Mountain bike for 6 year old

[PGM]

I'm looking for a new bike for my 6 year old son so he can come out riding with us and our 9 year old.

Needs to be a 20" wheel, 6 gears, preferably front suspension (not rear) and an alu frame.

Budget around £150.

The best I've found so far is a Kona makena for £169 at the moment.

Anyone sell them here?

Thanks in advance
Paul

[craig_s]

The Carreras from Halfords are probably worth a look. Pretty nice little bikes for £159.99, not the standard most people think you'd get from Halfords.
Linky

[snotrag]

Specialized, Giant, and Ridgeback all do cracking quality 20" kids bikes.

Giant even do a 20" XTC in full kids XC race spec, its neat.

Ridgeback are my favourite though, and the boys ones come in suitably lairy colour like radioactive vomit Green or bright Orange, which usually appeals to a 6 year old.

Quality of any of those will be far, far better than something from toys-r-us.

ETA search for -

Specialized Hotrock 20
Giant MTX 20 (IIRC?)
Ridgeback MX20

Edited by snotrag on Thursday 25th February 16:43

[Nick_F]

We have a Ridgeback MX20 - it's holding up well after 18 months.

[936ADL]

Try Isla bikes.

www.islabikes.com

Absolutely superb pieces of kit. I bought one for my 6yr old and it's lovely. Well worth the money imho.

[PGM]

Excellent information, thanks everyone - good to see you can get a proper bike for a kid!

Bit of background info, I have a Marin Wolf Ridge full sus, my wife has a bear valley hardtail and my other son has a diamond back 20" hardtail so really looking forward to the summer.

[Junior Bianno]

I got the boy this for xmas. Awesome!

[PGM]

Nice bike for a kid, excellent!

[ratbane]

Got my boy one of these for xmas.

Took a lot of looking to get one with a suitably low seat tube, but which would last a few years because the top tube is long enough. Light, great frame, nice geometry, shimano gripshift (light action), reach adjustable v-levers, plush suspension. Bartered down to £150.

[Truckosaurus]

I know times change, but in my youth anyone who rode anything with a less than horizontal crossbar was derided for having a Girl's Bike...

[ratbane]

Truckosaurus said:

I know times change, but in my youth anyone who rode anything with a less than horizontal crossbar was derided for having a Girl's Bike...

A 6 year old has pretty short legs. To get a horizontal bar you'de need skateboard wheels.

[PGM]

Truckosaurus said:

I know times change, but in my youth anyone who rode anything with a less than horizontal crossbar was derided for having a Girl's Bike...

Exactly, in my day too!

[The_Gza]

936ADL said:

Try Isla bikes.

www.islabikes.com

Absolutely superb pieces of kit. I bought one for my 6yr old and it's lovely. Well worth the money imho.

Second that - our eldest has one and I've been highly impressed - from the lady I spoke to on the phone to order it, to the quality of the bike itself, everything has been top drawer.

[Agoogy]

The_Gza said:

936ADL said:

Try Isla bikes.

www.islabikes.com

Absolutely superb pieces of kit. I bought one for my 6yr old and it's lovely. Well worth the money imho.

Second that - our eldest has one and I've been highly impressed - from the lady I spoke to on the phone to order it, to the quality of the bike itself, everything has been top drawer.

They look fantastic....and nice to see they do away with front suspension... at that price point they're more weight and hassle than their worth.
I know.... my parents decided to buy my 8 year old daughter a new bike - 24" wheel...I refused to allow rear suspension and they went ahead with Halfords...
The bike weighs a flippin' tonne!
Granted mine is CF, but the O/H's is a full on adult female's Scott 26" in Aluminium...and this tiny 8 year old's bike easily out weighs it....I really feel for my little one's legs/muscles, the effort that's required to shift the lump of pig iron... wish I'd heard of Isla's before..

[Junior Bianno]

Agoogy said:

...and nice to see they do away with front suspension... at that price point they're more weight and hassle than their worth.

Not what my 7 year old says when he's tearing up Glentress!

[Nick_F]

Isla bikes seem excellent.

On the weight thing, though, do bear in mind the relative abuse that children's bikes have to withstand - I'm sure you don't drop yours every time you get off it.

[wobert]

I bought my 7yr old (admittedly large for his age)a Trek MT220 (IIRC it cost £200).

This was 3 yrs ago, and it still fits him now.

All the hardware, like cranks, levers and such are sized for small hands / feet. The cranks have two positions for the pedals. The Suntour forks are also sized for his weight, so they actually work.

The V-brakes offer decent stopping performance too.

He regularly rides it at Llandegla, with no problems. Hopefully it will last him another couple of years, by which time it will owes us nothing!

[PGM]

In the end I actually had a 2009 14" Kona Cinder Cone delivered for my 9 year old and gave the 6 year old his old 6 speed Diamond Back which suits them both fine.

Got the 9 year old booked in a mountain biking day course now too so he can do some trails with me.

Happy days!