This was delivered today for my 6 year old son. He learned to pedal without training wheels 3 weeks ago. Is it too much bike for a kid that just figured out pedaling without training wheels? Yes, but he earned it with outstanding behavior at home and school, excellent marks on his report card, and meeting the riding goals I had set for him a month ahead of the schedule. We rode 7 miles together last Saturday, he set the pace and I followed. An impressive distance I thought on a 12" wheel toddlers bike.
It is a little bit big for him, I'm short 5'6", my wife is short 5'3", my 6 year old is the size of an average 5 year old, but he would outgrow a 16" bike which fits him perfect faster than my wallet could keep up with, and I won't throw away money on a Wally World\Target special just for a proper fit. He will have 3-4 years in this bike which made the price justifiable.
After he achieved all goals set for him ahead of schedule and looking at every 20" mtb $500 and under, I narrowed my choices down to this and the Specialized RipRock 20 since he wanted disk brakes like daddy's bike has. Priced $50 more than the Specialized it comes with Altus derailleur and trigger shifter opposed to the RipRocks Tourney with Revo Grip shift, which is not a big step up, but is a step up and no grip shift that he found difficult on the bikes we had him try out. Also it has a rigid fork (I view this as a plus for a learning child), weighs under 20lbs, and has hydraulic disks rather than cable disks making it easier for little hands to pull the levers to stop. The wheels are also tubeless ready. For a $50 price difference from the Specialized, it seemed a logical choice for me.
After assembling it today, I am extremely pleased with the quality of this bike for the price. He spent about 20 minutes on it this evening and I watched his confidence level rise with each pedal stroke. I'm taking him to a low traffic paved bike path this weekend to increase his confidence and make sure that he fully understands braking and shifting. Next weekend I will introduce him to the dirt trails that he keeps asking to ride!
My wife also just learned to ride a bike 3 weeks ago. She has my 17 year old Trek hardtail for now. We have been enjoying family rides around the neighborhood with the end game plan being family rides on local bike park single track as a continuing effort for this dad to get well under his current Clyde weight and in shape rather than round shape.
It is a little bit big for him, I'm short 5'6", my wife is short 5'3", my 6 year old is the size of an average 5 year old, but he would outgrow a 16" bike which fits him perfect faster than my wallet could keep up with, and I won't throw away money on a Wally World\Target special just for a proper fit. He will have 3-4 years in this bike which made the price justifiable.
After he achieved all goals set for him ahead of schedule and looking at every 20" mtb $500 and under, I narrowed my choices down to this and the Specialized RipRock 20 since he wanted disk brakes like daddy's bike has. Priced $50 more than the Specialized it comes with Altus derailleur and trigger shifter opposed to the RipRocks Tourney with Revo Grip shift, which is not a big step up, but is a step up and no grip shift that he found difficult on the bikes we had him try out. Also it has a rigid fork (I view this as a plus for a learning child), weighs under 20lbs, and has hydraulic disks rather than cable disks making it easier for little hands to pull the levers to stop. The wheels are also tubeless ready. For a $50 price difference from the Specialized, it seemed a logical choice for me.
After assembling it today, I am extremely pleased with the quality of this bike for the price. He spent about 20 minutes on it this evening and I watched his confidence level rise with each pedal stroke. I'm taking him to a low traffic paved bike path this weekend to increase his confidence and make sure that he fully understands braking and shifting. Next weekend I will introduce him to the dirt trails that he keeps asking to ride!
My wife also just learned to ride a bike 3 weeks ago. She has my 17 year old Trek hardtail for now. We have been enjoying family rides around the neighborhood with the end game plan being family rides on local bike park single track as a continuing effort for this dad to get well under his current Clyde weight and in shape rather than round shape.
And I agree with you on the need for wider availability of some decent air fork options at a reasonable price. 99% of what you see on these kids bikes is heavy, garbage "suspension" forks. That is one of the big reasons I went with Orbea over some of the other options. There are a few 20" air fork options, but most of them are as costly as the initial bike purchase or near impossible to find. I really wish Suntour would release a 20" version of their XCR LO Air. I could justify dropping an additional $150 on the bike, but there is no way I could get my wife to even consider spending $445 on something like a Brood air fork on a bike my son may use for three years. 
