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Submitted by
Steve
a
from Santa Fe, NM
Date Reviewed: November 13, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Windsor | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$200.00 | | Purchased At: | Albq. Cycle Cave | | Strengths: | Decent components and the lightest 20" kids bike on the market at the time, durable and functional and the kids thing it looks cool.
| | Weaknesses: | Ground clearance and the shock is a little stiff. Don't know how you could fix the clearance problem and still allow the rider to touch the ground when stopped, but my kids when riding easy off road trails would occasionaly hit a pedal on the ground or a rock, which can cause them to lose balance. They eventually learned, like the rest of us, to keep the pedals level on decents. | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Hot Rock, Trek Jr. bike. | | Bike Setup: | All original except a brass bell, a gel seat cover and I changed the 7 speed free wheel hub to one with a 30 tooth bail out granny gear. We live where there are quite a few hills and this helped them tremendously. | | Bottom Line: | I feel kind of stupid writing a review for a kids bike, but I feel compelled to give Marin some credit here. They actually thought about a kid rider when designing this thing. First, I figure a kid doesn't need full suspension due to the weight factor. This bike is the lightest bike on the market of its kind at just over 24 lbs. Most kids bikes are in the 30lb + range and I just doesn't make sense for a 70lb kid kid to to push/pedal a heavy 30lb metal thing around. As an experienced 170lb rider, I don't ride a 30lb bike, why should they when they are just trying to learn?
We've owned this bike for 5 years now, and both my boys learned to ride trails on it, which is a testimony to its design. While the ground clearance is low causing frequent pedal bashing, the center of gravity is also low, making it easy to the rubber side down on unpaved trails. The mid to low range components work fine with little to no adjustments and have held up to 2 boys abuse, crashing, dropping the bike on its derailleur, crashing, jumping off of curbs, crashing, etc., the tires are even in good shape after lots of skidding too. It's been a good bike, but they've out grown it so I have to sell it.
I'd recommend this bike to anyone who wants to introduce their kids to the joy of cycling on a REAL bike, to use gears, and ride unpaved trails. For the money, it was a great value. Don't buy it if you think $200 is too much to spend on your kid. Buy a $50 Wal-Mart bike; you'll get what you pay for - heavy junk that won't last. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
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$ 309.00
