Here's our selection of the best, and most fun, kids 26" wheel mountain bikes
Best 24″ kids’ bikes for 7-10 year-olds
BTwin Riverside 24” 500
Best budget bike
- Price: £249.99
- Weight: 13.65kg
- Height: 135-150cm
- Colours: Black/yellow, black/pink
Buy if: You need an affordable and practical bike with mudguards and a kickstand.
The BTwin Riverside 24” 500 offers a versatile hybrid design tailored to young riders aged 9–12. With six gears controlled by a twist grip shifter, it’s built for tackling a mix of flat paths and gentle inclines. Its steel frame is durable, though heavy, while practical accessories like mudguards, a kickstand, and a front LED light make it a great option for year-round riding, whether it’s the school run or weekend park outings.
While it’s on the heavier side at 13.65 kg, the wallet-friendly price tag and the fact that it’s robust make it a great option for families on a budget who want a ready-to-ride bike. The 24” wheels and adjustable components ensure a comfortable fit for growing riders, making it a solid all-rounder.
Hornit HERO 24
Best low-maintenance bike
- Price: from £399
- Weight: 8.7kg
- Height: 135-150cm
- Colours: Red, pink, silver
Buy if: You want a simple bike that won’t get their hands dirty.
The Hornit HERO 24 is well worth considering if you’re not really into bike maintenance. The bike has a belt drive and an internal gear hub rather than the more common bike chain and external derailleur found on kids’ bikes in the UK.
This means there’s less to go wrong, and less oily bits to transfer onto clothing. The three speed gears make it really easy to change gear – something many children struggle with.
Frog 61
Best for resale value
- Price: £460.00
- Weight: 9.05kg
- Inseam: 57-74cm
- Colours: Blue, red, green, black
Buy if: You want a great quality kids’ bike that will retain its value.
The Frog 61 is a premium hybrid designed for kids aged 8–10, and since it’s a well known and popular brand, it’ll retain its value for when it’s time to size up again. Its lightweight aluminium frame and Kenda Small Block 8 tyres deliver easy handling and excellent grip on roads, light trails, and towpaths.
Standout features include FrogFit Technology 8-speed shifters, which are designed for small hands, and patented Frog cranks for effortless pedalling efficiency. Adjustable handlebars and a lower bottom bracket accommodate growth spurts while ensuring a safe and ergonomic riding experience. With full-length mudguards and optional pannier rack compatibility, this bike is perfect for school commutes, leisure rides, and family adventures.
Get a free helmet when you buy from Wheelbase and use the promo code CYCLESPROG!
Cannondale Quick 24
Best for climbing hills
- Price: £470
- Weight: 9.4kg
- Height: 124-137cm
- Colours: Blue, iridescent
Buy if: Your child needs a nimble bike with easy gearing and reliable brakes.
The Cannondale Quick 24 weighs in at 9.4kg and features a Shimano Tourney 7-speed drivetrain. This consists of a Sunrace, 11-28 cassette and 30T chainring with 145mm cranks. This setup will be best suited to urban and light off-road use. Perfect for riding on paved roads or gravel tracks typically found in parks.
Promax V-brakes deliver reliable stopping power, and the Kenda Small Block 8 tyres offer excellent traction on various surfaces. Kid-friendly grips and adjustable brake levers ensure comfort and control, while the sleek design inspires confidence on rides.
Wild 24
Best value for money
- Price: £370.00
- Weight: 9kg
- Height: 130–140cm
- Colours: Black/orange, teal
Buy if: You can spend a little more and want more bike for your buck.
The Wild 24 is certainly a lot of bike for the price, with the all-important Tektro short-reach brake levers sized for children’s hands.
The gears on the Wild 24 are 8-speed (11-32T) with a single 32T chainset, which means they avoid the complications of lots of gears and a left-hand shifter you often get with cheaper kids bikes. The Wild 24 uses a thumb shifter to change through the 8-gears. It is available in 2 two-toned colours.
This bike will be a significantly better riding experience than the hunks of steel that are sold in some of the cheaper stores.
Get a free helmet when you buy from Wheelbase and use the promo code CYCLESPROG!
YOMO 24
Best for something a bit different
- Price: £450.00
- Weight: 9.4kg
- Height: 130-150cm
- Colours: Green, orange, turquoise, grey
Buy if: You want something with a good spec that you’re unlikely to see others riding.
The YOMO 24 is a good choice if you’re looking for a lightweight, well specced 24″ wheel bike with decent disc brakes but also one that’s a little bit different from what other kids are riding. The brand only launched in winter 2023, but we’ve been very impressed with their range.
We spent some time with the slightly smaller 20” wheel version, and as you’ll tell from our YOMO 20 review, it’s clear that YOMO are serious about the quality of their bikes. Not only that, but our reviewer loved test riding it! There’s also a range of stylish kids bike helmets available in matt and gloss finish and vegan leather chin strap.
YOMO offer: free helmet with every bike purchase
woom EXPLORE 5
Best for two-wheel adventures
- Price: £579.00
- Weight: 9kg
- Height: 125-145cm
- Colours: Red, green, pink, blue
Buy if: You want to introduce your child to bikepacking, off-road trails, or family touring.
The woom EXPLORE 5 is a great option for young adventurers ready to explore beyond the beaten path. It’s built around a lightweight aluminium frame with sporty, child-specific geometry and a lightweight fork with a generous trail angle for well-balanced handling and confidence-building on uneven terrain. 24 x 2” tyres offer comfort, grip and stability off-road, while the 8-speed microSHIFT Acolyte drivetrain is paired with hydraulic disc brakes for superior control and manoeuvrability.
If you’re looking for a do-it-all bike that they can ride to school in the week, explore the local trails at the weekend, and take on tour during the school holidays, this could well be it.
CUBE NuMove 240
Best for shorter legs
- Price: £549.00
- Weight: 8.2kg
- Height: 118-136cm
- Colours: Blue/lime
Buy if: Your child’s on the shorter side and needs something to grow into.
The CUBE NuMove 240 combines a lightweight aluminium frame with kid-friendly geometry, making it an excellent choice for children aged 8–11. Most notably, with its low standover height, it can accommodate shorter riders in this age group.
Crafted from CUBE Aluminium Lite, the frame is not only lightweight but also fatigue-resistant and corrosion-resistant, offering years of dependable use. The NuMove 240 features Kids Ergonomic Optimised geometry for safe handling and a comfortable riding position. The Shimano 8-speed gearing provides smooth, reliable shifts, helping kids tackle varied terrain with ease. With its low weight and thoughtful design, this bike is ideal for growing confidence and building cycling skills.
Squish 24
Best for mixed terrain
- Price: £399.99
- Weight: 8.63kg
- Height: 127-147cm
- Colours: Orange, blue, black
Buy if: They’re riding a mixture of paved and unpaved paths
The Squish 24 is a good choice for a child who is doing a mix of riding on and off road, and wants a reliable bike they can ride all year around.
It has good quality components, easy to use gears and brakes plus tyres which are suited to all round general riding. We’ve reviewed two different sized Squish Bikes in their range and our testers found them to be reliable and fun to ride.
Cube Acid 240 Disc AllRoad
Best for light mountain biking
- Price: £529.00
- Weight: 12.4kg
- Height: 118-136cm
- Colours: Light blue, dark blue
Buy if: You need a bike that performs well for school commutes and weekend adventures.
The Cube Acid 240 Disc AllRoad is Cube’s entry level mountain bike (the Cube Acid 240) with disc brakes and additional accessories (mudguards, LED lights and kickstand) for riding on road.
The result will be suited to children who are riding gentle off road routes at the weekend (and therefore appreciate the suspension) and who are also riding to school in the week. If they’re only riding on road, then a hybrid bike without suspension will be lighter and possibly quicker to ride, without the hassle of maintaining the suspension fork.
Giant ARX 24
Best for a grownup aesthetic
- Price: £439.00
- Weight: 9.02kg
- Height: 130-150cm
- Colours: Red, blue, grey, green
Buy if: They don’t want something that looks too ‘young’.
The Giant ARX 24 has many of the same features as the majority of the quality 24″ wheel kids bikes on the market. However, in a sign of how confident they are with the quality of their bikes, Giant offers a lifetime warranty on their frames, plus 10 years on forks. Your child will have grown out of the bike long before then!
In our Giant ARX 20 review - the younger sibling to this bike - we were impressed with its quality and how it rode. It’s a great looking bike, with grown-up styling, and one we expect to be seeing quite a few youngsters riding in the years to come.
Specialized Jett 24
Best long-term investment
- Price: £460.00
- Weight: 9.39kg
- Height: 112-156cm
- Colours: Red, blue, black/red, grey, purple
Buy if: You want a bike that will grow with your child and last a few years.
The Specialized Jett 24 is designed for kids who grow fast and ride often. Its low standover height means your child can get onto this bike sooner than many other 24″ bikes and there’s an extra hole for the pedals on the crank meaning you can extend the use of this bike as your child’s legs grow.
It also has handy markings on the seat post and handlebars making adjusting the bike easy as your child grows. To help, Specialized also provides an online Bike Fit tool – you simply input your child’s measurements and they will tell you how to adjust the bike to fit. Specialized designed this bike with data-driven insights to provide proportional components, making it one of the lightest and most ergonomic options for young riders.
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Comments
@Paul the Bonaly deliberately doesn’t have QR skewers to avoid little people loosening stuff that they shouldn’t!
If they’re required then they can be bought for peanuts and fitted with ease.
(most people find it useful to carry a multi-tool with hex keys – when you buy a Bonaly from Evans they include one for free!)
I’m planning to buy second hand, and trying to decide between frog 62 and Beinn 26 small for my long-legged 7 and a half year old. He’s currently WAY too big for his 20” ridgeback. I’m looking forward to him having a lighter bike, and don’t want to put him off with a bike that is too big. Anyone got any advice?
Hi Bea
Thank you for your comment. We’d always recommend getting a bike that is the right size for them to ride now, as you say, you don’t want to put him off with a bike that is too big. With regards to advice on a specific bike (both the Frog 62 & Beinn 26 are brilliant, we love both!), it is definitely worth you asking the question on the Family Cycling UK page on Facebook. They have a huge community of cycling families and someone will be able to advise from first hand experience, we’re sure! Hope this helps. Kind regards, Penny
I just wanted to inform your followers about one of the bikes on this list.
I currently have 3 kids on 24’s, 2 are Marin’s and 1 is a Hoy Bonaly 24.
The Bonaly in my opinion is sized very small compared to most 24’s, it’s a very nice bike in many ways but it has a few shortfalls that folk need to consider.
Firstly, it’s a small 24 and a lot of kids will be half way through its size range when they outgrow a 20″.
My son’s 24 had still got room for growth but the Bonaly is too small for him, this is something others find when we compare their bikes too.
The cockpit is too compact and the bars are too narrow meaning the handling is squirrelly and the front tucks under itself too readily. (There’s been more handling related falls on this bike compared to all the others we’ve had).
It also doesn’t come with QR skewers and seatpost clamp which are essential on kids bikes. These are easily sorted but should be included at this price point.
My Daughter has had this bike for 8 months and is now getting too big for it, My son is 12cm taller than her and his bike still fits and is 18months old.
So be careful about buying it, perhaps it’s a better upgrade when your child is still well inside a 20″ bike, not a good bike if they’re outgrowing it though.
Hi Paul, Thanks so much for sharing this information. It goes to highlight the differences with sizing between brands – it certainly sounds as if the Hoys are sized for smaller kids than the Marins. Much appreciated, Karen
Just found your website and this article was really useful. Many are the bikes I’m considering. Currently several friends families have loved the islabikes up to 20” size but are going towards Orbea. Have you seen or tried any of these? How do you rate them against Islabikes as a known benchmark? My eldest is on a Beinn 20 with mtb tyres.
Many thanks
Hi Robin, Thanks for getting in touch, and glad you’ve found the website useful. In the past two years there have been some great deals on Orbea kids bikes – particularly their mountain bikes – which made them a lot more affordable than Islabikes. It really does come down to your budget, the amount and type of cycling you’re planning to do (plus which bike you can find in stock at the current time). In general Orbea are a reputable brand, and parents I’ve spoken to have been happy with their choice. Hope this helps. Karen
My son has had Isla bikes to date, but I’m not sure I can stomach the cost of the beinn 24. My local bike shop is recommending a forme kinder 24 but I can’t find mention of it on your site. Should I consider the others above?
Hi Mary, Thanks for getting in touch. We’ve not had a chance to review the new Forme kids bike range yet, but they are a reputable brand and I can see no reason why it shouldn’t be a reliable bike. Given the low stock of kids bikes everywhere at the moment, if your bike shop has one available you’re lucky! Hope this helps, Karen
1st choice 24″ Giant ARX unavailable
2nd Cannondale Quick
3rd Frog red which I bought from Cambridge Cycles.
I bought it for nephew in Newmarket and mother collected it two days later. Brilliant Boy loves it.
Saracen 16 6.24kg for little brother and little big bike coming for 2 1/2 sister
Hi Mary – great that you’ve been able to find a bike and that your nephew is enjoying riding it. There’s a real shortage of bikes at the moment so you did well to find one. Kind regards Karen