Bicycles Reviews

I purchased this at our local Toys R Us store for my soon-to-be 8 year old in Nov/05 after seeing it online advertised at 50% off (reg $120 down to $60). He was moving up from a basic 16" bike that he was simply too big for.

Of course at such a price slash I was skeptical about the quality of the bike. What was wrong with it? Was the color too "girly" for a boy's bike? Was it missing tires and rims?

I checked out an assembled floor model at the Toys R Us near my office one lunchbreak and was impressed with the initial quality. The color was actually pretty cool too. A metallic green color. Front suspension forks and a frame suspension spring looked cool although not excessivley functional for my 8 year old since he's not jumping offroad on it (yet).

Five speeds with the "shifter" of the lower sprocket assembled inside the right hand grip. Front and rear caliper brakes which took my 8 year old a bit of practice in stopping (since he was used to the ol' push back on the pedals and skid brakes) and required a slight adjustment on my part to get the rear caliper the right "hardness/squishyness" ratio for his young grip and hand strength.

He absolutely loves this bike and it should be big and sturdy enough for him to use for a few years until a 24" is required.

Quality is topnotch. I recommend paying T R Us $10 to assmble the bike. With front/rear caliper brakes, gears, etc. it's well worth it. Or maybe I'm just a lazy 38 year old who spent him entire childhood ripping apart and building bikes back up again that I'm sick of it.