HOY

The Bonaly range is definitely a subscriber to the philosophy of ‘keeping it simple’, with its rigid fork, low centre of gravity, and of course, lightweight.  It’s technically a mountain bike, but with its rigid forks, it’s suited to mixed terrain (although probably not the best choice if you’re doing lots of on-road riding).

Hoy upgraded the Bonaly range in 2019 to make it lighter and improve some of the design features. It has a fresh, modern look with a lower spoke count and a redesigned frame. We haven’t tested out this particular bike, but have been impressed with the smaller Bonaly 20 we’ve reviewed.

One of the appeals of this bike will be its disc brakes – the Shimano RT200 hydraulic discs with RT26 160mm rotors mean this bike looks and feels like a grown up bike – but with the correctly sized components for a younger rider.

The 9 gears come via a 32 toothed front chainring matched up to a Sunrace M90 9 speed 11-34T cassette, with the power transferred to ground through Kenda Small Block 8 tyres.

Hoy Bikes are the brain child of Sir Chris Hoy – one of the most successful Olympians ever – so expect an attention to all the details that matter on a first pedal bike.
The Hoy Bonaly 14 was only released in 2019, and then promptly went out of stock when you-know-what happened. This means there’s not that many of these bikes out there, which is great if you’re looking for something a bit different to what everyone else’s child is riding.

Sir Chris Hoy is one of the most successful professional cyclists there’s been, and since his retirement from competition has turned his hand to encouraging young children to get onto lightweight quality bikes.

We’ve not reviewed this particular bike, but the two other Hoy Bikes we’ve reviewed have both been excellent.  Not only in terms of performance and easy of ride, but also the longevity of the bike too.

The Hoy Bonaly 20 is the smallest bike with gears in the range created by the Olympic cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy.

With grippy Kenda small block tyres, the Bonaly is equally at home on road or trail.

Our 7-year-old reviewed really enjoyed riding this bike – it was easy for her to lift up and carry when needed, plus she found the gears easy to operate. Despite riding it regularly on the school run as well as at the weekend the bike remained in pristine condition. You can read the full review of the Hoy Bonaly 20 kids bike here.

The Bonaly 24 kids bike is a borderline hybrid/mountain bike, with gearing that is designed to get up steep hills!  This means the Bonaly 24 would be a good choice for children who are likely to be doing quite a lot of riding in hilly areas (either on or off road). 

It’s a really lightweight bike and doesn’t have the added weight and complications that a suspension fork brings on traditional mountain bikes. 
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Hoy Bikes are renowned as being really reliable, lightweight and fun to ride kids bikes – after all they are the brain child of Sir Chris Hoy, one of the world’s most successful competitive cyclists!

Our 5-year-old tester really enjoyed the Hoy Bonaly 16 bike – she found it easy to brake and steer – plus her parents liked the lightweight and robustness of the bike.

The Hoy Napier balance bike is named after the Napier school yard where Sir Chris Hoy learned to ride his first bike. I guess you can’t get much better pedigree for a first bike than that!

The Napier is lightweight thanks to the aluminium tubes, has a saddle with a grab-rail to make it easier to carry when your child has had enough riding for one day, and there’s a stopper in the headset to stop over enthusiastic steering.

All the Hoy pedal bikes we’ve tested have performed really well, although we’ve not had a chance to put the Napier through it’s paces.