New bike for my son
Discussion
That is awesome! Looks mint, great colour as well. I hope he enjoys it!
Lucky kid.
This might be helpful as a starting point for your research as he gets older. I've done waaaay too much research over the years as my kids have grown to get them good off-road bikes without going insane on the budget.
24" bike - Looks at Orbea Laufey 24 H30 - properly lovely bike with dropper post, etc. When my son grew out of it we stuck dirt jumper tires (Billy Bonkers) and a wider bar and he used it as a jump bike at the pump track until my daughter grew into it. Can sometimes be picked up innexpensively on eBay as no-one searches for them.
27.5" bike - my son went straight from the Laufey to a Marin San Quentin adult size small (he is pretty tall though - at 12 he's grown out of it and I'm looking for a size medium). We got him the "2". Don't bother with the "1". The main difference to the "3" (which I have) is the backend on the 2 is much heavier, but my son won't really notice that.
If he's doing the kind of riding with you that I suspect, given the bike, these might be options:
Full face helmet for him now: Bell Sanction. Great helmets made for little people that fit true to size and aren't hugely expensive.
Body armour for him now: Wulfsport (Cub) from eBay. Unbelievably good value.
Regular pads for him now: Microskate pads (from the same people that make the scooters). Really well designed, really easy to get on and off. My daughter grew out of hers when she was close to 8 years old.
Also, gloves - Specialized make some really good full-finger kids gloves that have saved days out a few times. Small crash, no gravel rash, dust off and carry on.
When my son needed a bigger helmet, I got him a Bell convertible (I can't remember the model, but like a Super Air R) - it's a normal helmet with a removable chin bar. Not cheap, but saved me from buying two separate helmets, and he doesn't go hard enough to warrant a full DH-spec full face helmet yet. Also, once less unwieldy thing to store.
There you go - a starter for your shopping list for the next 7-8 years!
I hope you have many brilliant adventures with your kid. My son and I did a trip to Bike Park Wales last summer when he was 11 and it was epic. Great memories made.
Lucky kid.
This might be helpful as a starting point for your research as he gets older. I've done waaaay too much research over the years as my kids have grown to get them good off-road bikes without going insane on the budget.
24" bike - Looks at Orbea Laufey 24 H30 - properly lovely bike with dropper post, etc. When my son grew out of it we stuck dirt jumper tires (Billy Bonkers) and a wider bar and he used it as a jump bike at the pump track until my daughter grew into it. Can sometimes be picked up innexpensively on eBay as no-one searches for them.
27.5" bike - my son went straight from the Laufey to a Marin San Quentin adult size small (he is pretty tall though - at 12 he's grown out of it and I'm looking for a size medium). We got him the "2". Don't bother with the "1". The main difference to the "3" (which I have) is the backend on the 2 is much heavier, but my son won't really notice that.
If he's doing the kind of riding with you that I suspect, given the bike, these might be options:
Full face helmet for him now: Bell Sanction. Great helmets made for little people that fit true to size and aren't hugely expensive.
Body armour for him now: Wulfsport (Cub) from eBay. Unbelievably good value.
Regular pads for him now: Microskate pads (from the same people that make the scooters). Really well designed, really easy to get on and off. My daughter grew out of hers when she was close to 8 years old.
Also, gloves - Specialized make some really good full-finger kids gloves that have saved days out a few times. Small crash, no gravel rash, dust off and carry on.
When my son needed a bigger helmet, I got him a Bell convertible (I can't remember the model, but like a Super Air R) - it's a normal helmet with a removable chin bar. Not cheap, but saved me from buying two separate helmets, and he doesn't go hard enough to warrant a full DH-spec full face helmet yet. Also, once less unwieldy thing to store.
There you go - a starter for your shopping list for the next 7-8 years!
I hope you have many brilliant adventures with your kid. My son and I did a trip to Bike Park Wales last summer when he was 11 and it was epic. Great memories made.
Thanks for all that!
The Laufey was a consideration for 20" too but none came up in the right spec.
We've just got him a helmet, the dainese linea 01 full face. Because unbelievably at five years old his head size fits into a S/M adults helmet!! We went for this because it's easily the lightest full face on the market (about 550g) which isn't much heavier than the DJ style helmet he rides now; and this summer we're going to the bike parks at Morzine/avoriaz/Les gets - and last year I was the only guy up there not wearing a full face so thought we'd both have them for this year.
He's not got pads or body armour yet so thanks for that, I'll look into them!
The Laufey was a consideration for 20" too but none came up in the right spec.
We've just got him a helmet, the dainese linea 01 full face. Because unbelievably at five years old his head size fits into a S/M adults helmet!! We went for this because it's easily the lightest full face on the market (about 550g) which isn't much heavier than the DJ style helmet he rides now; and this summer we're going to the bike parks at Morzine/avoriaz/Les gets - and last year I was the only guy up there not wearing a full face so thought we'd both have them for this year.
He's not got pads or body armour yet so thanks for that, I'll look into them!
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