20" Kids Bike Advice

[ChrisF]

I have found that weight was a real issue. The Spez is crazy heavy. 

 

Got Kittel a Frog Alu bike, he now does 10-12km no issues. 

 

His cousin got a cheaper Avalanche, wont do more than 300m. Worse V brakes, terrible levers, think the gear ratio is also a little too steep and is heavier. She is always wanting to ride her cousins bike. 

 

Luckily have 2 kids,so can pass stuff down, so Swift is on the Isla balance bike now at age 16 months. Finally listens to where he needs to go, before he just disappears across fields etc...

 

Have friends that have twins, they just buy stuff larger so the girls can use it for longer as nobody to pass it down to. They are smaller than Kittel but are 'riding' 16" bikes.

 

Actually sad to watch some of the kids at places like Bloemendal ....

 

You SEE where the parents have bought a "slightly" over sized bike and the kid desperately tries to ride with their buddies ...

 

Cant steer properly because they are stretched out to reach the bars, like some wannabe Harley Davidson cruiser rider ....

 

When the trail gets technical they cant put a foot down ....

 

 

I KNOW the pain of buying every year, with nobody to hand the old one down to ....  But a bike that does not fit, really does nothing good for a kid ... 

[Knersboy]

Checked out the Titan Hades 20 inch today, my boy has outgrown his Hades 16 inch. Nice bike, happy that it comes in v-brakes too, had them on the 16 inch and they are a breeze.

 

Comes with Vittoria Barzo tires, this is a big selling point to me. Really does tick all the boxes.

 

The 16 inch he has had taken 2 years of abuse and it is on great working order. The titan kids bikes are good quality and value.

[ChrisF]

Checked out the Titan Hades 20 inch today, my boy has outgrown his Hades 16 inch. Nice bike, happy that it comes in v-brakes too, had them on the 16 inch and they are a breeze.

 

Comes with Vittoria Barzo tires, this is a big selling point to me. Really does tick all the boxes.

 

The 16 inch he has had taken 2 years of abuse and it is on great working order. The titan kids bikes are good quality and value.

 

Seeing how well the TITAN brand lasts when kids RIDE it has made me take a second look at the brand ....

 

 

With all the kids growing up on TITAN ... who knows how the brand may GROW in the next few years when these kids want full sized bikes ....

[daniemare]

I got him a Scot, but I will not be surprised if all comes out of the same factory, but the Nino colours sold it.

 

BUT, he has definitely lost some of his “ability” coming from his Frog Bike. The thing is just to damn heavy. And the culprit, the suspension fork.

 

He got onto a 20” superlight BMX last week, and all the oomphf is back. I thought the Frog was too expensive after he outgrown his previous one so quickly, but lesson learnt. Looking ar selling this ton of bricks and buying light.

[IMPACT]

The JSL40 is expensive. After seeing how my son’s riding improved I am glad to have spent the extra money to buy him a quality bike and the correct size. I agree with ChrisF on the sizing issues, no use buying a bike that is too big. Unfortunately it probably means changing bikes every two years for now.

[Coolspin]

Got my daughter this 20 Axis for her 8th birthday,

Shock works lekker, twisty gears work lekker too, she loves it. Cost was just over 2k if i can recall.

The guy at shop said to get the 20 then move to 24, says not a good idea to buy them oversize bikes as it affects their confidence.

The guys said I can trade it in too when moving to 24.

[The Ouzo]

Got my daughter this 20 Axis for her 8th birthday,

Shock works lekker, twisty gears work lekker too, she loves it. Cost was just over 2k if i can recall.

The guy at shop said to get the 20 then move to 24, says not a good idea to buy them oversize bikes as it affects their confidence.

The guys said I can trade it in too when moving to 24.image.jpeg

got my daughter the identical bike.

Changing gears was initially a problem but she is now used to it. Loves the bike.

[ChrisF]

3 and half months since we bought the 24''.  Saddle has already been raised 9cm !!!    

 

If he keeps this up he might be on the 26'' all too soon ..          Thankfully we have a BRILLIANT hand-me-down ready for this !!

 

 

 

There is a HUGE market for second hand kids bikes.  Keep it in good nick, let it sleep in the garage, etc and you will have a good down payment for the next bike.

 

 

PS - have a look at the "cost per year" of their bikes .... then do the same for our bikes ...       damn, those kids bikes work out lekka cheap ... 

[Oufy MTB (Roadie)]

Checked out the Titan Hades 20 inch today, my boy has outgrown his Hades 16 inch. Nice bike, happy that it comes in v-brakes too, had them on the 16 inch and they are a breeze.

 

Comes with Vittoria Barzo tires, this is a big selling point to me. Really does tick all the boxes.

 

The 16 inch he has had taken 2 years of abuse and it is on great working order. The titan kids bikes are good quality and value.

Both my boys are the same size and both migrated from titan 16 inch to 20 inch , I bought all these bikes for cheap on Gumtree. The one 20 inch actually got mechanical disc brakes, sweet. Both grip shifts had to be serviced and I taught them the importance of shifting whilst pedalling. They 7 and 8 and can operate the shifts easy now, sukkelled at first. The moment those grip shift cabled get damaged then It is difficult for me to up shift, so they sensitive stuff

[Knersboy]

3 and half months since we bought the 24''.  Saddle has already been raised 9cm !!!    

 

If he keeps this up he might be on the 26'' all too soon ..          Thankfully we have a BRILLIANT hand-me-down ready for this !!

 

 

 

There is a HUGE market for second hand kids bikes.  Keep it in good nick, let it sleep in the garage, etc and you will have a good down payment for the next bike.

 

 

PS - have a look at the "cost per year" of their bikes .... then do the same for our bikes ...       damn, those kids bikes work out lekka cheap ... 

Luckily I have a younger boy to hand me down to. The 16 inch lasted 2 years, and to be honest it was more like 1 and a bit year but he’ll Xmas only comes once a year.

 

One thing I learnt, replace oem grips with cheap silicon grips straight away. I wasted so much money on cheap grips.

[Knersboy]

Both my boys are the same size and both migrated from titan 16 inch to 20 inch , I bought all these bikes for cheap on Gumtree. The one 20 inch actually got mechanical disc brakes, sweet. Both grip shifts had to be serviced and I taught them the importance of shifting whilst pedalling. They 7 and 8 and can operate the shifts easy now, sukkelled at first. The moment those grip shift cabled get damaged then It is difficult for me to up shift, so they sensitive stuff

A lot earlier in the thread there is a lot of discussion about swapping the trip shift for a trigger. My plan is to see how they go and if it is too much of a sukkel then swap.

[maqsmaqs]

hi all

just joined the site

 

looking for some good advice as total newbie

 

ive ignored all the offerings from Game/makro and narrowed down to the following from bike addict in Cape Town

 

Titan Calypso 20 Disc

Titan Calypso 20 V

Silverback Senza 20

 

what are the differences with the two Titans?

is Silverback a good option for the price?

 

looked at Momsen/Scott but a little out of budget

[Ispeed_V]

Also in the market for a new bike for my son.

 

I know a lot of people advocate staying away from Makro / Game etc but at the rate that he is growing, I am looking at the Mongoose Volt from Game. Online special R1299

 

Cant justify paying upward of R3000 for a bike that will probably only be used for 12 to 18 Months

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

hi all

just joined the site

 

looking for some good advice as total newbie

 

ive ignored all the offerings from Game/makro and narrowed down to the following from bike addict in Cape Town

 

Titan Calypso 20 Disc

Titan Calypso 20 V

Silverback Senza 20

 

what are the differences with the two Titans?

is Silverback a good option for the price?

 

looked at Momsen/Scott but a little out of budget

Titan disc has cable actuated disc brakes, which are a MAJOR upgrade, and lead the way to introduce proper hyd disc brakes as an upgrade. Disc brakes have a far lighter pull action than v's. 

[openmind]

fair enough ... TEKTRO do have a MASSIVE range of brakes .. some cheap, some expensive ... we use the EXPENSIVE stuff on our JSL20 

 

never had any issues on my son's JSL16 - also running same brakes as we specced on the JSL20 over the past few years.

Both my kids have used and abused our JSL20 and now my cousin's son has it. Once I set up the V-brakes properly (easy) I never had to touch them and they always worked well. Kids had great confidence on that bike - light, handles well. Get one, you won't regret it.

[The Ouzo]

Both my kids have used and abused our JSL20 and now my cousin's son has it. Once I set up the V-brakes properly (easy) I never had to touch them and they always worked well. Kids had great confidence on that bike - light, handles well. Get one, you won't regret it.

yeah at that age I dont think discs are really needed.

My daughter who is a real petite little thing has no issues using V brakes.