Buying a 24 inch bike - help please

[Rhiannon]

Hi

I'm new to this forum - hoping for advice to help me choose the best 24 inch for my 8 year old yo move on to. He currently rides a 20inch Giant bmx. We live in the mountains so everywhere is hills! Plus I've started some mtb riding (fire trails, some single track) and want to take him along.

The bulk of his riding will be paths up and down hills but has yo be able to handle off road well too.

So...

1. Is a 1x8 sufficient? Enough gearage to get up decent hills?
2. Does he need front suspension? Or go with rigid to shed some weight?
3. Anything else significant I should consider?

I'm tossing up between Scott Roxter 24 inch and specialized riprock 24 inch. Or a giant xtc jr+ (rigid fat tyres)...if I can source one.

Any others better?

Thanks!

[MattyK]

Welcome.

My daughter has a Scott Contessa 24 Rigid (older version with rim brakes), which is basically the Scale if you want a "boys" version, but very similar to the Roxter also (tyre size/width/tread would be the main difference)

Gearing is 1x7 with 34 chainring and 11-34 cassette. That's enough range to haul even her (she's not a strong or enthusiactic cyclist) up some steep hills.

The number of gears is less an issue than the range (highest vs lowest gear). 1x is great for kids. 11-34 is a decent cassette range with the right chainring, which your options have. Suspension is largely cosmetic until you're paying $500+ for the forks alone, probably more.

Honestly I don't think you'll go wrong with any of those choices, they're all good bikes from good brands. The Scott would be my choice, unless there's a desire for the fat tyres (regular sand riding or just because it looks cool, but it would probably be heavier)

[bychosis]

I wouldn’t think fat tyres are the best choice unless there are lots of sandy sections in your riding area. They just add weight, and rotational weight which is the worst kind.

I found with my first 2 on their 24s that 3x wasn’t necessary, just got them to stick to the middle ring everywhere. As such I’ll be upgrading the next one to 1x9 for the 24” before he’s ready to ride it. I bought a Giant XTC jr disc brake model for him second hand, but really there isn’t anything wrong with v brakes.

Suspension isn’t really necessary, but can be harder to get rigid forks and an off road setup for the bike because manufacturers think everybody wants it.

I’ve found that 24” often have bits that are harder to upgrade, so pick what you want first up rather than planning for upgrades. This one has riveted cranks so not easy to switch chainrings. Its 7spd freewheel which means a new hub for 9spd and the rim is 28hole which means more expense because cheap and 28 hole don’t align, or new rim needed.

[ausdb]

Is your son a tall or small 8 year old? If on the tall side you could maybe even look at an xs frame 26" adults mountain bike. That's what I'm doing for my not so little 8yo son. He's currently riding a 20" trek superfly but also rides a tiny framed Alchemy road bike with 650c wheels that I built up years ago. As the others have said suspension forks on anything less than 26" wheels are more just fluff and heavy. 26" means you can tap into the better quality be lighter old school mtb stuff.

[Mububban]

Modern 24" bikes are much better suited to kids than 5+ years ago. My son had a y2013 20 inch 1x bike with something like a 42 tooth front ring, and only a ~28 cassette on the back, so any proper hill had him pushing the bike up on foot.

His 3x8 bike (~y2014?) has much easier gearing on the front but still a surprisingly small cassette by modern standards.

Modern bikes have far better gearing nowadays so your son should be sorted there.

Plenty of kids in my local MTB kids group have rigid fork bikes to save weight, and they don't seem to suffer on the rocky descents. None of them are skilled enough to do jumps so suspension is not needed at their low speeds.
That said, kids love suspension forks, so if it makes him super enthusiastic to ride it, then it might be worth the tradeoff. But most cheap forks are heavy, and have max 50mm of coil suspension that an adult's body weight can have a hard time compressing.

[Rhiannon]

Thanks so much for the feedback! He doesn't care on the look of it and is an enthusiastic little rider. Sounds like the scott might be the better choice.

[ausdb]

If you're not locked down by now the latest Aldi special buys has a Cell Glider 24" bike on sale next week 1s April for $179 It has rigid forks with V brakes and 1 x 7 gearing and quoting 10kg weight, I think for the money you could do a lot worse.
It quotes a review on BNA here but I can't find any reference to it from the home page, maybe it will get posted in the next few days.

[Rhiannon]

Just updating - bought a scott roxter for $550. Great little bike!

[find_bruce]

If you're not locked down by now the latest Aldi special buys has a Cell Glider 24" bike on sale next week 1s April for $179 It has rigid forks with V brakes and 1 x 7 gearing and quoting 10kg weight, I think for the money you could do a lot worse.
It quotes a review on BNA here but I can't find any reference to it from the home page, maybe it will get posted in the next few days.

The review is part of an article on Bicycles online A new gap : Cell Kids Bike at Aldi

[tempestv8]

Just updating - bought a scott roxter for $550. Great little bike!

Hi Rhiannon,

It kooks like an awesome bike! Lucky son!

Can I ask - what is the weight of this bike in kgs?