Evolution of kids cycling
Kids grow up fast, so here is a run down of our kids’ cycling evolution.
The 1st bike – 12 inch
We didn’t go down the balance bike route. Instead we went straight for 12″ wheeled bikes as I wanted them to learn how to pedal. Something like this Giant Animator 12 was perfect. The chain is covered, it has nice soft tyres with lots of bounce and grip but has stabilizers for balance.
It wasn’t long before the stabilizers were off. We practiced on nice, soft, freshly cut grass and it only took a few attempts before they mastered cycling.
The 2nd bike – 16 inch
We jumped from 12″ to 16″ wheels (you can get 14″ wheels but the kids were growing up too fast). We also learnt it was easier to buy 2nd hand and then sell as they were moving up the wheel sizes much quicker. We also bought decent cycling manufactures like this Cube Cubie 160 for my daughter. The ergonomics and build quality was much higher than unknown makes.
The 3rd bike – 20 Inch
My kids were enjoying riding so much and wanting to do some local XC races so we bought a lovely Marin Hidden Canyon for my daughter. However the first modification was to get rid of the grip shift, why do manufacturers still use these? Isn’t it hard enough for kids to balance, let alone have the wrist strength to move through the gears? It was replaced with a finger trigger shifter which is so much easier to use.
The 3rd and a half bike – 20 Inch full suspension
Living in South Wales we have some epic MTB/DH trails available, so we want to make use of them. The kids wanted to do more serious riding so we moved up to 20″ wheeled full suspension bikes with air forks, hydraulic brakes and grippy tyres. You can see my build thread here.
The kids were entering local kids’ DH races and enjoyed cycling all over Europe. Here is us cycling Winterberg in Germany.
The 4th bike – where it starts to hurt the wallet!
We were having so much fun as a family cycling at all the local trails that we decided to get the kids proper manufacturer made full suspension bikes. For my son we got a second-hand Norco Fluid 24 which was an excellent bike, but it had limited growth ability as could only use 24″ wheels. So for my daughter we got a brand new Mondraker Factor 24 which had the ability to upgrade from 24″ to 26″ wheels to make the bike last a bit longer.
This started the love of Mondraker bikes. From their service to the build quality, they make some of the best riding/looking bikes around.
For a long time my daughter rode a mullet style with 26″ upfront (business) and 24″ at the back (party time). These bikes have proper air forks and air rear shocks with not too much travel so kids can still learn bike control without the bike doing too much of the work. Hydraulic brakes also made a huge difference to their riding ability as they had proper braking feel. Also the last but so important was a good set of proper DH tyres. I have always been a big fan of Maxxis and luckily they made 24″ Minion DHF and DHR so these were put on with tubeless to lower the tyre PSI for even more grip. Check out my list of 24″ wheeled full suspension bikes.
The 5th bike – 26 Inch Full Suspension
Although the Mondraker Factor 24 can take 26″ wheels the frame is larger on the Mondraker Factor 26 which comes with 26″ wheels. This is for example unlike the Marin Rift Zone 24/26 which uses the same frame for both models just different wheels. At this stage a lot of kids move up to adult bikes, like XS frames or women’s frame sizes usually with 27.5″ wheels. However we tried a few and found there was still a big step up with 24″ wheeled kids frames and XS adult frame sizes (especially in the reach). I prefer kids to be on bikes that actually fit them rather than them growing into them. This ultimately builds up their confidence that they are riding the bike not the bike taking them for a ride. The Mondraker Factor 26 fork is also a 27.5″ fork so can take the larger wheel which gives us the mullet option like we did with the Mondraker Factor 24 previously.
The 6th bike – eMTB for kids?
As parents some of us have moved up to eMTBs and started pulling the kids up the mountains using Towwhee bungee tow straps. However the more extreme the climb and the longer the rides this just becomes a pain and in some circumstances can be quite dangerous.
So what about eMTBs for kids? Queue all the “Kids don’t need cheater bikes”, “I would rather my kid was fitter to climb the hills”, “They are too heavy”, etc, etc.
Enter the Mondraker F-Play 26, with a proper Mahle rear hub motor and 250Wh internal battery. This is one super cool kids eMTB (which can also come in 24″ wheeled and HT versions).
We have been running one for a few weeks now and absolutely love it. It gives the kids the freedom to cycle up the hills by themselves without being too tired to enjoy the fun downhill bits. The bike doesn’t feel overly heavy, only something like 3kg more than the non ebike version. The kids’ fitness level hasn’t faltered as we can now climb more/bigger hills/mountains and cycle further as a family.