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Mountain bike for 50" tall skinny kid

Tricia

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My nephew is skinny, and on the small side for his age.
My sister wants to get him a nice bike for Christmas (not a walmart bike) and felt like the first sales person she talked to at a real bike shop was pushing her in the wrong direction in the hopes of selling her what he happened to have.
She's not "anti-sales person" but she feels she just happened to get the wrong guy at the time, or perhaps they just don't have inventory.
So, she's asking me for advice in the hopes of going to a few shops with some solid information.

He's 50" tall and 50 lbs.
Give me some ideas to pass on to her and if anyone here sells bikes willing to ship something appropriate in her direction (Traverse City Michigan) let me know.

This is him in one of our XS women's 1/4 zips, goofing off.

imagejpeg_0.jpg
 
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martyg

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Contact your local NICA person. What you speced is a bit small, but you may luck out in being connected with a family with racing kids. Their season wrapped up, so there may be bikes around.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I'm guessing that she'll need to be looking for a 24" bike for his size.
 

martyg

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I'm guessing that she'll need to be looking for a 24" bike for his size.
Hit up Levi at Durango DEVO. 600 kids in their mtn bike program here. Most are families with garages stuffed with bikes. Mountain Bike Specialists on Main Ave can ship.
 

scott43

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You may consider the need for gearing too. Does he really need a front derailleur? How is he going to ride? I just got my older boy a six speed alu MTB. $400 and pretty competent. With kids use is important. Some just ride around the hood and throw them on the ground.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Because he lives in northern Michigan, he won't likely get much riding time in until spring or summer, so I'm thinking a 24" would be ideal, however its easy for me to think about these things in the bike shop with the kid standing there. Hard for me to picture him and a bike size without being in his presence.
Why I was hoping for some advice from the tribe.
I told her to look for something like this.
 

scott43

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Don't put much stock in a suspension fork. At that price point they're crap and weigh a ton. And does he REALLLLLY need it???? For kids, they're light and strong and flexible. This kind of simplicity is the best thing I think, in my humble opinion.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Don't put much stock in a suspension fork. At that price point they're crap and weigh a ton. And does he REALLLLLY need it???? For kids, they're light and strong and flexible. This kind of simplicity is the best thing I think, in my humble opinion.
Coincidently I sent her a link to that Trek as well.

Since I've taken two seasons off from working at the bike shop in the summer, I'm feeling a little befuddled by what's out there in this range.
 

scott43

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My older boy is 6 and 49" tall. He's on a 20" mtb now. I suspect he'll have to move up to 24" next year or the year after. Thank god for hand-me-downs! :) I won't look at suspension bikes for him for another few years. He's pretty good though, he likes riding. Based on his height, I'm pretty confident he'll be taller than me by age 12.... :ogbiggrin::(
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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My older boy is 6 and 49" tall. He's on a 20" mtb now. I suspect he'll have to move up to 24" next year or the year after. Thank god for hand-me-downs! :) I won't look at suspension bikes for him for another few years. He's pretty good though, he likes riding. Based on his height, I'm pretty confident he'll be taller than me by age 12.... :ogbiggrin::(
This is helpful.
My nephew is 8 (9 years old next August) and 50" tall, so yeah...he's small for his age.
I suspect that he's going to have a growth spurt soon which is why I'm steering her toward a 24"
 

graham418

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When my boy was that size, I got him a Trek Mountain Lion. It was in late 90's, so I imagine there is something newer along the same lines. No suspension, but some decent alloy parts , half decent deraillers , brakes, etc., and not totally crap. The big thing was 24" wheels, because it was too big a jump for the boy to go from 20" to 26". It did well in bridging that gap until he grew into a full size bike. Just like ski gear, you don't want to put him on stuff too big and wait for them to grow into it. More so with a bike, where too big can mean dangerous control issues
 

scott43

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When my boy was that size, I got him a Trek Mountain Lion. It was in late 90's, so I imagine there is something newer along the same lines. No suspension, but some decent alloy parts , half decent deraillers , brakes, etc., and not totally crap. The big thing was 24" wheels, because it was too big a jump for the boy to go from 20" to 26". It did well in bridging that gap until he grew into a full size bike. Just like ski gear, you don't want to put him on stuff too big and wait for them to grow into it. More so with a bike, where too big can mean dangerous control issues
Spot on.
 

socalgal

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We are in the process of looking for a 24inch bike too. Going to go to our LBS this afternoon and see what is in stock. I think they carry Rocky Mountain for the kids. Anyone familiar with those? I do like that Wahoo Trek. There's one used for sale nearby too, but with a suspension fork. Overall weight is factor for me. Her current bike is 19.5 lbs. So not that big of a jump to the Trek at 21.11 lbs. I can't find the weight for the Rocky Mountain bikes.

For context, our kid currently has a Priority Start 20in, which we liked bc 1) super lightweight; 2) nice intro to gears being a 3 speed; 3) belt drive, so no mess or fuss. Her previous bikes were used Hotrocks (16 and 12in) and a balance bike. She has outgrown her 20in in both height and power.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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We are in the process of looking for a 24inch bike too. Going to go to our LBS this afternoon and see what is in stock. I think they carry Rocky Mountain for the kids. Anyone familiar with those? I do like that Wahoo Trek. There's one used for sale nearby too, but with a suspension fork. Overall weight is factor for me. Her current bike is 19.5 lbs. So not that big of a jump to the Trek at 21.11 lbs. I can't find the weight for the Rocky Mountain bikes.

For context, our kid currently has a Priority Start 20in, which we liked bc 1) super lightweight; 2) nice intro to gears being a 3 speed; 3) belt drive, so no mess or fuss. Her previous bikes were used Hotrocks (16 and 12in) and a balance bike. She has outgrown her 20in in both height and power.
How tall is she now?
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I posted this in the MTB thread, thought I'd update here too.
We helped my sister buy him a good used bike from McClain Cycle last fall when we were visiting family.
24 inch Specialized, Hotrock(IIRC)

They didn't have anything that was the ideal size because he was between 20 and 24. Knowing he was going into the winter months and would grow a bit before he had a chance to really ride it, we went up a little in size.

He got to go to a bike clinic for kids last week.
I'm really glad she got him into a clinic. I think he'll get a lot out of learning with kids his size/age.
According to my sister, he's grown 3 inches and dropped 2 lbs in weight. He is one seriously skinny kid.

Photo taken 9/29/2022
IMG_2752.jpeg


Screenshot of his camp last week.
Lukas bike camp.png
 
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