[jahkneefive]

So my 5yr old has outgrown his woom 2 and now I'm torn on whether to do a 16 or skip up to the 20. He is 43" tall, but has a 18" inseam(I blame my wife and her long torso/short legs). I was looking at the Spawn Yoji, which looks like it would fit him perfect. The issue being it also looks like he will outgrown in in 6 months as well. He is good on min height for the 20", but the min inseam is 19". He has been riding without training wheels since last summer and has been doing pump tracks and mild trails without issue, but still struggles a bit with higher speed or bumpy downhills(overall bike control) I'm not exactly thrilled about plopping down $420 for a bike to last 6 months, but then again I don't want to oversize his bike and give him confident issues. I've looked through the threads to try to get some pointers, but would appreciate some additional advice as well.

The other issues is I'm not interested in a cheap 16" bike as he has gotten used to the lighter weight and the dual hand brakes. He never got the hang of coasters.

 

[TimTucker]

My thoughts:

- The Woom 2 specs say the max seat height is 19.09", which is pretty close to the minimum height on the 20" Yama Jama / Raiju. You could try putting the seat all the way up on his current bike and see how he does.

- If you've decided for sure on what you're going to get for 20", there's probably not too much lost in getting that first and giving it a go. If it seems to be working out, you've only bought 1 bike. If it doesn't seem to be working, you can get the smaller size and put the 20" aside until he's ready.

- With a shorter inseam, you'll probably want shorter cranks if you go to 20" now (Raiju comes with 127mm / Yama Yama comes with 130mm) -- you'll probably want something closer to the 102mm that comes stock on the Yoji 16.

- Depending on what your local market is like (or if you're willing to sell online & ship), you should be able to get back at least some of your initial investment if you do get the 16".

 

[CeUnit]

As a data point to consider, my 5yo (18.5" inseam/41.5" tall) has been riding a Spawn Savage 2.0 (old version of Yama Jama) this spring with stock cranks and no issues, and with the seatpost set with about 1" of tube showing. He'll ride down a short staircase or a green downhill mtn bike on it with confidence.

10 spd transmission has been awesome for climbing - something only found on 20" or larger bikes. He figured out how to shift in a couple days. I did rotate the trigger shifter up so it's super easy to reach and he essentially lets go with the right hand and pushes on the lever to shift to a larger cog while riding.

He's no longer interested in his Spawn Banshee (old version of Yoji 16) which he rode all last year. My older son also transitioned to 20" at a similar inseam/height.

One approach is to buy the 20" now since he'll eventually need it. There's no way he can skip from a 16" to a 24". If it ends up being too early for 20", then drop the $ for a 16" (preferably used, cuz I suspect the 20" will work out very soon). Good luck!

 

[BikePilot1]

I'd go a 20" bike and put some short cranks on it. 105mm should be about right. Helium racing has good info and formulas for crank length.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[nwa bike dad]

So my 5yr old has outgrown his woom 2 and now I'm torn on whether to do a 16 or skip up to the 20. He is 43" tall, but has a 18" inseam(I blame my wife and her long torso/short legs). I was looking at the Spawn Yoji, which looks like it would fit him perfect. The issue being it also looks like he will outgrown in in 6 months as well. He is good on min height for the 20", but the min inseam is 19". He has been riding without training wheels since last summer and has been doing pump tracks and mild trails without issue, but still struggles a bit with higher speed or bumpy downhills(overall bike control) I'm not exactly thrilled about plopping down $420 for a bike to last 6 months, but then again I don't want to oversize his bike and give him confident issues. I've looked through the threads to try to get some pointers, but would appreciate some additional advice as well.

The other issues is I'm not interested in a cheap 16" bike as he has gotten used to the lighter weight and the dual hand brakes. He never got the hang of coasters.

The obvious question is sizing, but something other to consider is how you will use it. If it purely pump track and skills park, the 16" is perfect. Those bikes are made to seem small. Our 8 year old rides a 16" BMX bike. The Yoji doesn't have gears and will be virtually impossible to climb anything but a very mild incline. My middle has both a 16" Yoji which she uses at the bike parks and a 20" for anything of distance or climbing. We could get a large chunk of it back if we sold them tomorrow.

FWIW, Flow makes a frame that can turn a 20" into a 24" bike if you are worried about going through bikes that quickly. Believe they also have a 16/20 version.

16" on a pump track if you do that often will work wonders. a 16" BMX bike will last years.