More Noob questions

[gmcunni]

fwiw, my son has a $150 FS POS we got at Target or Toys-R-Us when he was 10. He's 14 now and needs a new bike. We'll be upgrading him for Christmas this year to a decent HT. Probably a Trek 3800 (granted, some people would not consider the 3800 "decent").

he's riding the POS here

 

[Beetlenut]

fwiw, my son has a $150 FS POS we got at Target or Toys-R-Us when he was 10. He's 14 now and needs a new bike. We'll be upgrading him for Christmas this year to a decent HT. Probably a Trek 3800 (granted, some people would not consider the 3800 "decent").

he's riding the POS here

When he was 10, did you get a 20" or go with a 24" bike? I'd like to go with the 24" bike so he has a year or more to ride it.

 

[Marc]

What about the front fork suspensions on the low end HT's? Are they also nothing more than springs inside tubes, or is there some dampening in those? What are some decent brands of low ent HT's?

Almost all front suspension forks have oil bath dampers. The quality, adjustability and longevity will depend somewhat on the price you pay.

The difference between super cheap and mid low end forks will be weight and the mid to low end may use coil springs where the cheap one will use elastomers.

 

[gmcunni]

When he was 10, did you get a 20" or go with a 24" bike? I'd like to go with the 24" bike so he has a year or more to ride it.

don't recall. I looked at the bike quickly before leaving the house this morning and didn't see a size on it. I'll take a closer look this weekend.

 

[gorgonzola]

When he was 10, did you get a 20" or go with a 24" bike? I'd like to go with the 24" bike so he has a year or more to ride it.

I have a 10 yo also and he's riding a 24" on the trails, 20" would be too small unless he's a really small kid. my boy's actually riding his sisters mtb for this season just because i didn't want to spend the money for another bike for just one year as he's pretty tall and will need a 26" tire with a small frame next year. you can get a decent kids ht for around $250 new - trek, giant, gt etc. there's also usually alot of good used deals on ebay, craigslist, local swap etc. definately no reason for a kid to ride fs unless he's racing competitive downhill or something. its' a blast riding with the kids - and don't forget October 4 is take a kid mtb'ing day !

http://www.imba.com/resources/kids/index.html