All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

This will be for my daughter who is almost 8yo, but who is also already over 4’ 6”. Her little 16” single speed Trek Precaliber was outgrown long ago. She’s by no means an expert as this will be her first geared and non-coaster braked bike. Her size kinda pushes us to some of the bigger more capable bikes. That and I’m too prideful to buy a Walmart/Box store bike

Getting a quality bike is kind of future proofing though. Her old 16” Trek now is ridden be my 6yo son. Same will apply to the bike we’re shopping now once she outgrows it.

I do like the grip shift on the Commemcal as I think that’s an easier learning curve for groms.

Local is always my preference, when it makes sense. I do the majority of my own wrenching. But I also do a good amount of business with my local trek shop. Been buying/BSing with the guys in that shop for over a decade. Really good relationship with them.

 

She’s gonna grow really fast starting now. I went through this with my kid at that age and he grew out of 24” wheels really quickly. Do you have a 26” option? A small frame in that wheel size May net you another year or two.
They’re doing great stuff with frame geomatry these days, hell, my sons last bike was a 27.5 at 13. He discovered video games after that, so he’s not cool anymore.

 

Prolly gonna stick with 24” as that seems best for her size and skill set. I may look into the slightly less trail specific offerings from Trek/Spec. @Pugga has me rethinking from a braking perspective. Really don’t need my lil gal going OTB.

 

My oldest is 33. He rides a Salsa hardtail. His younger sister rides a Surly CrossCheck. But anyway, kids grow fast. Buy a bike they can pass down to a younger sibling. Our kids only stayed on 24’s for a short time. They can be hard on bikes so look for sturdy components. The only broken DH we’ve ever had was on our daughter’s 24” bike (Fisher?Bontrager? Not Trek-branded) in Sedona. A zip tie got us to the end of the day.

 

You could always weaken the front hydro brake, bad bleed, back the pads off, adjust the throw way in and she'd still have a really strong rear brake. I've got my kids on Polygon Relics and they're holding up pretty well. The Polygon Premier wouldn't be bad either, and lighter since it's a rigid fork vs. suspension (also rim brakes which can be both good or bad)
https://www.bikesonline.com/bikes/kids/ages-7-to-12-24inch-26inch/
The Polygon relic is a little heavy, but it's built like a brick shit house. I steal my son's 20" bike and ride it around the campground frequently and it does just fine with me on it.

 

I always forget about Polygon. Good call

 

Just go full stupid like me and get her a transition ripcord.

 

She’d go full bonkers on this color too. Alas, out of stock…



In other news. No scenic vistas or rare wildlife sightings here. Just confirming it’s still hot as Fawk in the southeast.

 

I’d sell you my sons but it’s getting passed down to his little sister.

 

My local shop has a silver one for $1499 if you are interested give Southern Carnage a call.

 

She could rock it, but I stayed local and kept it modest (kinda). She fit best on a 26” bike.

NBD for my girl. Trek Wahoo Path 26”

 

Check out Woom too. There’s something to be said about lightweight kids bikes. The whole proportional weight to the rider is a big deal. Some of the box brands are the equivalent to me being on a 69-70lb rig lol.

we’ve had good luck with spawn bikes too. Cleary as well but they are somewhat heavy being steel

 

Dawn patrol today. I hope you got out.

 

Nice looking trail! Where was your ride?

 

Had a nice, pleasant ride this AM

That’s in CT, Bluff Point State Park. The park wanted to charge $20 to park so I ended up starting at Haley Farm State Park and working my way over to Bluff Point. One of the trails popped out on that fairly isolated beach. Nice surprise!

 

Never liked poison oak, but I do like the colors when the leaves start to turn. picture below from todays ride. Also, nights are starting to cool down around here and I think we’re losing about 2 minutes of daylight per day now in the evenings

 

Chimneyrock in martinsville nj. It’s my usual Saturday morning haunt this time of year. big rides are for Sundays

 

26 miles with 4k of vert. I'm beat!

 

Also, I want to try riding at sea level and see if it feels like cheating. Punchy climbs at nearly 11k' made me want to turn around today.

 

I bet you’d absolutely cook at sea level! You’d recover much faster for sure when you’re actually getting air to your lungs.