# Scott Scale JR 20/24 Plus



## Dantesays (May 15, 2015)

Anyone have experience with these newer Scott bikes? Looking at them as alternative to Riprock and like that fork is rigid. Can't find any reviews on them though.









https://www.scott-sports.com/us/en/products/249815039/SCOTT-Scale-JR-20-Plus-Bike

https://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/products/249809043/SCOTT-Scale-JR-24-Plus-Bike


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## PlanetMTB (Oct 6, 2008)

I wrote a review you can read here:

Scott Scale Junior 20 Plus - Review of Scott Scale Junior 20 Plus by Steve - ProductReview.com.au

And made a video you can see here:


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## wellcraft (Feb 7, 2009)

I have a friend who bought one for his kid and it seems to be happy with it, it's a 20". I'm going to ask him for an update and let u know.


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## backinmysaddle (Jul 27, 2011)

Plus spacing is great, finally. No doubt that higher volume tires are great for smaller kids. 

But... For the 24" model, here are some big issues:
Weight- i have a 24" bike w air fork that is lighter, w rigid fork this thing should clock in down around 22 in my opinion. 
Gearing- 7 spd 32-24 is a nonstarter. Kids need 42t in the rear if you are going to stick them w a 32t chain ring
Brakes- mechanical? Come on, there are some very inexpensive hydraulics now, i paid $50 for a set, including discs.

My opinion, a better base from which to build, but still requires a fair amount of rebuilding and customizing to make a legitimate kids trail bike.


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## PlanetMTB (Oct 6, 2008)

I admit to feeling a similar way about the gearing on my son's 20 inch model. It comes with a 36 tooth ring and a 14 - 28 freewheel. I had plans to change the gearing from day one, but my son had to ride... To my surprise he climbed just about everything with appropriate cadence and we've stuck with the original gearing. If anything it lacks high end gears, not low. Smaller wheels mean that the actual gear-inch is lower, and I think Scott have taken this into account and dialed it very well.

The cable brakes work beautifully for stopping a 20 inch wheel. Anything stronger would be overkill and possibly dangerous. It wasn't that long ago that world champ downhillers were pinning it with V-brakes. Kids don't necessarily need the bleeding edge of technology to learn the basics.

It's true this bike is ripe for some upgrades but don't dismiss it out of the box. My 5 year old is riding blue square trails on pretty much the original spec without difficulty. If they specced the bike with XTR 1 x 11 and carbon parts they'd hardly sell any. If you want to spend thousands upgrading a bike your kid will outgrow in a year or two, go for it.


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## POAH (Apr 29, 2009)

you can upgrade bits cheaply. I put better pedals, a lighter carbon bar and saddle on the bike for about £35. no point doing anything else.


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## Tjaard (Aug 17, 2007)

Does anyone have any geometry info on it? 

If you won the bike could you give us a rough measurement of the head angle, bottom bracket drop, stack, reach and chain stay length?


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

PlanetMTB said:


> The cable brakes work beautifully for stopping a 20 inch wheel. Anything stronger would be overkill and possibly dangerous. It wasn't that long ago that world champ downhillers were pinning it with V-brakes. Kids don't necessarily need the bleeding edge of technology to learn the basics.


Kids' hands aren't strong, and they get tired when pulling the brakes for some time. I've noticed that my 6 years old son get tired pretty soon when riding downhill with his Early Rider Belter 16, which has some decent short-reach Tektro V-brakes though.

Will be these mechanical disc brakes better in this regard?


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## FlowDad (May 29, 2017)

Firstly thanks to PlanetMtb for your review info, it was very useful. 

Based on this we got the Jr 20 Plus for Mr 4.5 and after a month totally rate this bike. We were lucky and got it on sale for $351 AUD and my brother picked up one for his little guy for $404 so super good value. 

The bike has now had quite a bit of riding on simple single track so we are in a position to offer some thoughts. 

1. The tyres rock and are awesome for kids on uneven terrain

2. Having gears is a good thing. To be honest he pretty much only uses the lowest gear but he is now climbing hills which were completely unachievable before. 

3. Not having suspension isn't an issue at this point. The tyres cover most of it and the lower weight is advantageous 

4. The brakes work great but I still think that a hydraulic setup would be better. The little fella is using four fingers whilst I'm riding around behind him using only one. Doesn't seem right and I see him struggle particularly when the trail is more technical 

5. Sizing is slightly on the big side but he is coping really well. We just flipped the stem and removed all the spacers to go full Nino low. We also just wound the brakes right in so that he can access them easily

6. Probably wouldn't mind a smaller front chain ring but it will become less of an issue as he grows taller and stronger

We are loving this bike and it has taken us on trails that I didn't expect him to be able to ride at this point. 

Hope this was helpful.


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

My son's Scale Jr 20 Plus was shipped yesterday. We have just tested it on our garden, so I only have some first impressions.


*Size*: perhaps still a little big for my 6-year-old son (117 cm high).
*Weight*: 10.55 kg (23.26 lbs) with pedals. Pretty near to what Scott state.
*Pedals*: not so good, but work.
*Cockpit*: everything seems fine, so I won't change any component apart for some new silicone grips (like ESI's), that my son likes very much as they are softer than plastic.
*Brakes*: seem strong enough and good quality. As described in PlanetMtb's review, the levers came in the adult position--I forgot to ask for proper adjustment when I placed the order. Anyway, with a tiny allen key it was pretty easy to adjust the reach to the correct position for my child's little hands. I had to also to decrease cable tension as a consequence, but again it was a breeze. I also needed to slightly adjust caliper position, as usual with disc brakes. Overall, in contrast to what I read in the 20" plus bikes thread, adjustment of these Tektro brakes is straightforward. For sure much easier than bleeding hydraulic brakes!
*Shifting*: at the moment shifting to the low gear is a bit slow, but I still have to check and adjust the derailleur high and low positions, as well as cable tension. As far as the grip shift is concerned I don't see any issue whatsoever, and my son learnt to shift in 5 seconds or something.
*Gearing*: no idea yet.
*Wheels*: I'll try and tape them, and see whether I can go tubeless with some Stan's sealant, to benefit from even lower tire pressure.
*Overall*: seems a nice bike, and my child likes it very much.


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

Today I tried to convert to tubeless the front wheel, with no luck. I only had some spare 25 mm yellow rim tape by Stan's:
https://www.notubes.com/stan-s-rim-tape-10yd-x-25mm
but it was too narrow, and didn't stick. Rims have an *internal width of 28 mm* (26 mm between ridges), while the *external width is 32 mm*. I'll try again with something more specific.

Anyhow, I took some additional measurement:

*Rear wheel*, complete with cassette, disk, axle, tire and tube: 2415 g.
*Front wheel*, compete with disk, axle, tire and tube: 1845 g.
*Tire*: Kenda Slant Six, 20x2.60, wired bead: 660 g front, 620 g rear--60 mm wide like the Schwalbe Magic Mary 29x2.35 on my bike.
*Tube*: 170 g front, 220 g rear, which is much bigger than front BTW.

-- EDIT -- 23/07/2017

After some issues, I've gone tubeless. Ghetto tubeless conversion with a cut tube, 14x1.7-2.2 inch, Schrader valve. While front tire conversion was a snap, rear tire was problematic, as it didn't fit snugly against the rim bed. The solution was to put one layer of sill seal foam (closed cell foam) between rim and tube (details below).

After tubeless transformation:

*Rear wheel*: 2260 g.
*Front wheel*: 1800 g.
I probably used too much sealant for the front tire, and weight saving is small. But the main advantage would be lower pressures. At the moment we have 1.5 bar (22 lbs) for the rear tire and 1 bar (15 lbs) for the front, and see whether we can reduce it further down.


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

Ghetto-style conversion worked beautifully, for the front wheel. I used a 14" tube, and the tyre didn't leak any sealant from the sidewalls. 

With the rear wheel I was less lucky. Same tube, same tyre, same rim, but the tyre won't seat, so unfortunately I didn't get any sealing. When I get a Schrader valve core remover, I'll try again without the valve core, and see whether this helps.


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## natepac (Dec 5, 2007)

Could you measure the standover height?


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

natepac said:


> Could you measure the standover height?


I've got the 20". As soon as I manage to inflate the rear tyre I'll measure it and post it here in the following days. Where do you want that I measure standover? Along the red line in the following pic?


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## natepac (Dec 5, 2007)

solitone said:


> I've got the 20". As soon as I manage to inflate the rear tyre I'll measure it and post it here in the following days. Where do you want that I measure standover? Along the red line in the following pic?
> View attachment 1141312


That seems about right. Thanks


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

solitone said:


> With the rear wheel I was less lucky. Same tube, same tyre, same rim, but the tyre won't seat.


No way to have the rear tyre seated. I also removed the valve core, but nothing. The tyre seems to have too big an inner diameter, so when inflating the air comes out. Also, the wire bead seems to have a bend in one spot. Apparently I was very luck with the front tyre!


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

@natepac I finally managed to measure standover height, sorry for the delay! For the *20" size* it is about 51 cm (20 in).


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

As for the tubeless conversion, I finally managed to successfully seat the rear tire with the help of one layer of sill seal foam (closed cell foam), as explained here:
https://electricbike-blog.com/2015/...bikes-for-15-per-tire-and-30-minutes-of-work/









The one I used is 30 mm wide and 5 mm thick. The 30 mm size is just right for the Scale's rims, no need to cut it.


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## ausdb (Jul 31, 2008)

Hi planetmtb 
How tall is your son and have you had it out on the flat's much with the tyres pumped up ? I'm looking for a bike for my son who's turning 6 and saw your review. I would like to introduce him to mountain biking but also like going for rides on the cycle paths as well. I'm in Oz as well, how much did you pay for yours? 
Cheers


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

After a couple of months of use, my son is very happy with his Scale Jr 20 Plus.

I did change the cassette, though. I put a Shimano Tourney *MF-TZ31*. It's a 7-speed cassette like the stock one, but it has 14-16-18-20-22-24-*34T* cogs, instead of 14-28T. It's just the larger cogs that's different, all other cogs are the same. I feared that the jump from the 24T to the 34T cog would be too much, but my son seems to like it. Since I mounted it, he enjoys his bike much more, since now he finally manages to ride uphill on many (short) climbs. I had to use a longer chain with the MF-TZ31, but apart from that there is no issue with the stock derailleur.

Brakes work well. Yesterday we did a long descent (700 m elevation loss) and he needed very few rests.

As for tyres, thanks to tubeless setup I run them at extremely low pressure, since he's pretty lightweight. That way they do indeed absorb lots of shocks.


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## Pedro60 (Nov 8, 2017)

Solitone, Can you tell me what chain or size you ended up using? I am making the same modification on a 2018 Scale Jr 20



solitone said:


> After a couple of months of use, my son is very happy with his Scale Jr 20 Plus.
> 
> I did change the cassette, though. I put a Shimano Tourney *MF-TZ31*. It's a 7-speed cassette like the stock one, but it has 14-16-18-20-22-24-*34T* cogs, instead of 14-28T. It's just the larger cogs that's different, all other cogs are the same. I feared that the jump from the 24T to the 34T cog would be too much, but my son seems to like it. Since I mounted it, he enjoys his bike much more, since now he finally manages to ride uphill on many (short) climbs. I had to use a longer chain with the MF-TZ31, but apart from that there is no issue with the stock derailleur.
> 
> ...


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

Do you mean the number of chain links?

Inviato dal mio Nexus 5X utilizzando Tapatalk


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## Pedro60 (Nov 8, 2017)

solitone said:


> Do you mean the number of chain links?
> 
> Inviato dal mio Nexus 5X utilizzando Tapatalk


sure, seems the 7/8 gear chains are all 116 links. Did you get one with more links then that?


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## Pedro60 (Nov 8, 2017)

@solitone Any help on this would be great! Got the parts yesterday. What chain you use?


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

@Pedro60 Sorry for the delay! I have just 94 links, and it's a 7/8 speed chain.


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## 20.100 FR (Jan 13, 2004)

Hello,
I'm considering this bike for my daughter.
Any update on users ? Did you change the grips ?


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

20.100 FR said:


> Hello,
> I'm considering this bike for my daughter.
> Any update on users ? Did you change the grips ?


I put a pair of red silicone grips


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

What bottle cage & bottle fits the Scale Jr plus 20"?


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## Pedro60 (Nov 8, 2017)

solitone said:


> What bottle cage & bottle fits the Scale Jr plus 20"?


I don't think it fits one. I'm not sure why they put the mounting hardware on the frame...


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## Pedro60 (Nov 8, 2017)

Here's what I did with my 4 year old son's bike. I added the bigger cassette which allowed him to climb so much better. The original chain ended up working just fine with the bigger cassette. He still had a hard time changing gears so I added a trigger shifter which changed everything. He is now able to climb and change gears. He started progressing so much faster after the modifications. All in I spent around $30 with the grips. :thumbsup:


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

After some time the rear derailleur doesn't seem to work very well. It's enough to just touch it and the regulation is lost, and it's not possible to shift to the slower (34T) cog.

What derailleur should I consider' I'd rather have a short cage, and it needs to support the megarange freewheel (7 speed, 14-34T).


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## solitone (Apr 27, 2011)

Pedro60 said:


> I don't think it fits one. I'm not sure why they put the mounting hardware on the frame...


In the end I mounted a side entry cage, with a small (375 ml) bottle..


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