Paging maggots w/ jr. maggots: kid bike sizing question

[El Chupacabra]

Our little shredder is growing out of his 20" wheeled mtn bike, and I'm looking for a new bike for him.

We need to take him to a bike shop to see what he'll fit, but turning first to the collective wisdom of the board:

If you have kids who ride -- how tall was yours when first on a 26" wheeled mtn bike? I'm looking at either a 24" wheeled kids bike, or perhaps a 13" frame adult bike (standard 26" wheels).

[AKWL]

My daughter isn't even walking yet, so I can't offer much advice on the sizing issue.

I did spend a few summers taking leading "Bike Hike" a little cycling camp for 4-10 year-olds. I can't remember much about sizing. The LBS will help.

What I can offer is some advice on brakes. Over several years and hundreds of kids on different bikes my conclusion that is that proper brakes are pretty much impossible. The brakes and levers are so cheap and their hands are relatively weak - we had a lot of crashes thanks to poor brakes.

I'd reccomend upgrading to adult levers, brakes and housing for jr's new ride. You should be able to adjust the reach on the levers to accomodate small hands. Good quality v-brakes and levers are cheap these days. It will likely save poor jr from some nasty scrapes.

[1wsguy]

Always tough to figure this one out. Sometimes kids just can't handle the 26" right away. It's a big jump from 20".

On the other hand I've seen some kids grow out 24" in one summer.

A bike that feels too big to a kid is no fun/dangerous to ride.

A 26" wheeled bike, even with the smallest frame available, will still present a compromised stand over position. Due to the suspension fork, the front end of all small (12-14" framed 26" bike), is pretty much the same distance off the ground.

The brakeing difficulty that AKWL mentioned, is diffenately present.

IMHO, this is the best way to set up brakes on kids bikes: set the lever parralel to the ground, screw the reach adjust all the way in, AND adjust the cable pull so that the lever almost squeezes to the handle bar.

This will feel bad to an adult, but since kids hands are tiny and handlebar diameters don't change for the kids, (like they should), this helps so they can get a bigger hand full of the lever. If you set em up this way you just have to pay attention to cable stretch/housing compression more often.

Most kids can't roll thier hands on the bar to reach a lever that is pitched down. And most kids don't have enough strength to squeeze when only thier first knuckle reaches the lever.

Whatever size you end up with, keep the smaller bike for a while till he says its ok to get rid of it.

Childhood bike memories are never lost, so I hope this one turns out to be a good one for both of you.

[El Chupacabra]

Thanks for the tips -- keep 'em coming...

The smaller bike (20" wheeled) is going to his little brother, who is moving on up from a 16" wheeled BMX-style kids bike.

[InspectorGadget]

Too bad I just sold Mini Gadget's 24" hardtail (I did have it listed in gear swap).

I bought it for him when he was 9 and he rode many of the locals trails on that bike, including the Wasatch Crest. Now, at 12, he's on a small adult hardtail - though I'm thinking seriously about buying a Mag's Kona Dawg project bike for him.

Considering you have another child to hand the 24" wheel down to, buy the smaller bike. Let your son get comfortable riding rather than trying to get comfortable riding what may be a bike that's too big.

If you don't want to spend $800 for a seriously cool Scott HT


You might want to look into an Ibex like MG had - I think they offer pretty good dollar value.

[AKWL]

What's everybody's take on the suspension fork on kids bikes? My feeling is that they offer no performance benefits and are just heavy fashion items. Of course, this is a difficult point to make with a kid whose every friend has a cheap full suspension bike from wal-mart.

What's the opinion on BMX vs MTB? In my mind, a nice BMX is going to perform better for jr. than a low-end MTB.

BMX Pros:
Coaster Brake Option
Lighter
More Durable
Good Fit

BMX Cons:
No gears

[El Chupacabra]

You might want to look into an Ibex

Thanks for the link IG -- that's about as good a parts spec as I've seen on a 24" wheel kids bike.

Also looking at several models from Mongoose and Iron Horse, all in the $200-300 range. Parts spec is about the same on most of them, forks vary (but I assume they're all pretty mediocre)... it's mostly a choice of what color frame does mini-Chupacabra want.

REI-Outlet has a "North Face" kids bike too ($169):
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...t=OUTLET_HP_PP

[El Chupacabra]

What's everybody's take on the suspension fork on kids bikes? My feeling is that they offer no performance benefits and are just heavy fashion items. Of course, this is a difficult point to make with a kid whose every friend has a cheap full suspension bike from wal-mart.

What's the opinion on BMX vs MTB? In my mind, a nice BMX is going to perform better for jr. than a low-end MTB.

Our kids (6 and 8 now) started with cheap BMX-style bikes. Both bikes have been thoroughly thrashed and abused... jumps, skids, dropping the bike, etc. They are amazingly sturdy little bikes -- IMHO a good thing for kids who are just learning how to ride and take care of a bike. Costco is a good source for bikes like these; $40-60 = don't worry too much about the kids leaving it on the front lawn.

Our 8 year old has been on this Performance house brand bike for the last 2 summers:
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=3030

Decent enough, light enough, affordable, teaches the kiddos how to shift gears, low enough gears for real mtn bike use. Also, much, much lighter than the full-suspension WalMart bikes that the neighborhood kids seem to ride. The F/S bikes look cooler to the kids, but riding a 35-40 lb bike when you only weigh 50-60 lbs has got to be difficult...

[schindlerpiste]

Last summer, I bought my 9 year old girl a 13", 26" wheel mountain bike. She was about 55". SHe has grown into it nicely.

[El Chupacabra]

Last summer, I bought my 9 year old girl a 13", 26" wheel mountain bike. She was about 55". SHe has grown into it nicely.

How was standover clearance for her? Also - was it a standard mtn bike frame (not the so-called "women's" frame)?

[schindlerpiste]

It's a Trek 4300

The 13" frame was just about perfect. The seat is at it's shortest level, and the feet are positioned correctly. She could have gone for a 24" bike like a Trek 220, but then I would have had to buy her a new bike this year.
It's a tricky age, but a 24" bike will only last you one season

[InspectorGadget]

What's everybody's take on the suspension fork on kids bikes?

My take is that most of them are junk. A few notable exceptions are also on pretty expensive bikes, i.e., Kona Stinky Jr., Specialized Big Hit Grom, and the Scott shown above. The Scott is a helluva lot of money to spend on a kid's bike, but it is a serious bike built small.

After looking at all the 24" wheels bike and reading a bunch of reviews on MTBR, I chose the Ibex because I thought it offered the most real bike for the money. Without spending way too much money. Besides, the other bikes I mentioned above weren't available 3 years ago.

I poisoned the water for myself last summer when I enrolled MG in a week-long DH camp at Deer valley and rented a Stinky Jr. for him.

[Andy_B]

[InspectorGadget]

It's a tricky age, but a 24" bike will only last you one season

You know that girls mature earlier than boys. [where's the tongue sticking out emoticon when you need it!]

[El Chupacabra]

Mini-Chupacabra and Mrs. C. went to the LBS this afternoon and had mini-C. straddle a 24" wheeled bike. They said it was borderline large on him... which rules out the 26" wheeled bike for now.

So I just ordered the "North Face" kids bike from REI-Outlet:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...t=OUTLET_HP_PP[/QUOTE]

At $169 ($180ish w/ tax), not bad. It'll do for a year or two, then get passed on to mini-C. Jr., who I set up on the 20" wheeled Performance bike tonight. He's wobbly, confused by the gears and brake levers... he'll get it. :-)

IG -- do you know if REI policy is to have the local REI assemble bikes ordered through REI/ REI-Outlet online, and delivered to the local REI, as part of the price? That'd be handy... save me an hour or so messing with the bike.