1standgoal

My 9 yr old has been riding on 20" Specialized Hotrock for the last 3 yrs and it's time to move up to 24" so her little sister can use her bike.

We'll mostly ride around in the neighborhood on the sidewalks and occasionally get onto bike trails (trails take 20 min drive, and my CR-V sparetire bike carrier only fits 2 bikes - tricky for family outing).

My questions are:
1) 7-speed or 21-speed. $40 difference in most cases.
2) Specialized 24" has two version, one regular and one Street. Regular: "50mm-travel SR Suntour XCT-JR-24 suspension fork takes the edge off bumps for more control"; Street: "Straight blade alloy fork w/ canti mounts provides responsive control". which one?
3) So far satisfied with her 20" bike. Shall I look at models such as Trek Mt. Trek 220 (slightly cheaper)?

Thanks.

dphilips

My son will be 9 this year. Last year he moved from a 20" Hotrock to a 7-speed 24" and loves the gears.


1. I didn't have a strong preference for the 7-speed vs 24-speed and we found a gently used Giant STP 225 that had most of the features I was looking for so we wended up with the 7-speed. Unless you go off-road a lot the 24-speed isn't really needed.


2. For the type of riding you describe the lighter weight of the rigid fork is probably a better choice.


3. If looking at less expensive models you may want to pay attention to the headset type. The MT220 uses a threaded quill type stem. There's nothing inherently wrong with threaded headsets but they are heavier and kids bikes that use them are generally heavier all around.

delcrossv

This (or something like it):



Youth Road Bike Vintage UK - DAWES 24" racer

No connection to seller, this came up in the junior roadbike thread in C&V. My kids have done really well on these.

CliffordK

What type of biking do you do? What kind of bike do you ride?

There are plenty of MTB based 24" bikes, and on the used market they are pretty cheap. I'd probably go with a double or triple front chainrings, and 6 or 7 in the rear... so, 12, 14, 16, 18, or 21 speed.

If you are more into the road riding, then consider the 24" or 650 road bikes.

Oh, is this a single kid, elder kid, younger kid? The problem with the 24" road bikes is that many kids will outgrow them by about 11. Passing it down in a family is great (just don't get a hot pink bike for your son )

When I was at the new local Performance bike store last Sunday, they had a Fuji Ace 24, and a Fuji Ace 650, (2014 models) each for $350. In a sense, they are pretty cheap bikes, but they would make an excellent starter bike.

If your kid could ride the 650, I'd go with the larger one for a few more years of use.



Depending on how big of a market you are in, there are a few smaller road bikes that show up, but they can be expensive.

1standgoal

Thanks for the suggestions. As I stated in my post, it's for my 9-yr old girl for recreational riding, her little sister is 6, so this bike will get some use.

No need for a road bike. I don't have a road bike either, just an old moutain bike for riding around the neighborhood.

So the Street version has the lighter / rigid fork?

Hope to hear more input from the members here.

Cheers.

mel2012

The next bike we get for our daughter will be a Islabike Beinn 24, but I get that most parents don't want to spend that kind of money on a bike for casual riding.

I would agree with the other posters that you should avoid suspension forks. They just add weight without any measurable benefit unless your kid is doing serious mountain biking. It's unfortunate that most manufacturers don't provide weight measurements. This is a good independent review of the weights of many of the 20" bikes: Best kids' bikes: 20in girls' and boys' bikes - BikeRadar USA. I imagine that the weight differential (and other differences) would be about the same on the 24" as the 20". As you can see, there is about a 4lb difference between the "Street" and suspension Hotrocks.

Another option you might want to look at it is the Performance Bluejay. I'm not sure what it weighs, but it's probably in the ball park of other aluminum frame/rigid steel fork bikes and the price is much lower.

1standgoal

Thanks.
Someone also suggested Giant's bikes. Slightly cheaper and just as good as Specialized?

mel2012

Based on the Bike Radar data, I would speculate that the Giant is going to be several pounds heavier than the Specialized. I like the low standover on the Giant bikes, but at 9, your daughter probably doesn't need low standover to fit comfortably on a 24" bike.

CliffordK

If two kids can ride the same bike, you'll have a few years of use out of it, but I'm not big on over-spending on kids bikes. Also note, I think the bikes have gotten heavier over the years.

A few years ago, I was helping a cousin's daughter learn to ride. We bought a new Dept store bike. A friend loaned her an ancient sting-ray, and the old bike was about half the weight of the new bike. Oh... that may have been 20", but the same may be true of the larger bikes.

Anyway, for me, a used bike, or a pretty dept store bike would be just fine.

1standgoal

Definitely going to get her a new bike, since it'll cover probably 8 yrs between the kids. Slim pickings for used bikes, and not that much cheaper. Definitely not a department store bike either - I'd get an Islabike if they had a retail store store here.
Time to test ride. Specialized Hotrock 21 spd Street version seems good on paper.
Cheers.

dwmckee

My son was average height and 9.5 years.old when we seated him on an extra small Fuji newest with 700 wheels. Excellent fit for him with room to grow. The 24 in bikes often fit for just a year or two at most. You probably could have fit the 24 in 2 years ago but then the 20 in was still fitting so that is why they grow out of the 24s so fast. There is a reason there are so few 24 in bikes a available.

mstateglfr 

Don't get a suspension bike- she is 9 and doesn't need it. Its just extra weight. Suspension forks on kids bikes, unless they are quality bikes, are total junk- heavy and don't work well.

https://www.amazon.com/Diamondback-Bi.../dp/B00FC1TOIQ

I got one of these for our 8yo. It was $150 at the time- well worth it. Right now its $300- not at all worth the cost. I mention it because it is an excellent compromise between a road bike and the typical mountain bikes for kids. It is a rigid frame, has thin tires and rims, has 14 speeds, and is a great color(cuz that's important). The only downside is a laughably large saddle and a steel handlebar, both are easy to change.

If you go with a rigid MTB, switch the tires out. there is no need for knobby tires- they just weigh the bike down and make it more difficult to keep speed. Pick up some 1.5" or thinner tires since its all neighborhood/trail riding.

1standgoal

What Fuji bicycle model are you referring to?

I had already ordered the Specialized 24" street and it came in over the weekend. My daughter likes the sporty look - the black paint goes to the rims and kickstand also. We went for a 5-mile ride through the neighborhood hills yesterday and it was quite good.

Here's a picture.

dwmckee

We got the Fuji Newest (that is the name of the model). He has been riding it like a terror. We now have to bike him to school every morning (which is not a problem for me at all!).

1standgoal

Thanks for the information. This is the first bike with gears for my 9-yr old daughter and I think it would be sufficient for her to ride around for a while.