Looking for a MTB for an 11 year old grandson

[Rich W.]

I want to buy a nice new bike for an 11 year old grandson, but unfortunately he lives with two brothers, the three collectively being known as The Wrecking Crew, but individually the kid in question is smart, respectful, and somewhat introspective. I think he’s ready for a nice bike but I’m concerned that the others might quickly demolish it, so I don’t want to spend $700+ on a bike for him just yet. I’d like too, but it would just be dissapointming for me to see it in pieces on their garage floor with all the rest of the junk in a few months.

So I’m looking for an inexpensive bike to see what happens and go from there. To that end, are there good enough beginner MTBs out there in the $200 range that would be functional, tough, and make a good gift to a kid that means well but has the cards somewhat stacked against him? About the parents, there is no dad in the picture (and when he was he wasn’t worth a s*it anyway), and the mom works more than full time and hence basically does not supervise. Nothing proactive anyway, so no help there.

So…ideas? I don’t want to buy some cheap chinese imitation that will break right away so maybe there is no hope for this idea, but I want to try to find him something that strikes some kind of happy medium. I look at used stuff frequently but that isn't really panning out. I have some ideas about how to handle giving him a more expensive bike, but I’d like to try an interim bike as an experiment first.

Thanks
Rich

 

[tomjasz]

$200 will get a $200 bike. Not much of a MTB.
Where it me I’d check and see if there might be a MTB club or school MTB team. If yes they might be a good source for a used bike and also a positive influence.

Will he actually be trail riding or city riding?

Best wishes and good on you for being a good grandfather! My GF changed my life and kept me in bicycles.

 

[Rich W.]

$200 will get a $200 bike. Not much of a MTB.
Where it me I’d check and see if there might be a MTB club or school MTB team. If yes they might be a good source for a used bike and also a positive influence.

Will he actually be trail riding or city riding?

Best wishes and good on you for being a good grandfather! My GF changed my life and kept me in bicycles.

Riding will be trails and rural roads around his house, all over our 40 acres, and then where ever travels take him. He just wants a bike but his older brother pirated his for parts saying “it was a POS anyway”. Not a good situation for a new Rock Hopper.

 

[rarobo]

Speaking of the rockhopper… they have the sport now for 564.00 https://www.specialized.com/us/en/rockhopper-sport-27-5/p/199577?color=319812-199577. And the mechanical brake one for a little over 400,

 

[indianajo]

I don't see an 11 year old needing electric assist. I was full of pep at that age, could ride any road I wanted in Houston on a single speed cruiser. I weighed about 75 lb. Of course if there are significant grades, seven speeds would be handy.
I rode ~$200 mtbs & cruisers 2000-2018, because I am so short & they fit me. I got stretchy cables that required adjustment all the time, plastic crank arms that were good for 2000 miles before the pedals wallowed out the thread, wheels that were undersized so the tires popped off the rim or the tube blew out through the gap. These bikes were diamondback & Pacific Quantum. I can do nothing about the older brother problem, but a used trek specialized giant cannondale or kona would be made of real steel or aluminum and not have the above problems. The problem there, I was scanning the Houston craigslist for a used beater to mobilize me over 10 days of Christmas at my brother's. All used real steel/aluminum bikes had large frames. An 11 year old probably doesn't have long legs & arms to fit one of those. I don't either. My first real bike post 2000 was a yuba I ordered in 2018 from California because the frame would fit me. Superb quality, I'm still riding original cranks,pedals, wheels, spokes, cables, sprockets 9000 miles later.
There were not nearly the problems from **** materials in the $79 1966 AMF Hercules 3 speed (stolen 1983) or the $280 1985 schwinn MTB (US made). I never wore the 1985 schwinn MTB frame pedals cranks or wheels out but the 5 speed sprocket cluster was unavailable when I needed one about 2000. 5 speed chain is the same width as single speed, 7-8 speed chain is narrower. 9-10-11-12 speed chain is narrower yet.

 

[tomjasz]

I don't see an 11 year old needing electric assist.

You don’t see anyone asking for an assist in this thread.


There is a guy here in SE MN that buys bikes from police auctions and rummage sales. Most resell for $75-$125. He always has a garage full. Maybe @FarmerRich you can find a similar fella around you. Where are you located?

 

[PCeBiker]

There is a guy here in SE MN that buys bikes from police auctions and rummage sales. Most resell for $75-$125. He always has a garage full. Maybe @FarmerRich you can find a similar fella around you. Where are you located?

Or find out when your next local police auction is and get one there or a rummage sale, or kijiji, Craigslist (try not to buy a stolen bike though.)

You can probably get a good bike for less than half the price of new.

Just don't buy him a POS or his brother will steal it. lol

 

[Mr. Max]

FarmerRich, looks like you're in Grass Valley, so you're close to a number of bike shops. Every spring in my area of rural New Hampshire, the two bike shops (about 30 miles apart) have two separate used bike consignment sales. The used bike consignment sales are community building events and are a great way to pick up a used bike of every size, make and price range. I'll bet there's something like that out there where you live within driving distance. Also, it's common for bike shops to have used bikes for various reasons year round. Just a thought! Best of luck!!

 

[Sparky731]

Check locally. In some States riders must be 16 yrs old to legally ride an ebike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

an ebike.

It is not an ebike. Rich wants a traditional bike.