# 24" Bike Comparison Test: Cleary vs Specialized Hotrock



## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

I've posted a comparison test of the new 24" Cleary Meerkat vs the Specialized Hotrock 24 7-speed at: 24" Kids Bike Comparison Test: Cleary Meerkat vs Specialized Hotrock 24 7-speed ? DIRT MERCHANT BIKES

*A brief summary of the review:* Wow, my son is unbelievably fast on this bike. If you had asked me before he got this bike whether a bike could make a difference in how fast kids can ride, I would have absolutely have said no way. Well, I'm now a believer and the difference is frame geometry, not weight. My son is about twice as fast (perhaps 30-40% faster if you want to be precise) going both uphill and downhill on the new Cleary Meerkat bike than he was riding a Specialized Hotrock on the same trails.

With Rocket Ron tires & SR Suntour XCR Air fork added as upgrades:


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## Derek200 (Jun 16, 2015)

It's a pretty bike. I ended up getting my little guy a 20 inch RipRock. I love the plus tires on there for him!

But alas - I broke a rib earlier this week so am unable to get him out on the trails yet


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## POAH (Apr 29, 2009)

head angles are really quite steep and surprisingly long CS for a 24 inch bike on the cleary


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## a63vette (Jun 23, 2006)

Great looking bike


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## wilcox510 (May 21, 2006)

I've been looking at the Meerkat for my son as well. What do you think of the thumb shifter? Kind of different...


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

wilcox510 said:


> I've been looking at the Meerkat for my son as well. What do you think of the thumb shifter? Kind of different...


Just got some feedback on this straight from the source. The thumb shifter was intruding too far into the grips and not leaving enough room for my son's hand to fit comfortably. I moved the thumb shifter further inboard which has alleviated that problem. My son says that he is able to shift with his hand on the grip. I'm not totally satisfied with the thumb shifter but I am also finding it works better than I expected after I moved it inboard.

I'm considering switching to a Shimano 10 speed shifter and 11-36 cassette for both better ergonomics and lower gears, but it was clearly more on the nice to have end than the right tires and the air fork.


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## 5Styles (Nov 3, 2015)

wilcox510 said:


> I've been looking at the Meerkat for my son as well. What do you think of the thumb shifter? Kind of different...


Bought the Meerkat for my 11 yr old daughter and she absolutely loves it. Wasn't thrilled with the thumb shifter so I swapped it out for a Deore 9 speed shifter. Can't wait to get her out on the trails.


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

Spectre said:


> Just got some feedback on this straight from the source. The thumb shifter was intruding too far into the grips and not leaving enough room for my son's hand to fit comfortably. I moved the thumb shifter further inboard which has alleviated that problem. My son says that he is able to shift with his hand on the grip. I'm not totally satisfied with the thumb shifter but I am also finding it works better than I expected after I moved it inboard.
> 
> I'm considering switching to a Shimano 10 speed shifter and 11-36 cassette for both better ergonomics and lower gears, but it was clearly more on the nice to have end than the right tires and the air fork.


*I switched my sons Hotrock to shimano slx 10 sp shifters/ derailleur and cassette with 11-36 and it helped his climbing immensely has no problem shifting, those Clearys look pretty cool but Im a little worried about the non replaceable derailleur hanger you know how kids love to bash their derailleur *


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## GSJ1973 (May 8, 2011)

Rakuman said:


> * Im a little worried about the non replaceable derailleur hanger you know how kids love to bash their derailleur *


This frame is steel right? The beauty of a steel frame is you can typically just bend it right back into place if it does bend.


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

GSJ1973 said:


> This frame is steel right? The beauty of a steel frame is you can typically just bend it right back into place if it does bend.


I second that. I had pretzeled the hanger on a steel frame when my derailleur got sucked into a wheel after a crash and it bent right back into place. I think replaceable hangers only came about when aluminium frames came into fashion.


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

Spectre said:


> I second that. I had pretzeled the hanger on a steel frame when my derailleur got sucked into a wheel after a crash and it bent right back into place. I think replaceable hangers only came about when aluminium frames came into fashion.


*awe didn't realize its a steel frame I was thinking it was aluminum like a hot rock. 
*


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## hans2vt (Jun 12, 2010)

So you bought an expensive 24" bike, upgraded it further and you compared it to a cheaper non upgraded specialized? Not that you want to spend the money, but it would be good to compare an upgraded specialized. Tires and fork make a big different. Air fork vs heavy specialized stock fork. 

I did appreciate the review though! My 8 year old is on a 24" 2008 specialized 24 which I have done some work to, and you may have inspired me to do some more work. Air fork, good tires, slacken head angle...


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

hans2vt said:


> So you bought an expensive 24" bike, upgraded it further and you compared it to a cheaper non upgraded specialized? Not that you want to spend the money, but it would be good to compare an upgraded specialized. Tires and fork make a big different. Air fork vs heavy specialized stock fork.
> 
> I did appreciate the review though! My 8 year old is on a 24" 2008 specialized 24 which I have done some work to, and you may have inspired me to do some more work. Air fork, good tires, slacken head angle...


*Might be a better comparison if he rode my sons Hotrock *


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

hans2vt said:


> So you bought an expensive 24" bike, upgraded it further and you compared it to a cheaper non upgraded specialized? Not that you want to spend the money, but it would be good to compare an upgraded specialized. Tires and fork make a big different. Air fork vs heavy specialized stock fork.
> 
> I did appreciate the review though! My 8 year old is on a 24" 2008 specialized 24 which I have done some work to, and you may have inspired me to do some more work. Air fork, good tires, slacken head angle...


Nope, the Specialized was upgraded as well with the same Rocket Ron tires & a SR Suntour air fork. The main difference I found was the handling of the Cleary versus the Specialized. Even with the standard rigid Cleary fork, my son said he felt a lot more comfortable and was faster on the Cleary in singletrack than he was on the Specialized with Rocket Ron/SR Suntour air fork upgrades.

Note also as i stated in my review that I didn't set out to do a comparison test. My son was slated to ride the Cleary from the very beginning, but only rode the Specialized for 5 months as the Cleary took a lot longer to come out than we originally expected. I made the Specialized as nice as I could for his 10th birthday in June thinking he would ride it until August. What was unexpected to me was the degree to which the Hotrock seemed to throw off his timing on the trail. I will also emphasize as I noted in my review that the $1550 Hotrock 24 XC Pro and the $660 Hotrock 24 XC Disc do seem to have slightly different geometry than the 2010 Hotrock 24 7-speed that my son rode. My main finding and recommendation would be to have your child try out a bike before buying. I'm not sure why I was under the impression that all kids bikes ride about the same as adult bikes certainly do not. I mainly wanted to share that the handling of kids bikes should be a consideration for parents that want their kids to get into biking and who might be looking to drop some major funds on a kids bike. In fact, my perspective now is that handling may even be more important of a factor than bike weight.


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## Rakuman (Oct 30, 2004)

Spectre said:


> Nope, the Specialized was upgraded as well with the same Rocket Ron tires & a SR Suntour air fork. The main difference I found was the handling of the Cleary versus the Specialized. Even with the standard rigid Cleary fork, my son said he felt a lot more comfortable and was faster on the Cleary in singletrack than he was on the Specialized with Rocket Ron/SR Suntour air fork upgrades.
> 
> Note also as i stated in my review that I didn't set out to do a comparison test. My son was slated to ride the Cleary from the very beginning, but only rode the Specialized for 5 months as the Cleary took a lot longer to come out than we originally expected. I made the Specialized as nice as I could for his 10th birthday in June thinking he would ride it until August. What was unexpected to me was the degree to which the Hotrock seemed to throw off his timing on the trail. I will also emphasize as I noted in my review that the $1550 Hotrock 24 XC Pro and the $660 Hotrock 24 XC Disc do seem to have slightly different geometry than the 2010 Hotrock 24 7-speed that my son rode. My main finding and recommendation would be to have your child try out a bike before buying. I'm not sure why I was under the impression that all kids bikes ride about the same as adult bikes certainly do not. I mainly wanted to share that the handling of kids bikes should be a consideration for parents that want their kids to get into biking and who might be looking to drop some major funds on a kids bike. In fact, my perspective now is that handling may even be more important of a factor than bike weight.


*Spectre got to ask Do you work for or are affiliated with Dirtmerchant bikes? *


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Rakuman said:


> *Spectre got to ask Do you work for or are affiliated with Dirtmerchant bikes? *


 I do own Dirt Merchant Bikes. We typically do extensive testing before deciding what products to carry, but this report on the new Cleary bike came about as a fluke since my son by chance happened to ride the Hotrock for 5 months before getting on the Cleary bike. I find it much easier to recommend a product when I have done the level of comparison testing that I would want to see myself. An example of the tire comparison testing that we do is at: Pacific Northwest Summer 2015 XC Tire Comparison Test: X-King, Rocket Ron, Ardent, Neo-moto, Hans Dampf & Nobby Nic - DIRT MERCHANT BIKES

My older son had ridden this same Hotrock bike for two years and didn't seem to have any difficulty with it so I was really surprised by the difficulty my younger son seemed to have in riding the bike. I've learned that kids bike geometry varies quite a bit from this experience as well and had summarized some research that I did on this topic this past September.








I've learned that Marin kids bikes are typically fast handling, which apparently suited my younger son's riding style well. Other bikes are slower handling which might be a better fit for a more tentative rider. Looking at the Cleary Meerkat geometry figures, I would not have expected the Cleary to be particularly fast handling but I certainly won't claim expertise in frame geometry.

My main point in sharing the review is to promote the idea that it might be worthwhile to get your kid on a test ride of a bike before buying it. Just like with adult bikes, this experience showed me that there are differences as well with kids bike geometry and handling. I have always done demos of the bikes that I buy for myself and am not sure why I didn't previously think of doing demos for my kids' bikes.


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

An update: I don't think the thumb shifter is working for my son. I've noticed that he'll choose to grind up climbs rather than shifting. I'm planning to put on a 10-speed Shimano shifter with a 11-36 cassette for lower gearing.


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## stom_m3 (Jun 28, 2011)

Spectre said:


> An update: I don't think the thumb shifter is working for my son. I've noticed that he'll choose to grind up climbs rather than shifting. I'm planning to put on a 10-speed Shimano shifter with a 11-36 cassette for lower gearing.


That's funny, I haven't seen a thumb shifter since my old '91 Rockhopper comp w/ Shimano DX.

That said, I use Shimano's push-pull shifters on my kids bikes. They pick it up pretty quick.


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

stom_m3 said:


> That's funny, I haven't seen a thumb shifter since my old '91 Rockhopper comp w/ Shimano DX.
> 
> That said, I use Shimano's push-pull shifters on my kids bikes. They pick it up pretty quick.


A Shimano shifter is where I'm going as well.

The thumb shifter is moving through too large of an angle for small hands to be able to use easily.


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## Fastblack (Jul 8, 2013)

Can you get the Meerkat frame only?


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Fastblack said:


> Can you get the Meerkat frame only?


I was just thinking the same thought the other day. What might work best is the frame/seatpost/stem/handlebar/cranks so you can then customize the forks/wheels/cassette/rear derailleur/shifter/tires. Based on the stock bike, my upgrades so far have been air fork, Rocket Ron tires and 10-spd Shimano shifter/rear derailleur/11-36 cassette are going on soon.

Let me check with Jeff Cleary on his thoughts on this.


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## Fastblack (Jul 8, 2013)

Yes that would be perfect. I am close to making a purchase. With the upgrades I would make to it, I'm leaning more toward the spawn shojo, but really like the cleary frame. 


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Got it. I should have an answer in the next several days. Keep in mind though, this would not be something that could happen in the next several months, but rather something that might be phased in over time if it is even feasible.


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## Fastblack (Jul 8, 2013)

If I were to purchase the full bike and the fork, is there anything else needed for the fork to work? Does it come with a crown race, or do you take it off of the steel fork?


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Fastblack said:


> If I were to purchase the full bike and the fork, is there anything else needed for the fork to work? Does it come with a crown race, or do you take it off of the steel fork?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The crown race comes right off of the steel fork. That's what I did for my son's bike.


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Fastblack said:


> If I were to purchase the full bike and the fork, is there anything else needed for the fork to work? Does it come with a crown race, or do you take it off of the steel fork?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Good news! Frame only kits are available. Can you PM me to work out details so I can get you pricing?


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## Fastblack (Jul 8, 2013)

I ended up getting the first red meerkat direct. I do want the xcr fork and tires though. I sent you a PM as well. 









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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

Sweet! I'll get back to you by PM.


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