Specialized Hotrock 12

brunlea

Hi,

I just bought a Specialized Hotrock 12 for my little boy from ebay based on what i have read about it being light and a very good bike to learn on.

However, the bike is not light at all! it's actually heavier than a similar halfords special bike! so the only thing going for it is that it is better made and the seat can go lower and..................................what else? for £150 it's not very good value. Why then has so much emphasis been put on it being a light bike across all the forums i have read when it is simply not the case. It has a supposedly aluminium frame and is said to weigh 7.7kg. I've not actually weighed it using a scale yet, but will do so soon just to see the actual weight.

End point is that if you are looking to buy one, you might aswell buy a cheaper halfords special!

macbikes

The Halfords 12 inch bike is 2kg heavier! I weighed my son's 2012 Specialized the other day and it weighs 7.1kg including a heavy trailgator attachment.

However I do agree with you that it is too heavy - my son probably doesn't weigh more than 12kg himself! The heavy one piece cranks really add to the weigh, as does the coaster brake. I do like the coaster brake though because when my son started riding it there was no way he could reach the brake lever.

macbikes

Just looked again at Halfords and seen that the Trax bike is 7.2kg. I guess the plastic wheels save some weight.

slickmouse

brunlea wrote:

Hi,

I just bought a Specialized Hotrock 12 for my little boy from ebay based on what i have read about it being light and a very good bike to learn on.

However, the bike is not light at all! it's actually heavier than a similar halfords special bike! so the only thing going for it is that it is better made and the seat can go lower and..................................what else? for £150 it's not very good value. Why then has so much emphasis been put on it being a light bike across all the forums i have read when it is simply not the case. It has a supposedly aluminium frame and is said to weigh 7.7kg. I've not actually weighed it using a scale yet, but will do so soon just to see the actual weight.

End point is that if you are looking to buy one, you might aswell buy a cheaper halfords special!

is that 150 new or second hand ?

The reason kids bikes are proportionately heavier than adults bikes are they are half/ a third of the price, if you want a much lighter one spend MORE money

the hotrock will im sure be a much better quality to the halford one and weighs 25% less, if you spend circa 300 quid you can get one 25% less than the hot rock, if you spend enough you can get one you have to tie down to stop it floating away in a mild wind

CommuterDad

I got a Specialized Hotrock 12 to replace a similar sized cheap, nasty and dangerous bike. Within 10 minutes on the Hotrock my daugher could brake, cycle up a wet slope and cycle on bumpy ground. 3 things she couldn't do after weeks on the cheap nasty bike. The differences are that the Hotrock 12 has a back pedal rear brake because brake levers are too tricky for little fingers and it has proper grippy pnuematic tyres that can manage wet tarmac or bumpy grass. The ridiculous slippy hard plastic "tyres" you get on a £50 bike are useless on most surfaces.

Even if you don't get a Hotrock 12, if it's a 12" wheel bike you're after, do get one with proper tyres and a back pedal brake unless you want your child to brake by climbing off the back of the bike while it's moving downhill and probably crash and hurt themselves. Also proper pedals and proprtions are vital as small children are bow legged on some of the cheap bikes. Having said that I have not tried any of the more expensive kids bikes, these might have brake levers that a small child can use, I don't know.

I bought second hand to save some cash and I would have tried a Cnoc and a Blowfish if I could have found a second hand one in the area to try. They might be as good or better, worth checking out anyway ...