UKH

We're thinking of getting my son, soon to be 10 (& currently 140 cms), a new bike for his birthday. He has 20' wheel MTB currently and it's not quite too small for him yet but getting there plus that bike is needed for his little brother this year!

So a 24' wheeled bike seems obvious but looking at loads of different webshops and bike companies it seems they vary wildly in what size/age they recommend 24 inch wheeled bikes for. I've seen some (like Isla for example saying their 24 inch MTB is for 8+ and they make a 26' MTB for 9+, while somewhere else was talking about 24' bikes as up to 15!)

I know frame size and style can make a big difference, but I'm just a bit worried that if we get him a 24' bike now he could outgrow it in a year? So I'm interested to hear from other cycling parents when they got 24' bikes for their kids and how long they fitted them.

(We have had considered the youth road bikes Halfords do, but due to where we live I think a basic HT MTB is probably best - lots of tracks and forest paths he can ride it on along with the smooth cyle paths.)

In reply to TobyA:

Not a whole lot of use, as mine are younger, but anyhow.

We moved ours up at Christmas - A, just 8, moved to Islabike Beinn 24 from the small Beinn 20 he'd had for 3 years. He was just at the minimum height then (about 128 cm) and has grown a little. It looks about right on him, with plenty of room to grow. I'm hoping he'll last at least a couple of years on it...

In reply to TobyA: info on wheel size vs height for kids here http://www.cycleexperience.com/getting_the_right_size.php


http://www.whycycle.co.uk/buying-a-bike/bike-sizing-advice/

http://www.cycle2work.info/siteadvicecentresize

In reply to TobyA:

We went through exactly this a couple of years ago, spent ages looking around and saw lots of 24" wheel bikes that weighed a ton and had dreadful suspension, most of them were built to look good in the showroom and be useless for riding.

Eventually after taking advice from a few shops we managed to get him on a 26" wheel bike with a really small frame, this was for his 9th birthday and I reckon he was a no bigger than your son is now.

We settled on a Giant Revel 3 with an XXS frame size which equates to about 11 or 12 inches, he has done loads on it and there is still lots of growing room in the bike whereas I reckon if we had got a 24 we would be thinking about a new bike by now.

We got ours from All Terrain cycles in Shipley, they were really good, the only mod it needed was they cut the width of the bars down a bit to make it fit him better, all done FOC in about half an hour while we waited.

In reply to Andrew Lodge:


Yes, I know what you mean plenty seem to weigh very little less than my 19' frame 26 wheeled Kona! But I've found an Orbea that doesn't have suspension and is only geared 1x8 - looks quite sensible in terms of weight saving (and still 100 quid less than the Isla equivalent) - looks rather nice too I think.


Thanks, I guess this is an idea too, unfortunately there aren't many decent shops around us so trying might be tricky - but may need to buy online and that makes the 26' small frame option less attractive as I'm worried it might still be too big. But something to think about all the same - cheers!

In reply to TobyA:

We got our son the Islabike Creig 24 in October 2013, when he was right at the lower end of the Islabike size chart (around 128cm). He happened to be 7 at the time (he's tallish for his age). It was a replacement for a Beinn 20 which was beginning to look a bit small. He'd ridden the Beinn 20 all over - parks, woods, byways and bridleways, trail centres, roads.

He initially looked a bit small for the 24", but after about 10 mins I found him doing track-stands out on the front drive, so I figured his control of a big bike was probably OK.

He's since had a visit to Dalby trail centre and has done plenty of stuff around the Peak. Size is currently fine and I'd expect to get 3+ years riding out of it (obviously just a guess).

Given that your son is already 140cm I think you've got a bit of a dilemma! Maybe an extra-small 26" HT MTB might fit? Ideally you'll want to get him trying a few for size, do you have a LBS with a bit of choice?

In reply to Dave Todd:

Perfect post for us - keep measuring our oldest lad (6 at moment) so he can get a Creig 24 when he hits the magic 128cm (little bit to go yet) - so good to know its OK at bottom end of height range: he's on a Ridgeback rigid at moment; he's younger brother is on a Bienn 20 Small and is eyeing up the Ridgeback...

In reply to ChrisJD:

Given where you're based (Peak?), when your son's around 128cm you're welcome to pop and have a look at our Creig 24 before you buy your own - to check out the sizing etc.

Cheers

Dave

In reply to Dave Todd:

Cheers Dave - great offer!

(we are in Hope Valley)

In reply to ChrisJD:

Just in case anyone is interested I am planning on selling my two daughter's bikes, now they have outgrown them. Both 24" wheels. One is a Marin and the other a Specialized. Can provide full details on request.

In reply to TobyA:

My son is about the same age, and I managed to pick up a old kids' racer from ebay which has 24" wheels and dates from the early 80s. The tyres are 24 x 1.375" and designed primarily for wheelchairs, so along with the small frame everything is proportioned just right. here's a photo of the bike in action http://instagram.com/p/l5IrmWr2Lh/

As far as I know, bikes like these are no longer made, which is a real shame.

In reply to FrankBooth:

Thanks Frank - that looks really cool! I rather liked this one a Carrera road bike for kids using 26 inch wheels that Halfords do for not silly money, but the man in questions still thinks he wants flat bars and something he can ride on single track too which is fair enough. Plus many of the big internet shops will deliver it to us in Finland for free while halfords don't which means it would be delayed until I'm next in the UK or family are coming here and don't mind bringing a boxed bike!

But I can see the logic of putting 26 inch wheels on a kids equivalent of a hybrid or road bike - I guess its like the difference for us between 700c and 26' wheels.

In reply to wilkesley:

Suitable colour and 'look' for boys?

(PCers - don't flame me)

In reply to TobyA: We got our 8 yr old son a Beinn 26 small last summer. He's an average sized kid, can't remember exact height, looked big for him to start with but has been perfect, the frame is quite small. He's worked his way up from the 16 to 20 to 26 with his younger brother getting the hand me downs.

They do make great kids bikes, really simple, no suspension (he would be too light to make much of an impression on it anyway), no front mech, so less to break and a gear ratio that allows him to get up hills easily. The weight makes a massive difference and the bigger wheels get him over most things, in the same way most adult hard tails are 29 inch these days.

Plenty of options out there, but a big vote for the biggest wheel size they'll fit on and the light weight simplicity of the isla bikes.

Cheers

Pete

In reply to ChrisJD:


The Marin is very pale blue, the Specialized is grey. They are just standard bikes, not specifically for women. If you are interested I could send you a couple of photos.

In reply to TobyA:

The Islabike sizings are really accurate, so a good guide to see if one of their bikes fit. There's a lot of leeway in what kids will happily ride - my eldest has just turned 9 (average sized!) and raced a small Beinn20 all last year when most of the kids he was racing against were on 24 or 26 wheels. The wheels looked small but the bike fitted him perfectly with a really nice balanced position, rather than the saddle low, bars high struggle to get to grips with it style you often see. So don't feel the need to go up a wheel size just for the sake of it.

I actually started building him a 24" bike for last summer and (to my shame) have only just finished it. But to my relief I reckon he would have been too small for it last year. I would have gone for the Creig24 but couldn't really stomach the price, so put something together with an old frame off ebay and some donated parts, and probably more new parts than I intended

It definitely came out cheaper, but I pulled in quite a few favours in putting it together, particularly getting a mate to shorten the fork.

Here's what he looked like on the small Beinn20:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jon_b/9874739295/

And here's the new ride:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jon_b/13326270585/

It's really only just small enough for him I think. I can't think of many 26" frames I could get to fit him, maybe some of the smaller women's frames might do it. Once into adult frames it's the length that's the problem, so women's frames come out a bit better.

The Orbea's do look nice if you don't want a sus fork (and they are the biggest headache with 24" wheels). Scotts look nice too - and you see a lot of kids racing on those.

In reply to jon_bee:



Man... I WANT that bike!


We went to a local bike shop today and he sat on a couple of 24 inch wheel bikes and they looked fine - he needed the saddle pretty low so they looked to have loads of growing room. I know what you mean about the 26 inch frames - the shop didn't have any super small ones but I think the smallest was 13' and that was way to big for him, so I reckon a 24' wheeler should fit fine.

In reply to TobyA:


It has ended up significantly blingier than initially planned


Yes, sounds like it. It also sounds like there's no desperate rush if the 20" still fits. So you've got a while to shop about. Although I'm not suggesting you take as l did to sort it out - and there's a 4+ year gap to our youngest, so there was no sibling pressure to move him on!

That said, having taken him to a shop and sat him on some bikes then the clock is definitely ticking