20" Kids Bikes

[Ispeed_V]

My 2 cents worth. 

Don't drop major cash on a bike that the kid will probably out grow in a couple of months.

 

[bleedToWin]

I just went through another round of bike shopping (also 20 inch this time) and I have no doubts I made the right call going light weight. Of all the criteria I had for the bike, weight overshadowed all the rest.

The vast majority of the enjoyment kids can get out of their bikes comes from their ability to handle the bike comfortably. Seeing kids bikes that are over 10kg punting "lightweight" as a selling point is baffling. Can you imagine riding a bike that's more than half your body weight! 💀

I am more than 4x heavier than my kid, and I'd be very sad to own a bike that's over 10kg. 

[bleedToWin]

4 minutes ago, Ispeed_V said:

My 2 cents worth. 

Don't drop major cash on a bike that the kid will probably out grow in a couple of months.

 

If you are planning to buy a larger bike in two months, you bought the wrong bike.

• At least two years per size, often more.
• Multiply that by the number of kids you have.
• Resale value only holds on quality bikes, drops to near zero on run of the mill stuff.

[PappaWatTrap]

3 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

I just went through another round of bike shopping (also 20 inch this time) and I have no doubts I made the right call going light weight. Of all the criteria I had for the bike, weight overshadowed all the rest.

The vast majority of the enjoyment kids can get out of their bikes comes from their ability to handle the bike comfortably. Seeing kids bikes that are over 10kg punting "lightweight" as a selling point is baffling. Can you imagine riding a bike that's more than half your body weight! 💀

I am more than 4x heavier than my kid, and I'd be very sad to own a bike that's over 10kg. 

What bike did you end up getting?

[bleedToWin]

7 minutes ago, PappaWatTrap said:

What bike did you end up getting?

I managed to find a second hand Early Rider Seeker 20. Still took kiddo a while to adjust to the weight increase from the single speed 16 inch.

[PappaWatTrap]

3 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

I managed to find a second hand Early Rider Seeker 20. Still took kiddo a while to adjust to the weight increase from the single speed 16 inch.

Sick bike, looks like it could be fun and really really light in comparison to the bikes I have seen. 

[quade]

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[quade]

 ooh, didn't know they were available here
Early rider gets 1st place then!!

If money is tight, you can also consider buying a cheaper bike and upgrading as you go
I did this for a 24" bike, I bought a new momsem JSL40, then replaced the fork with a lightweight aliexpress airfork (nanlio), 28h stans rims on goldix hubs (copies of DT swiss), and built a super light wheelset, carbon bars and seat post, tubeless etc and I shaved upward of 3KG and it runs at sub 10KG now
I can get it down to <9KG if i remove the squared BB and put a goldix 150mm crankset on from temu and put an old 10 speed XTR gears on.

Tinkering with kids bike is like thearpy for me 😁

[bleedToWin]

7 minutes ago, PappaWatTrap said:

Sick bike, looks like it could be fun and really really light in comparison to the bikes I have seen. 

Slightly heavier than advertised. Not sure if it's because it's the older version (although components all look to be the same, except RD where selling bike shop put a new one on due to cosmetic damage on the old one). Comes in just over 9kg. Might copy quade and figure out where most of the weight is and look for easy upgrades as I have two kids that will cut their racing teeth on this machine! 😀

[Shebeen]

double post

 

 

Edited October 21, 2025 by Shebeen

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, quade said:

 ooh, didn't know they were available here
Early rider gets 1st place then!!

If money is tight, you can also consider buying a cheaper bike and upgrading as you go
I did this for a 24" bike, I bought a new momsem JSL40, then replaced the fork with a lightweight aliexpress airfork (nanlio), 28h stans rims on goldix hubs (copies of DT swiss), and built a super light wheelset, carbon bars and seat post, tubeless etc and I shaved upward of 3KG and it runs at sub 10KG now
I can get it down to <9KG if i remove the squared BB and put a goldix 150mm crankset on from temu and put an old 10 speed XTR gears on.

Tinkering with kids bike is like thearpy for me 😁

Since this a hot topic, this 20" bike has been a great platform. I don't have the time to clean it up, hence the price.

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/kids-bikes/841765/spez-hotrocklooking-to-go-to-new-places

totally negotiable.

Had loads of FB tyrekickers - don't waste time on FB marketplace.

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

Not 20” but picked up a Signal Stormer 24” for a friend’s kiddo for R2500 off FB Marketplace. 30 seconds at Mellow to dial in the gears and tighten up the brakes and it’s a fine little bike and significantly lighter than the old gen Scott 24 that the kiddo was riding. Can’t beat it for value and it’s a good looking bike as well. 

I will be changing the brakes to hydraulic as I’m not a fan of mechanical disc for small hands but the bike itself is sweeet and the kiddo loves it. 

 

[Sprocket Bikes]

On 10/21/2025 at 6:05 AM, DJuice said:

Isla bikes is the best if you can get your hands on one. Company went belly up after the covid boom. 
Frogs are awesome bikes, but also only on the second hand market available.

Think you may have seen a Sprocket, cool design bikes with crisp look about them. Great for urban riding. 
We stay in the platteland, dik rooi sand, driesoring en hak en steek, therefor we need a bit more robust tyre and preferable gears. Some of the reasons why the Roxter 16inch is house bound.

The eldest have race sub nippers on their 20inch Titan Racing bikes.

https://www.sprocketbikes.co.za
Same distributor as TR.

 

On 10/21/2025 at 6:14 AM, quade said:

Yes sprocket bikes!

That would be my choice if I didn't have a couple of Isla bikes in the garage waiting for the next kid 

Isla bikes did sadly go under, I ordered a bunch of spares when they did they announcement, but it's risky if you need something like a crankset which are crazy light and bend easy.  I've occasionally seen them pop up on this site for sale, but the sprocket was very close.

 

I changed my Isla bike tyres on arrival to big chunkies, so might be worth doing the same if you get a sprocket 

Thanks for the mentions. 👍 We've worked hard to bring great value and great-looking bikes to the market. 

[ChrisF]

On 10/21/2025 at 8:56 AM, bleedToWin said:

If you are planning to buy a larger bike in two months, you bought the wrong bike.

• At least two years per size, often more.
• Multiply that by the number of kids you have.
• Resale value only holds on quality bikes, drops to near zero on run of the mill stuff.

 

Expected time of use .... heavily dependent on genetics and growth spurts.

 

Maritz got his 20" as soon as he could fit on it.  13 months later he was comfortable on a 24".  The 26" was a project, so we started early, knowing he one of the taller kids in his age group ... and then he "got stuck" at 2cm too short for some 5 or 6 months.  When the next growth spurt hit I could not adjust the saddle height fast enough.  At 14 he is already taller than me .... ja ja ... ek is n kortgat.

 

All that said, the 20" was grabbed up by a Hubber.  So the cost of ownership was okay.  The 24" was traded in on 26" Titan, again fair cost of ownership. The 26" is not a good "investment", I went bos with a 1x upgrade ... so the parts are worth more than I can every realistically ask for the bike .... so it hangs in the roof as a future parts donor.  

Edited October 22, 2025 by ChrisF