quality single track bike for kid
So my son is 7.5 yo and is 53" and weighs 76#'s. He currently has a trek mt 220. At first this bike seemed like a solid bike and for 6 months of road/gravel and walking trails it was. Now he is doing some smooth single track with me and the bike has become an utter failure after a few 6 mile rides. The problems are 1. the threaded stem will no longer tighten so the bars move, 2. the fork has seized, 3. rear hub has play and freewheel is near toast level. I always keep the bike clean,maintained, and indoors. With that said i brought the bike to dealer who is a friend and they were like oh you are actually mountain biking with this! I thought we would have this until he was into a 26". Not sure what to do looking for advice. I have two kids so any bike i buy will be used again 4 years later, so spending good money does not hurt as much.
1. fix bike up with a rigid fork and threadless stem and just keep fixing problems that come up
2. fix bike under warranty and sell to get a better bike that will make it until he needs 26"
better bikes scott scale rc 24, giant xtc sl jr 24 other suggestions?
3. what size typically can a kid get into a long term 26" build
Thanks all
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quality single track bike for kid
I have two girls, 7.5 and 10.5.
The 10year old is about the same size as your son, and she rips on a 26" Specialized Myka. It's a fully custom build (XTR 2x9, crossmax, king, hydraulic brakes). It weighs nothing and her riding has really improved. The wheel size is one thing--low standover is more important though
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That says, my 7.5 year old rides on a 24" (spech hotrock) and even though it's heavy and has crappy parts on it and a hardly functional fork...she still rides the shit outta it.
Our kids are on their bikes a lot...and we've found that the more we challenge them--the more they rise to meet those challenges. Chocolate helps.
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quality single track bike for kid
I don't know where you live, but our local craigslist has lots of turnover on kids bikes. I paid $350 for my daughter's bike, and it's sub-20lbs
If you're close to SWCO, this weekend is the DEVO Bike Swap. It's a fundraiser for our youth-mountain bike development program (it's awesome). There are usually great deals as devo families upgrade.