The BTwin Rockrider 26" 900 hybrid bike, or as Decathlon has recently re-named it to: Kids' 26-inch, 8-speed lightweight aluminium hybrid bike, blue, is Decathlon's top of the range child's hybrid bike.

A 'hybrid' bike means it is perfect for both leisure cycling and cycling to school- it's a brilliant all-round bike which our reviewer WP has put to the test to tell us what she thinks of it.

The majority of lightweight aluminium kids bikes come in well above £400, so we were excited to see how this more budget-friendly bike stood up to 8 months of testing.

Disclosure:  Cycle Sprog were sent the BTwin Riverside 26" 900 to review.  We were not paid to write this review, and all opinions are our own. We do use affiliate links so may get a small commission if you choose to buy through the links on this page. This funds the website, and we thank you for your support.

BTwin Riverside 26" 900 review

About our reviewer

WP's been fortunate enough to review a couple of bikes now, and she learnt how to ride on a Black Mountain Skog. Now 10 years old, her biking confidence is significantly greater and it's safe to say we don't get out on the bikes nearly as much as she would like us to (we think she'd happily bike everywhere, but we need to help her gain a little more road awareness first!).

The first thing we noted about the bike as it came out of the box was how light it felt.

We've unpacked a lot of kids bikes in our time, and I had been worried that the low price point on this bike would have meant a significantly heavier bike than others we've reviewed to date.

The bike came without the pedals fitted and I can confirm that in this state it weighs 10.1kg, which is very competitive indeed.

The light weight of this bike shouldn't be underestimated when considering it's ability to deliver enjoyment. Children in this age range tend to be much stronger than when they were younger, so a little additional weight isn't going to make much difference.  However, adding a load of kilos most certainly will!

For example, there are some cheaper bikes in this wheel size that weigh over 20kg, double the weight of the Riverside 900, and this will have a detrimental impact on both the riding experience and enjoyment. So the light weight is an important factor, as it contributes to its nimbleness, makes it easier to pedal up hills and enables it to be picked up when required!

WP has been riding the BTwin Riverside since spring this year. A step up in size to a 26 inch, I initially thought it looked too big for her, but with her long, long legs she immediately jumped on it and professed love for it. The beautiful petrol blue frame helped; her favourite colour! It needed a little adjustment of the seat height, but this was easy to do and she was good to go within minutes of seeing it. When bought online, the bike arrives needing the front wheel, pedals and handlebars to be fitted- but if this is something you need help with, there's a video about how to assemble a kid's bike.

Gearing and brakes on the BTwin Riverside 26" 900

The Riverside 900 comes fitted with 8 gears, something I was very pleased to see as there is a tendency on cheaper kids bikes to have 18 gears or more.

This number of gears is unnecessary on a child's hybrid bike as they make the bike more difficult to ride.  Your child would need to use both hands for changing through the gears, and increases the risk of them "crossing the chain" - which increases the risk of mechanical faults and causes wear.

So it's good to see that the Riverside 900 comes with a single chainring at the front.

The 8 gears on this bike are operated by a thumb shifter with a single 36t chainring paired to an 11-34 cassette. This combination means the bike will cope well on flat and undulating terrain.  If your child is planning to climb very steep hills a wider range may help.

The gears change very smoothly both up and down the cassette, but the thumb shifter itself was a little bit stiff straight out the box, so it will be interesting to see if this loosens up over time as our reviewer puts it through it's paces.

The brakes are standard v-brakes with calipers by Tektro; a big player in the world of bicycle brakes.

It was noted that the brake levers did feel a bit cheap in comparison to the rest of the bike, plus they don't have the facility to adjust the reach for hand size. This is one of the only areas where we noticed BTwin making the decisions needed to bring this bike in at such a good price point.

The Riverside is a hybrid bike, which suits the type of riding we do as a family well. Living in the lakes we get up to places such as Grizedale Forest for a ride through the trails, but we also cycle into town using cycle paths and the road too and have taken it on holiday with us for a week at Center Parcs. Obviously, WP aims for any muddier or grassy areas on these more urban cycles, being the standard 10 year old that she is! The bike is versatile and great for allowing for the mix of different biking we do as a family.

The Riverside is surprisingly light.  We've had no issues lifting it onto the bike rack, which it fits into well, but WP herself can lift it up without issue. This has meant we've been able to get her involved in helping get the bike onto the rack, which is a good step forward in her learning about travelling with the bikes.

WP had started using gears on her previous bike, a Squish, but found the display a little hard to read. When you're learning to use them, this can be a little frustrating! As an adult rider, I tend to use gears intuitively, I'm not looking at which gear I'm in/moving to, but this was clearly something that WP needed when learning how to use the gears on her bike.

One of her 'best bits' about the Riverside is the clear display showing which gear you're in. The Riverside has 8 gears, the display only has the top and bottom number marked with a small dot indicating the central point of the gears. WP found this much easier to read - and, importantly, understand. This made her use the gears much more readily and she quickly took to changing through them as needed with much less prompting from us.

The position of the gear shifter is great, just right for her hand size and, again, she seems to have taken quickly to which moves them up and which moves them down (I still get mine wrong!). The gears change easily and don't make too much of a racket when switching up or down.

Accessories and lights

The bike comes with LED lights to the front and back, which WP was thrilled about! A lovely addition so you wouldn't need to purchase these separately. The front light clicks on with a push of the button at the top, and the rear one has a slide button underneath it. They only have one mode, a constant beam, which means there arent hundreds of settings to click through and its easy for WP to turn on and off as needed on her own. As the nights are only just drawing in, we've not really had a chance to test the lights but we have had them on in a darkened room and they're nice and bright. WP is keen to test them out so a night ride might be on the cards shortly!

One of the very few, minor, downsides of this bike is that it doesn't come with mudguards and a kickstand. For year-round cycling to school and winter adventures, we think mudguards are pretty handy, but can thankfully be brought as a very cheap extra!  Mudguards here.

Decathlon also sell a bottle cage for £5.99 and a kickstand for £7.99.

Thoughts from the Sprog

When we discussed the bike, we had an interesting conversation about how it feels to ride. WP brought up that she doesn't get 'that juddering' (and even included a hand movement of said juddering) when riding. It seems that she's finding this bike much smoother to ride. She didn't complain about this being an issue with her previous bikes, but as a young rider, it's perhaps something that she just wouldn't think about or notice, but it's interesting that she's noticed it enough to comment on. This feeling of a smoother ride can probably be credited to the bigger wheel size, 1.75" wide tyres and a comfortable saddle. The 26" wheel size will mean the wheels roll over bumps easier too, reducing the 'juddering'! As WP pointed out, we're cycling in much the same places as we have previously, so it must be the bike making the difference!

Overall verdict

Overall, we're really impressed with the Riverside. It's turning out to be WP's favourite (not just due to the colour!) and she's enjoying riding it hugely. Her confidence when riding is ever growing, whether this is down to this bike, or just her age and her having been cycling for a good few years now. That said, her use of the gears is great and I do feel that this has been helped hugely by the Riversides gears. She's also clearly more comfortable on it, between the seat and lack of 'judder'. 

She has a little more room for growth as the saddle can go nice and high, so she can continue riding it for a little while to come, but I think this will be the first bike that she's really sad to part with. We'd definitely recommend this for a child who is doing a mix of riding, but who is also still to gain a little confidence when out on their bike. It's a good solid bike while being light and comfy. We're impressed!

Where to buy the BTwin Riverside 26" 900 bike

The parent Company for BTwin is Decathlon which is a global success story, selling a huge range of sporting equipment and clothing that is both fit for purpose and at realistic price points. They sell bikes in their network of stores and also online.

The Riverside is BTwin's range of hybrid bikes for kids (a hybrid is a regular ride-most-places type of bike with gears). They also do a Rockrider range, which are mountain bikes with front suspension.

You can easily add the Mudguards, bottle cage and a kickstand for the Btwin Riverside 26" 900 at the same time as ordering- but will need to be fitted by you.

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Alternatives to the BTwin Riverside 26" 900 bike

In the lightweight competitor category, the Squish 26, woom 6, Boardman JNR 26" and Frog 69 are similar bikes weight-wise to the BTwin Riverside, but at a greater cost. These bikes do however come with branded parts, such as Shimano gears and Kendra tyres- but our tests of the BTwin Riverside 26" 900 bike doesn't seem to be lacking performance with its unbranded spec.

There are many 26" wheel bikes with front suspension if you are looking for a more off-road focussed bike, including the BTwin Rockrider and Frog MTB 69.

Still undecided? Read our dedicated page for a larger range of 26" wheel bikes here.

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