Next size dilemma!
nbuuifx
Posts: 302
My daughter currently has a Carrera Luna 20. Which has 20" wheels. She had this bike 2 years ago and it was perfect then, but is now getting too small. She can ride it but her knees are looking too close to the handlebars.
She has a good enough ability now, which this bike enabled. She can easily do 25km rides.
She seems to be growing at quite a fast rate, she is 9 - not far off 10 but is quite tall for her age. Her clothes have all been 10-11 for a good while now and sometimes XS ladies.
So my dilemma now is do I go for the 24" and risk her growing out of it quickly or do I go for the 26"?
I think just from my gut and without any testing I would have said 24". However she has been riding my wife's bike up and down the road and cycled up to the shops and back with me. My wife's bike is a GT Aggressor Ladies Medium frame with 26" wheels.
The bike looks slightly big for her but she handles it well and rides about with ease on it. With the seat on the lowest position she can only just touch the floor on the ends of her toes, so I taught her to move forwards over the frame when she stops. She also finds it harder to get started as she has to use the initial push with the first foot to also lift her bum onto the seat.
Now as an adult I have to do both of those last things, my road bike is too high for me to easily touch the floor so I either pull up next to a curb to put my foot down or I have to move forward over the frame - so these things seem correct/normal to me and give the right seat height to give the correct leg extension.
So after this I'm thinking of getting her something like my wife's bike which would give years of growth. What do you reckon? She certainly seems to have the confidence for the larger bike.
She has a good enough ability now, which this bike enabled. She can easily do 25km rides.
She seems to be growing at quite a fast rate, she is 9 - not far off 10 but is quite tall for her age. Her clothes have all been 10-11 for a good while now and sometimes XS ladies.
So my dilemma now is do I go for the 24" and risk her growing out of it quickly or do I go for the 26"?
I think just from my gut and without any testing I would have said 24". However she has been riding my wife's bike up and down the road and cycled up to the shops and back with me. My wife's bike is a GT Aggressor Ladies Medium frame with 26" wheels.
The bike looks slightly big for her but she handles it well and rides about with ease on it. With the seat on the lowest position she can only just touch the floor on the ends of her toes, so I taught her to move forwards over the frame when she stops. She also finds it harder to get started as she has to use the initial push with the first foot to also lift her bum onto the seat.
Now as an adult I have to do both of those last things, my road bike is too high for me to easily touch the floor so I either pull up next to a curb to put my foot down or I have to move forward over the frame - so these things seem correct/normal to me and give the right seat height to give the correct leg extension.
So after this I'm thinking of getting her something like my wife's bike which would give years of growth. What do you reckon? She certainly seems to have the confidence for the larger bike.
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Comments
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It certainly seems marginal - tbh, it sounds to me like you should go for the 24" - although the bike frame geometry is more important than the wheel size.
She may well be able to cope normally with the larger frame - but what about when it goes wrong - she needs to be able to control the bike properly and confidently - for me that meens being able to put a toe down without getting off the saddle.0 -
Well you answer this in an ideal worldHer clothes have all been 10-11 for a good while now and sometimes XS ladies.
Except kids bikes are far from an ideal world
Depending where you ride probably depends if being able to put a foot down matters.
On my trail bike I can just do it with the seat all the way down on the dropper.... but unless the ground is flat it means little anyway. Given falling off is part of the riding if we have a sudden stop and Jnr falls over then he falls over... it's not like there is a car or bus waiting to run over him and if it happens then wherever that is it's 99% likely that putting two feet down would end badly anyway... way worse than just falling sideways
If we rode on the road that would be a different matter though.0
