Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

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Mububban
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Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:30 am

My kids are steadily growing out of their ByK bikes, the youngest can get the hand-me-down but the eldest will need a new bike when that happens. The next model ByK are as expensive as adult bikes and I think she can go one more cheaper kids bike before we splash that cash again. Same with the Apollo Neo and Trek kids' bikes. Giant only have 3 speed internal but I'm looking for 1x7 preferably, and their geared bikes are $800. So a $300 Reid is sounding appealing.

Has anyone put their kid on a Reid kids' bike? There's the Viper which is a flat bar roadie style (1x7 gearing, rigid forks, 1.75" tyres, 11.5kg), or the Ranger/Scout (different name for boy or girl colour scheme, MTB style, 3x7 gearing, 1.95" tyres, 12.6kg).

Both of these models are 24" and recommended for 135 - 145cm.

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MattyK
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:59 am

Haven't got one, but have seen them and they appear on point for specs and price.

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Mububban
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:15 pm

After doing a lot of research online, looking for a ByK-style kids "flat bar roadie" with alloy frame, rigid forks and 1x shifting, I couldn't find any other contenders for under $400. I just ordered a Reid Viper (the grey one above) for $270 off their eBay store ($30 discount). Hopefully this will be a good bike and a simple intro to a rear derailleur.

The listed weight is 11.5kg and it's a 24 inch bike, her current ByK e450 is 10.2kg for a 20 inch. If she finds the 1.75" tyres too heavy I'll swap them for ~1.5" (ByK use 1.375").

I'll do a comparison review when it arrives.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:41 pm

Ordered the Reid bike on the 14th, estimated delivery was 26-27 April, I missed the delivery on the 21st and was home to receive it on the 24th. Assembled my first bike (Dad Achievement Unlocked) and 10km in so far my daughter loves it. I'll do a review on it when I have time.
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MattyK
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:50 pm

How's the Viper going ? In the market soon, #1 is approaching 9...

It strikes me that there isn't a huge range in the 7-speed 14-28 freewheel, and not a huge number of options to alter that.

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Thu Jul 13, 2017 12:29 pm

MattyK wrote:How's the Viper going ? In the market soon, #1 is approaching 9...
My daughter loves it. The only gripe is that the chain is a few links too short of ideal length, but overall I'm really impressed and she loves it even more than her ByK e-450 because she's gone from 3 to 7 gears, and her "granny gear" can get her up anything now.

I still plan to do a little review video of it. There just aren't many rigid fork 1x7 options out there, and the Viper ticks all the boxes I/she wanted.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:26 pm

We seem to be on a very similar wavelength. Road/path bike, an intermediate number of gears (>3 but less than 14), no unnecessary weight (eg suspension). Current bike is an E450x3i, and she sometimes runs out of gears on a couple of hills, but she's definitely gotten stronger as the skills have improved. Can't wait to get my son (approaching 6) on that bike as he struggles with a single speed.

How granny is the granny gear? 42 x 28 still sounds a bit high, I've been looking at what other 7 speed freewheels exist. Shimano's 14-34 has a YUGE jump to the granny, there are a couple of other brands with much more linear ranges, but some go smaller on the top end (11 tooth etc). The rear derailleur would looks to be an RD-TY300, if so it should handle up to an 11-34.

Maybe (just maybe) I'm overthinking it... ;)

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:22 pm

I've got a short but steep driveway that she can now get up. She's inherited my skinny build ie no muscle, but she can now get up the driveway :)

And the shift action is light enough that her skinny wrists can change it. For contrast, I found a Haro 1x6 for my son on Gumtree in 20 inch for a bash around off road bike, and the gear chang eon that is ridiculously stiff. There's no way a kid can change from 2 to 1 ie granny. It takes a full adult twist to engage into granny. So he stays in 2 or 3 most of the time. Whereas the Reid is nice and light to shift.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:08 pm

MattyK wrote:How granny is the granny gear? 42 x 28 still sounds a bit high...
I measured my driveway at 8m slope length at an angle of 13 degrees. Her skinny pins can get her up that without much of a run up at all.

The real test will be the hills on Rottnest Island next time we go there :D I think fitness will be the limiting factor, not gearing!
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby bychosis » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:10 pm

My boys had 3x7 gearing Ng on their 24" bikes. I got them to stick in the middle ring and they rarely 'needed' the granny ring. Don't forget that the smaller wheels mean the gearing is actually a bit shorter than when using the same cogs/chainring on an adults bike.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:28 pm

Reid's 3x7 24" MTB has 42/34/24 chain rings. The Viper has a single 42...

34/28 would roughly equal a 42/34 combo.
Shimano MF-TZ31 has a 34T granny but a 10 tooth jump to get there!
DNP Epoch freewheels have a nicer (more even) spread, but 11-28 or 11-30 would want a smaller chainring. Interloc Classica 13-32 is also nicely spaced but pricey

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Fri Jul 14, 2017 12:39 pm

The ONLY problem with the Viper is that, while it ticks all my daughter's boxes, my son loves the local pump track and hopping up and down kerbs and the ramp I built etc, and he loves the "cool factor" of having suspension on his Haro (he still uses the ByK e-450 x3i for longer rides on bike paths). So the Viper won't be totally ideal for him when my daughter outgrows it. But I can offload it on Gumtree, or to their younger cousin.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:29 pm

No suspension is probably a darn sight better than bad suspension... which would be every junior sized suspension fork out there. get him some fatter tyres and a cup of htfu for his birthday. When I was a boy, etc...

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby ironhanglider » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:35 pm

Mububban wrote:
MattyK wrote:How granny is the granny gear? 42 x 28 still sounds a bit high...
I measured my driveway at 8m slope length at an angle of 13 degrees. Her skinny pins can get her up that without much of a run up at all.

The real test will be the hills on Rottnest Island next time we go there :D I think fitness will be the limiting factor, not gearing!

My first 'serious' bike crash was on Rottnest Island. It was the only time that I have experienced shimmy, and I didn't know how to deal with it. In my defence I was only 4 and it was a 12" bike.

I don't think the hills are anything too stressful, but my memory is rather vague.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:58 am

MattyK wrote:We seem to be on a very similar wavelength. Road/path bike, an intermediate number of gears (>3 but less than 14), no unnecessary weight (eg suspension). Current bike is an E450x3i, and she sometimes runs out of gears on a couple of hills, but she's definitely gotten stronger as the skills have improved. Can't wait to get my son (approaching 6) on that bike as he struggles with a single speed.
FYI I previously weighed the e-450 at 10.2kg, and the Viper yesterday at 11.6kg, but that's with a gel seat cover and a front light adding a bit of extra weight. So not an enormous weight gain all things considered.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby MattyK » Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:41 am

Checked last night and they've just sold out on line... :( Got a few months yet, will see if they come back in stock otherwise keeping an eye out for options.

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Sat Jul 14, 2018 4:05 pm

MattyK wrote: How granny is the granny gear? 42 x 28 still sounds a bit high, I've been looking at what other 7 speed freewheels exist. Shimano's 14-34 has a YUGE jump to the granny, there are a couple of other brands with much more linear ranges, but some go smaller on the top end (11 tooth etc). The rear derailleur would looks to be an RD-TY300, if so it should handle up to an 11-34.

Maybe (just maybe) I'm overthinking it... ;)
Fast forward a year, and I just had the stock 14-28 cassette replaced with a 14-34. I enquired about changing the front chainring too but apparently it's a no go. So the Reid now has an even grannier granny gear. Surprisingly the shift from 24 to 34 is not a problem at all.
My daughter and her skinny legs were able to get up the hill to the windmill at Rottnest, but she was practically weeping at the summit :mrgreen: She did it about 3 times in total without having to get off and walk once she figured out a rhythm, but seeing as this bike will get at least another 2 years' use by my son when she upgrades, hopefully this will help on the uphills.

The Giant Liv Areva 20" I gumtree'd for my niece has a 36 chainring, and a 14-34 cassette. Much easier for kids going up hill. Live and learn.

My son's next bike is a gumtree'd Scott Voltage 24" with 42-32-22 and 14-28 so he should be able to climb anything with that.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Tamiya » Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:43 am

I spend way too long hanging about the Reid store... but imho most of their floor stock are fairly generic yumcha bikes ordered off an Asian trade cattledog. Decent value for their price when (regularly!) discounted I guess, but I don't find them particularly inspiring.

btw ByK wheel sizes can be misleading ... by "1.375" you mean 1 3/8"? These aren't same as BMX 20" ETRTO 406mm, they're ETRTO 451mm making them over 21" but less than 22"

Few wks ago overhauled a Giant Areva 20" and that offered much more warm&fuzzies. That design had a whole lot better integrity, as if everything is meant to work together. Suspension fork probably not worth its weight but alloy frame was impressively light... wish I had nice bikes like this back when I was short enough!!

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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby ValleyForge » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:20 pm

Tamiya wrote:
btw ByK wheel sizes can be misleading ... by "1.375" you mean 1 3/8"? These aren't same as BMX 20" ETRTO 406mm, they're ETRTO 451mm making them over 21" but less than 22"
Yes I have been caught out by the slightly odd ETRO sizing of the Byks. But they are pretty popular and the two local LBS keep tyres.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby ValleyForge » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:24 pm

Mububban wrote:My son's next bike is a gumtree'd Scott Voltage 24" with 42-32-22 and 14-28 so he should be able to climb anything with that.
Bloody good bike. I gave one to my nephew who pummeled it. And it took it - to be handed down to the younger brother. IIRC it only had an 8 speed on the back though it was enough.
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Re: Anyone tried Reid Cycles kids' bikes?

Postby Mububban » Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:51 am

ValleyForge wrote:
Mububban wrote:My son's next bike is a gumtree'd Scott Voltage 24" with 42-32-22 and 14-28 so he should be able to climb anything with that.
Bloody good bike. I gave one to my nephew who pummeled it. And it took it - to be handed down to the younger brother. IIRC it only had an 8 speed on the back though it was enough.
He's got the 7 speed 2015 rim brake version in green. I've got some Maxxis Snyper tyres to put on before we go for his first offroad test ride with it. It's still a bit big for him, not for riding, but for easily putting his feet down when he stalls. I'll see how he goes though before selling his 20" bike. Another ~6 months of growth and it should be perfect.
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