AL NZ

Can anyone recommend 'the best' 24" sized mountain bike?
I want to get one for my 8 yr old who has outgrown his 20" bike
There are a few brands available here in NZ. There is a good Scott option, both Scale JR 24 (front shock) and Spark JR 24 (full suspension) both about 11.8 kg according to the brochure.
I also know the Kona brand is good.

I want a light bike with good spec components.

What do you think is best?

thompsonpost

Which part of the bike are you measuring at 24"? My guess is the wheel. When one refers to a bike size, the consideration is from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube. In your case, a 24" bike would be way too big for an 8 year old child. I have 26" wheels on my Ellsworth and a seat tube of 19" and this is an adult riders bike. I'm 5'11" and it is just right for me. Of course if you have found a bike that fits your child, that's fine, but I am sure it is more like a 16" bike tops.

AL NZ

yes, I mean wheelsize

thompsonpost

My point being that wen and if you approach a bike shop employee and tell them you want to look at 24" bikes, you're sure to see bikes your child couldn't even begin to manage.

I wish you the best. I got my first bike at 10 years old and it became a "magic carpet" immediately.

rumrunn6

best one is the cheapest one. he'll only be on it for 2-3 years tops. hit craigslists and just get anything that's in good shape. just got ride of ours and my kids are now on 700 sized wheeled hybrids: Trek 750 & Trek 7.1 fx (which I also got on craigslist!)

BigBlueToe

I have an old Specialized Hardrock with 24" wheels I bought for my daughter, who then handed it down to my son. It's not the lightest bike in the world, but we all still loved it. It had 24 speeds. They had moved up from a Hardrock with 20" wheels and 7 speeds in back - no front derailleur. The 24" bike was a great transition. They weren't ready to deal with combinations of front and back shifting at first, but after they became comfortable with the 7-speed and got a little older they were ready to give "complex" shifting a try.

Both of them grew out of that bike within a few years - a reason not to spend too much on it, although we still have it and it gets used occasionally by my students. I'm a 6th grade teacher and take my class on a cycling field trip every year. Some kids don't have bikes so I provide one from my stable.

The kids never seemed to mind that the bike wasn't as lightweight as it could have been if built to the same standards as an expensive adult bike. It doesn't weigh that much, but I'm pretty sure the tubes are straight gauge, simple steel, not double-butted exotic alloy. What seemed to be more important than weight was the fact that all the components were well chosen - not the junk that's on department store bikes - so everything always worked smoothly and reliably. I check my students' bikes before our trip and I'm always amazed at what they are suffering through - shifters that are so stiff they can hardly shift (or they simply can't shift and ride a multi-geared bike in one gear all the time.) A lot of times there's a kink in the shift cable housing. There's rust. Crappy designs, etc.

In summation, I'd look at spending some money for a good-quality brand. I'd stay away from department store bikes. I wouldn't stress over super-lightweight. I'd realize that, unless you have a bunch of kids, it probably won't get enough years' use to justify its purchase. If it's the right size now, it won't be for long. (And I wouldn't buy an overly-large bike for someone to grow into, unless they were a really good rider already. Someone bought my daughter a too-large department store bike when she was just learning to ride. It almost turned her off from cycling for good.) The good news is that others are always looking for kids' bikes so you can sell them on Ebay and recoup a lot of the money. (Or do what we did with the 20" bike - pass it down to nephews.)

Zephyr11

I don't think so...I think most bike shop employees would send him towards either 24" DJs or 24" BMX cruisers at first, and as soon as he explained it was for a kid, he'd get sent exactly where he needed to go.

I agree with everyone who said to go for what's relatively inexpensive. He'll grow out of it fast, so all the better if you can find one used. How confident a rider is he? A lot of 8 year olds aren't ready for multiple speeds or brakes on their handlebars yet, while others are just fine. Also, most kids' bikes are heavy. That's just the way it is. Manufacturers want to hit a certain pricepoint because very few people want to drop a grand on a bike their kids are going to grow out of in two years, so they use cheap, heavy parts.