, at what bikes are available for kids now and also how much disposable income we have as parents to spend on bikes for kids!
It's gotten better even in the last couple of years, Orbea being a prime example. What is abundantly clear from my experience with my 2 boys is that spending a bit of money on their bikes and kit, possibly at the expense of your own, makes for a better experience for everyone.
You don't have to go mad, for 24in wheeled bikes my boys had Saracen Mantra 2.4 bikes with upgraded tyres, posts (lighter to start then dropper), pedals (nukeproof plastic with proper pins) and in the end slightly wider bars.
As I am "mountain bike guy with kids" at work I get the "what bike should I buy my kid" and the answer used to be easy - Islabikes, significantly more complicated answer now.
You never forget how to ride a bike, and you never forget the day you get a lovely new bike!😀
My daughter Mia is really into riding her bike. However, she is a right shorty so only on a Frog 43 with 14" wheels (and I don't see her moving up anytime soon). At that wheel size, it certainly makes rougher stuff more of a workout for her, but she does well.
She has become really good at standing up on pedals with her feet level recently (and in turn pedaling whilst stood up). Just working on getting her to keep that position when descending rougher trails rather than sitting down with a leg or two out.
Damn you @poah, my daughter saw the pictures, remembered your daughter from comrie, and my new fork fund is now down the price of a laufey 20 h30!
Coming tomorrow apparently!
Sophie’s first jump - so impressed and proud