Buying a Mountain Bike for the Children

Buying a mountain bike for the kids is a problem you are likely to be faced with sooner or later. When your little princess or prince decides that they want to get a proper bicycle, you'll probably reckon they should have a scaled-down mountain bike. Okay, maybe they wont go off-road on it but they make sound urban get-around anyway.

We probably don't need to repeat this, but you get what you pay for when you fork out for a bicycle and, when it comes to children's bikes, this is more true than usual. There's a huge market for wee bikes and a huge number of low-quality, cheap bicycles out there vying for your money.

Stating the obvious, kids grow up quick, so there's no point in buying a bicycle which will be a perfect fit for only a few months – you've got to buy something with a bit of growth potential.

From that point of view, look very closely at spending money on a 24 inch wheel bicycles as there are a number of manufacturers now making full-size 26 inch wheel bicycles which are not much bigger. Realistically you are looking at an eight- or nine-year old rider getting a bicycle with full-sized wheels.

Watch out for sizing these bikes, though. While the stand-over height might be Okay on a small, 26-inch wheel bicycle, the reach to the bars and stem might prove to be a bit more tricky.

There are two solutions to this reach conundrum. Solution one is to ask the shop if they are willing to fit a shorter stem. Most shops will oblige. Solution two is not to buy.

Watch out for brake lever reach. It's all very well having pukka canti's or V-brakes but if your little darling can't reach the brakes then they aren't going to be much good. A real confidence destroyer.

A number of bigger bike companies are also doing 14-inch frames with 26-inch mountain bike wheels. Trek has at least a few models in the models line-up. Of course surely some other brans do 'grown-up' 14-inch mountain bike with V-brakes and quick-release wheels.

For those children who are getting positively adult in their inside leg measurement, there are a number of companies offering frames designed specifically for the smaller rider. This smaller rider might be a child or a woman or a lightweight bloke. We have enough smaller 'adult' riders in Thailand.