# 26 or 27.5 hardtail for 10 year old boy



## rbadger28 (Mar 16, 2009)

Any strong recommendations for a 26 or 27.5 hardtail for my son?

Aiming to stay sub 700 because he will grow out of it in 2 years.

Really like the vitus but they are out of stock for the foreseeable future.

Thanks in advance!

Russ


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

rbadger28 said:


> Any strong recommendations for a 26 or 27.5 hardtail for my son?
> 
> Aiming to stay sub 700 because he will grow out of it in 2 years.
> 
> ...


Tough to find something without compromises at that price point. Even more so with a young kid that needs 155-ish cranks as most bikes even in XS will have 170mm cranks.

Calibre is a fantastic brand:
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-two-cubed-mountain-bike-p433547

You might see if GoOutdoors would be able to ship you a small (they seem to say on "Collect" for the smal size). 445$ is an unreal deal. Even has centerlock rotors and RS fork lol.

Then you could buy some SRAM NX 155mm cranks for cheap I bet.

I bought a Calibre DJ bike from GoOutdoors and it was shipped fast in like 5 days and the bike is fantastic. Calibre support over FB chat is awesome too.

Oh someone else just bought a RM Soul. This looks like a killer bike for the price and comes even in an XXS. Not sure on crank length but you might get your local Rocky dealer to do a crank swap for you at a discount. Says it comes with a 28t chainring which I like a lot. Maybe the cranks are even shorter. Good option! Sub 700$. Very similar to the Vitus bike.

Soul | Rocky Mountain Bicycles


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## nwa bike dad (Apr 21, 2018)

rbadger28 said:


> Any strong recommendations for a 26 or 27.5 hardtail for my son?
> 
> Aiming to stay sub 700 because he will grow out of it in 2 years.
> 
> ...


What kind of track is he riding?


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

rbadger28 said:


> Any strong recommendations for a 26 or 27.5 hardtail for my son?
> 
> Aiming to stay sub 700 because he will grow out of it in 2 years.
> 
> ...


For a 27.5, what about swapping for a larger sized frame as he grows?

A $1100 bike now + a $300 frame later might give you something of better quality for the same price as a $700 bike now and another $700 bike later.


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## nwa bike dad (Apr 21, 2018)

TimTucker said:


> For a 27.5, what about swapping for a larger sized frame as he grows?
> 
> A $1100 bike now + a $300 frame later might give you something of better quality for the same price as a $700 bike now and another $700 bike later.


Great idea. Depending on what you are using it for, finding a decent HT and FS bike in tht price range is going to be difficult.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

Fwiw Chainreaction said they were going to have the Vitus 26" and 24' back in stock in Q2. So June at the latest.

Seaotter is this weekend so who knows what else will get released


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

Oops I spoke too soon. The 26" Vitus Nucleus is already back in stock! Just go snap one of those up real quick.


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## rbadger28 (Mar 16, 2009)

NORCAL single track, fire road. Mostly smooth with some baby heads.


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## rbadger28 (Mar 16, 2009)

Ohh sweet. Anybody have any personal experience with this bike?

Certainly seems like great value but wondering if i should be looking at 27.5 as they may last him a bit longer...


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

How tall is he / what's his inseam?

Looking the geometry numbers, the Nucleus 27 VRW in XS might actually be slightly smaller than the Nucleus 26.


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## rbadger28 (Mar 16, 2009)

He is 58 inches tall with 25 inch inseam. i dont think he needs smaller.


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## thesmokingman (Jan 17, 2009)

I'd lean towards 27.5 so that moving forwards you wont have to make a wheel size rebuild, etc.


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

rbadger28 said:


> He is 58 inches tall with 25 inch inseam. i dont think he needs smaller.


That looks pretty solidly within the recommended sizing for the XS VRW.

It's slightly more than the Nucleus 26, but you get a little 120mm fork instead of 100mm and the seat tube is a little shorter, which might be better for installing a dropper.

The one downside I see to both bikes is that they use non-boost QR wheels, which might not lend itself to moving the wheelset to a new frame easily.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

VRW sounds like the ticket. That is a nice bike. The wheels are wide and the tires are more legit than the 26. Also I like the extra travel for sure and the 66hta is a big improvement. Low standover setup seems really really nice. The bike is well reviewed for the money. It has a 2x drivetrain that is better than a low range 1x drivetrain for kids. I do wish it was just a 28t 11-42 1x tho. But heck the price is so nice it's hard to beat.


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

svinyard said:


> VRW sounds like the ticket. That is a nice bike. The wheels are wide and the tires are more legit than the 26. Also I like the extra travel for sure and the 66hta is a big improvement. Low standover setup seems really really nice. The bike is well reviewed for the money. It has a 2x drivetrain that is better than a low range 1x drivetrain for kids. I do wish it was just a 28t 11-42 1x tho. But heck the price is so nice it's hard to beat.


A few months back, they had the XS 2018 Sentier W for not much more with 1x10 Deore & a boost wheelset / 2.6" tires / 140mm fork -- that was really a steal.

They'd mentioned something about delays in the 2019 Sentier W, but I'm surprised that they still haven't announced anything yet.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

TimTucker said:


> A few months back, they had the XS 2018 Sentier W for not much more with 1x10 Deore & a boost wheelset / 2.6" tires / 140mm fork -- that was really a steal.
> 
> They'd mentioned something about delays in the 2019 Sentier W, but I'm surprised that they still haven't announced anything yet.


Man, that's an insanely nice setup and fairly modern fot peanuts price. Vitus is doing some really interesting stuff. Calibre may be doing some legit kids bikes this summer, so they said at least. Between the two, there are some real sweet options for the money... Black Friday style sales help too!

Now if only some companies in the US could do the same. Diamondback has a cheap full suspension that is interesting but everything else is so expensive and not all that great. 750$ for a decent hardtail is still too much money for a lot of parents


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