# B'Twin Rockrider 500 Kids' 24 inch



## Phaeton (28 Aug 2018)

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-500-mountain-bike-id_8392443.html

Thinking of getting this for my grandson, only thing I don't like is that it has twist grip gear change rather than lever change. Does it matter & am I projecting my own preference, Decathlon do the next bike up with levers but it adds another £80 which is too much for a bike that he'll grow out of in 2 years


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## dantheman (28 Aug 2018)

I think your projecting your own preference, and he probably wouldn't care or know any better.. 


I say know any better though as I completely agree and vowed never to buy a bike with them, so personally it would put me off also


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## Phaeton (13 Nov 2018)

Okay just returning to this the closer we get to wallet emptying season, my grandson is 130cm tall with an inside leg of 30cm, the 300 is designed for kids 135cm tall, but the next model down the 300 is only up to 135cm, will the 500 be too big, it's one of those things ideally I don't want to take him to try it.

All alternatives welcome


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## Broadside (13 Nov 2018)

I would avoid twist shift, small hands often are not strong enough to change gears. My kids all struggled with twist shift but are fine with trigger shifters. 

With twist shift it has been a right pain in the past while out on rides having to pull over at the bottom of hills to change down, but they can usually change up by themselves.


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## Phaeton (13 Nov 2018)

Broadside said:


> I would avoid twist shift, small hands often are not strong enough to change gears. My kids all struggled with twist shift but are fine with trigger shifters.


But trying to find a kids bike seems harder than getting a consciousness in the Tory government about Brexit.


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## User76022 (14 Nov 2018)

My 9 year old son has grown to hate his twist grip gears on his current bike. If he shifts his weight around he keeps accidentally knocking it. He's getting the kids Rockrider 700 next. It's 230 quid I think which for alloy frame, disk brakes, and 24 gears on triggers is quite a decent spec for the price. Only thing I suspicious of on it is the suspension fork. They don't publish any details and in the pic it looks like pogo stick forks to me. I'm going to have a drive out at some point to actually see it in the flesh.


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## Phaeton (14 Nov 2018)

User76022 said:


> My 9 year old son has grown to hate his twist grip gears on his current bike. If he shifts his weight around he keeps accidentally knocking it. He's getting the kids Rockrider 700 next. It's 230 quid I think which for alloy frame, disk brakes, and 24 gears on triggers is quite a decent spec for the price. Only thing I suspicious of on it is the suspension fork. They don't publish any details and in the pic it looks like pogo stick forks to me. I'm going to have a drive out at some point to actually see it in the flesh.


Can I ask how tall is he, mine is just inbetween at 130cm, bit loathe to buy him a 20" if he's going to outgrow in 12 months, but don't want to buy 24" if it's going to be too big.


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## User76022 (14 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Can I ask how tall is he, mine is just inbetween at 130cm, bit loathe to buy him a 20" if he's going to outgrow in 12 months, but don't want to buy 24" if it's going to be too big.


My lad is about 135 cm.

He's on a bike with 20 inch wheels now and he's about outgrown it. 

My suggestion, unless it's a surprise, would be to go down to halfords to try bikes on for size, before ordering cheaper online.


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## Phaeton (14 Nov 2018)

User76022 said:


> My suggestion, unless it's a surprise,


Unfortunately so, at 7 he's at the age where's he's not too sure if Santa still exists but no point in blowing the illusion


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## User76022 (14 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Unfortunately so, at 7 he's at the age where's he's not too sure if Santa still exists but no point in blowing the illusion


My son was 7 when I got him his current bike, which has 20 inch wheels. 

I think the unavoidable and inescapable truth is that at this age, kids grow so fast that a new bike will only last 2 or 3 years regardless of what we choose. That's if they even last that long, being routinely bounced up kerbs or dropped on the floor etc.


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## Milkfloat (14 Nov 2018)

My son is 132cm about riding a 24" bike, which unfortunately weighs 14.5 kg, for his birthday he will be getting one of these.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-24-kids-bike/rp-prod168788


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## nickAKA (14 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-500-mountain-bike-id_8392443.html
> 
> Thinking of getting this for my grandson, only thing I don't like is that it has twist grip gear change rather than lever change. Does it matter & am I projecting my own preference, Decathlon do the next bike up with levers but it adds another £80 which is too much for a bike that he'll grow out of in 2 years



I've been umming-&-ahhing about a new bike for my daughter for months, she's 6 going on 7 but quite tall for her age so settled on 24" wheels to try to get the max value out of the purchase. What put me off the decathlon range was the weight and the twist shifters - I wouldn't buy that for myself so why should I buy it for her?



Milkfloat said:


> My son is 132cm about riding a 24" bike, which unfortunately weighs 14.5 kg, for his birthday he will be getting one of these.
> 
> https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-24-kids-bike/rp-prod168788



This was the bike I had decided on initially, but they only had it in black when I was ready to order so had a rethink.

Therefore I did what many of us mugs do, I bought a frog.
Negatives - 

expensive initial purchase with very little discount if any (goes against the grain!)
Positives - 

absolutely the correct spec
light
good resale value
choice of colours(!)
0% interest at wheelbase, countering the negatives
There's no real moral to this story, just adding grist to the mill!


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## Phaeton (14 Nov 2018)

nickAKA said:


> There's no real moral to this story, just adding grist to the mill!


No moral required, feedback welcome, do you have a link, I have no idea what a frog is apart from something greeny brown that lives in our pond


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## Milkfloat (14 Nov 2018)

My son’s previous bike was a Frog. 20” wheels, so he has now grown out of it. I need to list it for sale, no good for @Phaeton as it will be just a bit too small.


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## nickAKA (15 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> No moral required, feedback welcome, do you have a link, I have no idea what a frog is apart from something greeny brown that lives in our pond



https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/bikes-frames/frog-62-frog62/

I went for orange as it's suitable for a boy or girl... Full disclosure, FedEx lost the first one, replacement due to arrive today...

EDIT: it's arrived (TF)
Forgot it comes with 2 sets of tyres, slick tyres are on it plus mudguards which is a bonus, sorry no pics, dropped it at parents to hide for the next ~6 weeks...


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## Reynard (16 Nov 2018)

User76022 said:


> My 9 year old son has grown to hate his twist grip gears on his current bike. If he shifts his weight around he keeps accidentally knocking it. He's getting the kids Rockrider 700 next. It's 230 quid I think which for alloy frame, disk brakes, and 24 gears on triggers is quite a decent spec for the price. Only thing I suspicious of on it is the suspension fork. They don't publish any details and in the pic it looks like pogo stick forks to me. I'm going to have a drive out at some point to actually see it in the flesh.



I'm 4ft 11 (yeah, I know LOL) and I tried ones of these in Decathlon recently - just out of curiosity, you know, as an N+1 is in the offing and was playing around with possible options.

To be fair, I felt a little cramped on it (the smallest adult bikes are too big), but my impression was that it was like trying to ride a blancmange. Every time you touch the brakes, the front end porpoises really badly. Didn't inspire confidence at all.

FWIW, I've never ridden a bike with a suspension fork before, so not entirely sure if this was how it was supposed to ride. But I'd have expected the front fork to be compliant, but much stiffer. Bad set-up, perhaps?

If you want a bike with trigger shifters, how about Wiggins Chartres? I'm about to spring for a 26. It has a rigid front fork, though, and costs more than the Rockrider.


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## User76022 (16 Nov 2018)

Reynard said:


> Bad set-up, perhaps?


Does the fork have adjustable preload? It would be nice if it does, and would certainly be a potential reason for feeling spongy if it's set too soft, but in the pics I saw on their website I couldn't tell.


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## Reynard (16 Nov 2018)

User76022 said:


> Does the fork have adjustable preload? It would be nice if it does, and would certainly be a potential reason for feeling spongy if it's set too soft, but in the pics I saw on their website I couldn't tell.



I didn't look, I'm afraid...


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## subaqua (16 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> But trying to find a kids bike seems harder than getting a consciousness in the Tory government about Brexit.



How desperate are you to get it ? My boy is almost grown out of his , he coped with twist OK . You would be welcome to it for a donation to a cycle charity . It’s clean ish , not been abused no idea where in U.K. you are though so collection /delivery might be a pain


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## Phaeton (17 Nov 2018)

subaqua said:


> How desperate are you to get it ? My boy is almost grown out of his , he coped with twist OK . You would be welcome to it for a donation to a cycle charity . It’s clean ish , not been abused no idea where in U.K. you are though so collection /delivery might be a pain


Thank you for the generous offer, it's going to be a Christmas Present, we went out today to have a look around & called in at gooutdoors, they have the wise range with proper shifters rather than twist ones, unfortunately they didn't have any 24" ones in https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/wild-bikes-24-kids-bike-p454069


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## subaqua (17 Nov 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Thank you for the generous offer, it's going to be a Christmas Present, we went out today to have a look around & called in at gooutdoors, they have the wise range with proper shifters rather than twist ones, unfortunately they didn't have any 24" ones in https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/wild-bikes-24-kids-bike-p454069




Well I hope you find what you want .


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## Milkfloat (18 Nov 2018)

In the end I went for the Wild Bike 24 as it claims to be lighter than the Vitus and even the Isla bike and I could use my scout leader discount. Should arrive in about a week. The Frog 55 has gone on eBay.


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## Phaeton (7 Dec 2018)

Just to update, I ended up buying the Wild bike https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/wild-bikes-24-kids-bike-p454082 they were doing an offer around Black Friday they were doing them for £192 which I still think is far too expensive. I went with this one due to the height of the top rail, I felt the others were a bit high in the event of him coming off, also the short reach brake levers.


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## Reynard (24 Dec 2018)

User76022 said:


> Does the fork have adjustable preload? It would be nice if it does, and would certainly be a potential reason for feeling spongy if it's set too soft, but in the pics I saw on their website I couldn't tell.



I had a closer look this time, and yes, there is adjustment on the front fork.

Suspect the one I tried first time was badly set up / knackered from the kids mucking about with it, because I had another play previous week and actually, it came across as not that bad a bike when the fork was on its stiffest setting.


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## Phaeton (31 Dec 2018)

First ride out with the Grandson today a nice little 7 miles, need to lift the seat a smidge as his knees come over the horizontal & the bell fell to pieces, not too happy with the pedals may have to look at replacements, I noticed his feet coming off a few times.


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## Phaeton (24 Feb 2019)

Milkfloat said:


> In the end I went for the Wild Bike 24 as it claims to be lighter than the Vitus and even the Isla bike and I could use my scout leader discount. Should arrive in about a week. The Frog 55 has gone on eBay.


Have you sorted a rear mudguard out? been looking for a suitable one for the grandson


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## Milkfloat (24 Feb 2019)

Phaeton said:


> Have you sorted a rear mudguard out? been looking for a suitable one for the grandson



I used SKS Velo, they would have rubbed with knobbly tyres, but I am using slicks.


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