A good kid MTB to consider is the Specialized Hotrock 24. I'm very happy with the one we have. Enough so to buy a second for kid #2! You already have a 24", but if you find a cheap used Hotrock, check it out. The newer ones are de-contented a bit over the ones a few years old.
I'm really obsessed on weight of kid bikes. More so than mine!!! So many weigh in at, or over 30lbs. That's 50% of my kid's weight! It's like 170# me trying to ride a 85lbs bike up a hill! The Hotrock is lighter (forget what exactly, maybe 25#???) than most other 24" bikes, and the aforementioned Conquest 24 is super-light for the segment. Somewhere around 20 IIRC. I mentioned it before, but so wish someone would be a distributor for Islabikes <http://www.islabikes.co.uk/>here in NA. They really seem to get the kid thing and have really focused on the market. This is the bike I would love to have for my kid: http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath26.html Anywho, wasn't Grant mentioning a kid-bike recently? That will be a really interesting development in the marketplace. It would be one of those investments that keep on giving for a long time! I think it was 20" though, so my kids are pretty much sized out consideration. On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Thomas Lynn Skean < [email protected]> wrote: > I basically gave up looking for a "quality" kids bike. Even with my > almost-10-year-old's love/like of cycling, he's only going to ride a few > hundred miles a year, if that. We'll go on 10-15 mile rides many > good-weather wekeends. But ride while cold? Nope. Raining? No way. Too hot? > Not a chance. It's not his fault. Not everyone loves "bicycle cycling" the > way I do. So while he notices when his knees hit his handlebar (which > prompted us to get him a 24"-wheeled bike to replace his 20"-wheeled bike > the day we saw it happen), he *doesn't* notice/care when his seat is too > low or his tires are squirmy or his arms are somewhat stretched or the bike > feels "funny" or "dead" or "twitchy". I've observed him riding enough to > feel okay about the safety of his fit and his "seat" on his new bike. But I > couldn't rationalize spending the money to go to the next level at this > point. > Now, the way he's growing, it wouldn't surprise me if he could ride a 48cm > Hillborne in a few years. Even more likely a 50cm Betty. If his desire to > ride grows along with his limbs, that's not out of the question at all. My > wife could ride the Betty once he's outgrown it. And he'd get a chance to > experience unracer riding before completely choosing his own bike. > Until then, though, it's a cheap-and-heavy-but-not-totally-crappy Novara > pseudo-quasi-mountain bike with a suspension he'll never compress and a top > tube he'll comfortably span only when his knees bruise his chest while > riding. Who designs these things? It couldn't possibly stand up to actual > mountain biking. And the only thing the suspension adds to normal > road/trail riding is weight. (At least it *is* a somewhat lighter than my > totally be-racked/be-fendered/be-leathered double-top-tube 60cm Hillborne > with a 40-spoke Phil-hubbed Cliffhanger rear wheel and wood grips. I bet if > I stripped the racks to just the R-50 saddlebag quick-release, replaced the > wood grips with cork, and left everything else the same it'd go the other > way. As it is his is not that much lighter.) > Oh well... at least I know it was put together by someone who wasn't > completely stoned. (My experiences with non-REI LBSes in my area has been > bad, to say the least. I haven't been back to one since my front wheel and > fork fell out while loading my "repaired" bike onto the rack on the back of > my car. They hadn't clamped the stem to the steerer "very well".) > Fortunately, so far the doesn't have to deal with his father's biggest > (biking) problem: excessive (engine) weight. > > Yours, > Thomas Lynn Skean > > On Friday, June 22, 2012 12:53:19 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote: > >> Thanks Seth, that's a really nice bike! >> >> I'm so tired of 20" kid bikes that weigh more than my 29er. >> >> FWIW, the best production non-MTB kid bike I can find is the Redline >> Conquest 24. It's not perfect, but best option out there that I have >> latched on to. >> >> Anybody know of small sized (<45cm) cross bikes w/ 26" wheels? >> >> >> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:34 AM, Seth Vidal wrote: >> >> The discussion of good kids' bikes comes up from time to time. >>> >>> I caught this today on fastboy cycles' blog/flickr feed and I thought >>> some of y'all may be intrigued: >>> >>> http://www.fastboycycles.com/**teachingcancertocry/?p=829<http://www.fastboycycles.com/teachingcancertocry/?p=829> >>> and >>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/**fastboy/7419479154<http://www.flickr.com/photos/fastboy/7419479154> >>> >>> >>> >>> thought some of y'all might find it interesting. >>> >>> -sv >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Cheers, >> David >> Redlands, CA >> >> ** >> “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an >> America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the >> America I love.” >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/01fyl4sDdvAJ. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA ** “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.” -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
