24 inch bike for 8 year old?

Rocketfella

So guys 1st post so be kind looking to upgrade my daughter to a 24inch bike but whitch one? Looked at a few at lbs and the 1 that stands outvis the orbea 24mx trail any advice? Also seen the marin hawkhill jr online but not sure id be confident letting her play out with her mates on such a bike would be great on family rides out tho

bendertherobot

Track down a Hoy Bonaly 24. Often cheaper on Evans ebay outlet.

bendertherobot

Or http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-twentyfour-kids-bike/

Thigh_burn

We got the Frog 62 and it's been excellent, can highly recommend it.

Rocketfella

Dunno why but iv kinda got my mind made up it must have hydrolic disk brakes

bendertherobot

The question being why. The disc equipped Orbea is about £450 and while great for a family ride, overkill. Great for starting out on the trails etc though.

Rocketfella

Well we will be starting to hit the trails reason behind the disks is she has v brakes at the mo and to be honest they really distract her when they start rubbing on the wheel whitch to be honest is all the time plus it gets to me aswell lol

bendertherobot

Rocketfella wrote:

Well we will be starting to hit the trails reason behind the disks is she has v brakes at the mo and to be honest they really distract her when they start rubbing on the wheel whitch to be honest is all the time plus it gets to me aswell lol

Good v brakes shouldn't do that if adjusted. Discs will pick up mud, grit etc and be noisy too if not cared for. Sometimes more noisy. Don't let discs v v brakes drive your argument. But if you're prepared to pay for the more expensive Orbea just get that.

Steve-XcT

Well we will be starting to hit the trails reason behind the disks is she has v brakes at the mo and to be honest they really distract her when they start rubbing on the wheel whitch to be honest is all the time plus it gets to me aswell lol

When we got a 24 when Jnr was 6 (now 2 yrs ago) my primary reason for disk brakes was it annoyed the hell out of me.
Adjusting the rim brakes so they actually worked in wet mud meant adjusting them in... then any slight buckle was a horrible rub... and even getting the tyres on and off meant releasing the brakes which were tightened beyond the quick brake release... a toss up to deflate the tyre or loosen the cable.

2yrs later I can't imagine him riding with rim brakes... or that rim brakes would even stop him.
Pretty much any caliper on a 160mm rotor will stop her.... what we found though is levers are important or they can't do one finger braking...

If you don't get something with the capability of disk brakes then you have wheels and frame to swap.
All the Orbea frames come with mounts so that's a lot of variation but cuts out the frames without....
The Orbeas have good geo for trail riding but you can also alter this for other options
Option 1) Buy the cheapest possible... spend £160 on forks
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/f1r ... fork-51499
and £200 on wheels (when Superstar do a code)
https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/ ... pecial.htm
stick on components of choice.... depending on her height including some cranks
A friend did this with a £80 Donor Orbea MX and we stook a spare 1x10 and hydraulic brakes on.

Option 2) Get something mid range ... perhaps with the mechanic brakes and just swap the brakes....

Option 3) Spend more...

The other option is to look in various FB groups, local kids cycle clubs etc. for one someone already spent money modifying.

There is a pretty good bike already modified for £400 (from memory) at the moment in the Forest of dean kids club (lil fodders) ... and a few in our local kids cycling clubs.

I've seen the bike in the flesh so to speak... (it was chained up with a for sale sign at Cannop 2 weeks ago before it was stuck on FB)...

Rocketfella

I dont mind spending the money on summat decent because we have a younger daughter aswell so it will get plenty of use over the years just didnt want to spend good money on somethings thats not overly good. I liked the marin hawkhill jr but thats probs way to overkill for a 8 year old

Steve-XcT

Rocketfella wrote:

I dont mind spending the money on summat decent because we have a younger daughter aswell so it will get plenty of use over the years just didnt want to spend good money on somethings thats not overly good. I liked the marin hawkhill jr but thats probs way to overkill for a 8 year old

It depends what they want to ride and what you want to ride with them.
It's WAY underkill for what we often ride in different ways but I wouldn't base a bike on what an 8yr old can do rather what you think they/you will.

We only really started 3yrs ago but my 8yr old will ride long 30 mile trails and big climbs 2000'+ at one end and ride adult DH tracks at the other. However when we started I had a hybrid and he had a 20" rigid... he was riding fairly flat blue trails for a few weeks but if kids are interested they progress so much faster than us adults... I had to change my own bike twice...

If I just limit this to when he had a 24 (and he was already keen)... we just got further between rests and faster.
If we go somewhere for a weekend I no longer from a riding PoV have to consider I'm cycling with a child... (other than really extreme road gaps or actually riding on road between trails) ... At this point I have to consider more which bikes to take than if its suitable for a 8yr old.

If I'm honest most of the rides we do most weekends today would probably have been impossible for me alone 3yrs ago... I'd have either had a heart attack or smashed myself to bits depending....(I'm not just saying that... it's true... my own fitness and technical ability is on a completely different level)

As you might have gathered by the plural.... we got to the point now he needs 2 bikes.... but last year he started racing.
This wasn't planned, just happened due to a chance meeting in a trail car park with another kid and parent.
So he now has a XC race bike and a DH bike (though more Enduro he races DH on it but its not competitive for him to ride XC)... and the XC bike would get wrecked pretty quickly on DH...

I'm not saying buy an expensive bike BTW.... or don't... I'm just sorta saying if you and the family want to ride long or rough 8yr olds can. See how it works out... like me you might end up having to change your bike to ride with the 8yr old...

If you want shared experience then I find this way more shared than kicking a football or hitting a tennis ball back... I'm not great at either but I'm not actually doing the same thing ... I'm kicking or hitting a ball back as opposed to really sharing an experience.

A few months ago I would give Jnr a 30sec start on a specific DH (a huge start on something takes 2 mins) ... and a minute later I'd be on the brakes... last time I gave him 10 seconds (the time to start a stopwatch and put my glove on) and couldn't catch him.

It's similar on long trail rides or climbs.... for example if we ride a really big hard climb (like the Wall at Afan) I can beat him but if I'm riding my Full Suss trail bike and he's on the XC bike the difference is not very big. If we stop on a 30 mile trail ride like Guisburn Forest by the time we stop for a break I'm pretty ready for one myself...

It won't be that long until he's waiting for me .... but the shared experience is great.
I had no idea we'd do this... it's just something that happened. I hadn't really done any proper trail riding in decades...

Quite a few coming up used but nicely modified on FB at the moment.... (if you are interested)

steve_sordy

Whatever you buy, new or used, make sure it is as light as possible. Just work out the weight of the bike as a fraction of your child's weight and then work that backwards from your weight to the weight of the bike for you! You will be astonished; no wonder kids riding Argos specials complain that they can't keep up.

Kids are enormously flexible and adaptive, but give them a chance.

Rocketfella

Dont mind 2nd hand bikes at all aslong as they are in good condition post links of you can tho please cant seem to find them on facebook

Rocketfella

Well thats thrown a spanner into the works just been to my lbs and shes only 1 inch away from fitting on a womans xs 650b specialized

Steve-XcT

Dont mind 2nd hand bikes at all aslong as they are in good condition post links of you can tho please cant seem to find them on Facebook

I'll try and put some links. Lots of the kids groups are members only but the bike itself is probably advertised elsewhere.

Well thats thrown a spanner into the works just been to my lbs and shes only 1 inch away from fitting on a womans xs 650b specialized

I guess it goes down to what you're riding and to some extent her confidence/ability and what you mean by "starting to hit the trails".

Does starting means first steps or emphasis is more on hit? (Or working towards hitting?)
Can she keep the front wheel up confidently for example? It will be much harder on the longer bike than a 24 (especially something with the Orbea geo is going to be much easier)... and lifting the front wheel pretty useful* once you "hit" trails. Lots of stuff will just be easier to start on the smaller bike ... not impossible on the bigger one but much harder.

*Bit on an understatement when it's the difference between a bad OTB and not when they hit an unexpected droppoff.

Don't know where you are but Both of these are Forest of Dean .... they are in a closed group so best you try and message them (I'm crap at FB)...
Just from a quick look...both of these are ones where someone has spent a lot of time/money/effort already upgrading a stock bike. There will doubtless be some wherever you are but you just need to get into the right groups.
Everytime we go to FOD for example I get reminded by one of the regulars who's kids are in the kids club "when you are ready to sell...."
It's worth just turning up at some local smaller events ... and contacting the organisers because someone is always outgrowing a bike....

Nice looking upgraded Kona
https://www.facebook.com/martin.trinder ... oup_dialog
Nice looking upgraded Dawes
https://www.facebook.com/dzeederberg?fr ... tion=group

Baron Greenback

I took delivery of this today, for my Son's 8th birthday. Love the spec on it, air shock, hydraulic discs, and around 11kg in weight.

Frog 62 MTB, 24" wheel

Rocketfella

Thats very nice still undecided whay to get her quite like the new norco fluid 4.3 ht plus but not sure on the big tires

cycleclinic

I have just got my daughter, a tall 6 year old an Oranage Zest 24 https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/Zest-24/2018
better spec than the frog and to me the same price.

Whats wrong with an Isla bike - nothing. https://www.islabikes.co.uk/product/bikes/creig/
The benin 24 is cheaper at £440 but has V brakes.

natrix

That Orange looks nice, pity they don't spec the weight...............