Cube

The Cube Acid 260 Disc comes with a nice wide range of 24 gears, making it perfect for climbing lots of hills. In terms of componentry it comes with a coil-sprung fork with 80mm travel, and you get powerful hydraulic disc brakes, wide 2.25” tyres, and all the climbing gears they should need.

The Cube Cubie 160 is styled on Cube’s adult mountain bike range, so looks a lot more grown up than some other little bikes.

It’s worth noting that this bike has a rear coaster brake, which means your child has to back pedal to stop. These brakes tend to be more popular in the US and continental Europe than the UK, but can be useful for children who aren’t yet able to operate more traditional brake levers.

The Cube Cubie 160 comes with a rear mudguard to keep off most of the dirt and a chain guard to keep things clean.

With the Cube Acid 200 AllRoad they’ve taken their base Acid 200 model and added some accessories that are likely to be needed when riding on roads or (if you’re lucky) lovely safe cycle paths.

So with the Cube Acid 200 AllRoad you get dynamo-powered lights, snap-on mudguards and a kickstand, which make this a more versatile choice of bike for children who are going to be riding their bikes to school during the week and want to explore further at the weekends or holidays.

The Cube Acid 200 Disc is specified with mountain biking in mind.  They’ve upgraded their standard Acid 200 with disc brakes front and rear to make stopping easier on the trails.

A useful feature is a replaceable derailleur hanger, so that the occasional mishap doesn’t write off the entire frame.

We’ve not reviewed this particular bike, but we’ve tested a number of Cube’s larger mountain bikes and have always been very impressed with them.

Cube’s entry level  20″ wheel offering is a 7 speed bike, the Cube Acid 200, which helps make the transitions to gears easier.  21 or more gears that you get on some kids bikes just confuses things – more to remember and more to go wrong!

Cube realise that kids aren’t always the most careful or thoughtful so features of this bike include a modulator on the front brake to stop them slamming on too quickly, plus an easily replaceable derailleur hanger – the bit that changes the gears that gets damaged when kids drop their bike on the floor gears side down (TOP TIP –  teach them to lay their bike down derailleur side upwards!)

We’ve reviewed a number of different Cube kids bikes over the years and have always been impressed with the quality.

The Cube Acid 240 AllRoad is Cube’s entry level mountain bike (the Cube Acid 240) with 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.