# Recommendation for 13" or XS Bike



## raj32 (Oct 16, 2015)

Looking for a bike for my 9 year old son. He is about 4 feet 9 inch tall. I was initially thinking of buying a 24 inch bike for him, but during our recent visit to a local bike shop it was recommended that he can fit into a XS bike frame with 26 or 27.5 inch wheel.

Now I am looking for some recommendation on what kind of options I have in terms of buying a bike for him. My budget is around $400, what I looking for, is a bike that could provide more value for the money spent.

I came across few bike like Trek 820($379) and Trek 3500($440) with 13 inch frame, then there is Specialized Hotrock($440) with 13 inch frame and 27.5 inch wheel. Any thoughts on these? 

Experts could you please help and provide recommendation on my options I should look for that could provide more value for money?


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

At that price range, it's almost going to come down to whatever you can find for new. If you have an active craigslist, I would set up an email alert or just watch the bike section really well. Just an example, there's a 13" trek 3700 for $130 and a 4700 for $200 on the one here. With some minor upgrades they would be pretty decent bikes.


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## raj32 (Oct 16, 2015)

thanks jestep. Whats your thought on Specialized Pitch Sport 650b . It can cost around $600. Is it worth over the above mentioned bike?

Good Idea, I will keep an eye on used bikes on CL


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

raj32 said:


> thanks jestep. Whats your thought on Specialized Pitch Sport 650b . It can cost around $600. Is it worth over the above mentioned bike?
> 
> Good Idea, I will keep an eye on used bikes on CL


As far as any of these bikes, they typically will all share the same or very similar component groups and same or very similar fork. These are all likely to be high 20 lb bikes. So, best bet if you do want a new one, is to see which one fits best if that's possible. I don't see a huge difference in quality between a $400 and even a $700 bike in this range of components no matter the brand. The 24" bikes suffer from essentially the same problems in the lower price range, and they're all in the 26 - 30 lb range as well.

Do you know what your son's inseam is approximately?

Part of the concern with any of these bikes, 27.5's especially, is the standover can be really high on them. The 24" wheel bikes are typically around 23" - 24" and the 27.5's jump all the way up to, ironically, 27.5" or more even for XS/13 frames. This combined with the longer top tube can make them much more of a bike to handle than just the slight increase in size would suggest. This is why I would strongly suggest testing one or a few out if possible. The other reason I recommend used, is that if you can get one for cheap and smartly spend a few hundred dollars to lighten the bike up, it can be a huge difference in ridability.


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## raj32 (Oct 16, 2015)

jestep said:


> As far as any of these bikes, they typically will all share the same or very similar component groups and same or very similar fork. These are all likely to be high 20 lb bikes. So, best bet if you do want a new one, is to see which one fits best if that's possible. I don't see a huge difference in quality between a $400 and even a $700 bike in this range of components no matter the brand. The 24" bikes suffer from essentially the same problems in the lower price range, and they're all in the 26 - 30 lb range as well.
> 
> Do you know what your son's inseam is approximately?
> 
> Part of the concern with any of these bikes, 27.5's especially, is the standover can be really high on them. The 24" wheel bikes are typically around 23" - 24" and the 27.5's jump all the way up to, ironically, 27.5" or more even for XS/13 frames. This combined with the longer top tube can make them much more of a bike to handle than just the slight increase in size would suggest. This is why I would strongly suggest testing one or a few out if possible. The other reason I recommend used, is that if you can get one for cheap and smartly spend a few hundred dollars to lighten the bike up, it can be a huge difference in ridability.


Thanks for the great insigts. My sons inseam is around 27 inch. So whats the recommendation on Frame and wheel size?


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## Kingfisher2011 (Nov 1, 2011)

Raj, for what it's worth I was in the LBS the other day with my oldest. His inseam is about 23". He's right at 4' tall. The 24's we tried on (I already knew they were too big but wanted to see just how bad) were right at 23-24 standover like Jestep called out. So a 24" might be just the ticket for you. We're going to be going with a 20" which I hope will last him 2 years... growth spurts notwithstanding.


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

Not much to add here except that Giant does have a xxs 27.5 hard tail. I am in the same boat with my daughter who is 9 and want to get the 26 for future improvements. She sat on the xxs 26 men's and was tip toeing around with the seat all the way down. We sat here on a target 24" and she felt that it was bigger. I know the Giant has the xxs women's bike with 26" wheels but I don't think they have a men's xxs model in 26"....the Revel xxs is listed as a 12.5" frame


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## Goodwoodz (Dec 10, 2008)

Look at a Liv bikes, model Tempt. Liv is made by giant and on there site. XS has a 24.5" standover. Lowest I saw in my search for my son.


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## CharacterZero (May 19, 2004)

I'd look for a USED 26 with an XS or XXS frame - a bit harder to come by, but I got my 9yo kiddo on a 26 a couple months back and he is stoked - I got it for $300 on craigslist. Given that it just got colder and kids will get bikes for xmas, use a searchengine like searchtempest.com to search near-by craigslists
I really wanted to make this happen with 26s because the 27.5 just makes the bike that much bigger.


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## Roadkill128 (Jan 6, 2016)

My son is just shy of 4'10" tall, he was in between the kids size and adult xs. Had the lbs measure him on Christmas eve. Ended up getting an xs Specialized Hardrock v 650b for him, that he has since ridden on flat gravel and roads. It wasn't going to be worth the investment to put him on a 24" when he is growing quickly. I figure he can get 2 years out of it, before he will need to go up a frame size. My LBS offers a trade up program, so as he outgrows it, they will do us right on the new bike.


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