[MMcG]

Okay, My son loves to ride and he's got a Raleigh MTB, but has asked for a true BMX bike for his birthday.

Should I get him a 20"er or an 18"er?

Just curious as to what you BMXers think.

For example - adults ride 20" bikes, should kids ride smaller bikes?

or are their 20" bikes that have top tubes designed for younger riders?

Thanks in advance for any input you can provide.

Mark

 

[biggins]

i would get a regular 20 inch. he is gonna grow quickly and it will take no time to grow into it unless you would like to buy another bike in a year.

 

[PaulE]

you can get 20" bikes designed for kids. not many, but they do exist. The Commencal Schoole is one, but I don't know if they make it anymore. Another one I've heard is good is a Dirt Brothers Shortbus (but That's a frame only, so would probably be pretty costly by the time you've built it)

Specialized do am "expert" (ie shorter) version of one of their Fuse bikes too.

 

[knucklebutt]

I would try the Hoffman 18/20.
Comes with 18's but will accept 20's when you are ready.

 

[pnj]

I second the hoffman bike. even a flatland frame with 20 inch wheels would be too large for a little little kid.

flatland frames are around 17-19.25 inches for the top tube length. most dirt jumping/street bike frames are 20-21 inch top tubes.

the hoffman, as mentioned, comes with smaller wheels making the bike smaller of course. when the child grows you can switch out the wheels for 20 inch ones and not have to buy an complete new bike.

I have seen a number of little little kids riding these bikes and they seem to have no problem with the bike being too large.

danscomp.com has them if you want to check em out online.

 

[Echo]

Here's a third vote for the Hoffman 18/20.

 

[MMcG]

What bike is that on their web site though?

I'm not seeing it.

 

[pnj]

HOFFMAN CONDOR 18 INCH #101343 $229.99

I think that is it. that's from the danscomp site.

 

[PaulE]

do they still make the 18/20? seen nothing about it in this year's catalogue. It looks like they do the 18" version (mentioned above) but no mention of 20" wheels.

This was in the british catalogue though, so it may just be that the don't export the 18/20

 

[Zippy357]

Yea Ive seen the hofman looks cool, that's my pick

 

[knucklebutt]

Just keep in mind your son should be riding the bike, not the bike riding him. That is what I try to keep in mind when making bike choices for my son.

Attached is a photo of my son jumping his Haro 16 inch backtrail at skate barn last summer when he was 7. We plan to move up soon to the Hoffman 18/20 or Diamondback mini lucky.

Have fun!!

 

[FlashBullit]

i agree hoffman makes very good bike that out profrom most other bikes, i would make sure the bike is light so that hes can have more contral in the air.

Dont worry that is spelled wrong!!!

 

[Yanick]

if you kid is not a tall boy for his age, go with a 20" junior. the frame is bit smaller than a standard one. Than in 2-3 year get a new one. I believe if you go with the Hoffman 18/20, the boy will get limitated too fast (matters of week or month)

Get him a real bike.

 

[Yanick]

Originally posted by FlashBullit
i agree hoffman makes very good bike that out profrom most other bikes, i would make sure the bike is light so that hes can have more contral in the air.

sorry here, Hoffman and light are two word that can't go in the same paragraph.
Or things have change recently.

 

[pnj]

Originally posted by Yanick
if you kid is not a tall boy for his age, go with a 20" junior. the frame is bit smaller than a standard one. Than in 2-3 year get a new one. I believe if you go with the Hoffman 18/20, the boy will get limitated too fast (matters of week or month)

Get him a real bike.

I was under the impression that the 18/20 thing was a real bike. it comes w/ 18 inch wheels for the smaller/younger kid. when they grow a tad you simply swap out the rims for 20 inch ones.

waaLa. real bike.

and seeing as how we are now defining 'real bike' as 20 inch bmx bikes, you people must sell your fake bikes with shocks and stuff on them.

 

[pnj]

Originally posted by knucklebutt
Just keep in mind your son should be riding the bike, not the bike riding him. That is what I try to keep in mind when making bike choices for my son.

Attached is a photo of my son jumping his Haro 16 inch backtrail at skate barn last summer when he was 7. We plan to move up soon to the Hoffman 18/20 or Diamondback mini lucky.

Have fun!!

is that the kid with red hair? I was at the barn once and there was two LITTLE kids there. one with red hair (I think) on a yellow bike and one smaller kid. they were so funny. one kept asking me if I wanted to watch him do stuff. like go down the giant roll in and stuff. I'm like "have you done it before?" thinking, I don't want to see this little kid get hurt. he's like "no problem, watch!" rolls right down the thing.

I said something about never jumping the box before and he's like "it's easy, follow me!"
great attitude they both had.

 

[knucklebutt]

No its not the kid with the red hair But he was probably the smaller one.

 

[MMcG]

Thanks for all the info guys. Liam will probably get this bike for his 8th birthday and he's tall for his age. I gotta find out just how tall he is right now. But my guess is that he'll be at least 6'2" tall when he's grown up. I think he gets the tall genes from his Mother's side since I'm 5'9" and the second tallest of four sons.

I like the guy who quoted saying that Liam will be riding the bike not the other way around. Good point!

Take care,

Mark