After being so impressed with Char’s little Cnoc 16, I guess the question is why didn’t I make the obvious step up to the Beinn 20? Quite simply, the wife said that she wouldn’t let us spend £350 on a kids bike. I tried the argument that because of the resale price it would work out cheaper in the long run, but my powers of persuasion were weak and I was forced to look at alternatives.
If you want to cut to the chase and miss my waffling scroll down to My Observations of the Bike
I resigned myself to the fact that Char would be getting a Frog 55 instead. So, we tootled down to the local bike shop to try one out for size. Char jumped on and stretched and stretched and stretched forward to reach the handlebars. The narrow handlebars with cramped controls. The front end seemed low, with little room for adjustment and the back end seemed quite stretched out. The long reach, narrow bars and low front end may well be what some people are looking for (and I can see that the stretched out back end may give more stability), but I knew that this was not the bike for Char.
Back home I switched on my PC, and started an eBay search for kids 20″ bikes. I trawled through page after page of bikes looking at the thumbnails to see if there was anything that looked right. As I was just about to give up I saw the Raleigh Performance 20. “Looks nice, but I bet it weighs a tonne.” was my thought as I opened the listing to find out more.
I quickly jumped onto the Raleigh site to find out more info and I discovered that the bike now also comes in a deep blue metallic colour. I showed it to Char and she loved it. Right, how do I get my hands on one of these?
I phoned a couple of local bike shops that I use to see if they had one in, or could get one in. One which stocked Raleigh, told me that they couldn’t get me the kids bikes and the other told me that Raleigh wouldn’t let him have one till September, when next year’s models came out.
I then phoned another local shop, which I’ve never used, who said that they could get one in for me, but then proceeded to tell me that I should be buying a different bike (it has an alloy frame so is really light, but I can’t tell you how light) and he tried to sell it to me for what turned out to be more than the RRP. I did check this bike out on the web and it’s hefty in comparison.
Raleigh, sort out your dealers!!
I then picked up the phone to Raleigh and spoke to a very helpful guy who arranged for the bike to be delivered to one of the shops that I had originally wanted to buy it from. (It really shouldn’t be this difficult to buy a bike.)
That was on a Friday and the bike was ready to pick up on the Monday. I walked into the shop and the guys were raving about how light it was and how their other kids bikes don’t come close to it in weight. The blue paint job was beautiful and the bike looked the business. I handed over my £245 (that’s £20 less than list and £105 cheaper than the Beinn) and took the bike home.
As Char will be growing into this bike I made the necessary adjustments. Saddle slid forward, riser bar rotated back (to give a shorter reach) and brake lever positions set. (I can’t emphasise how good I think a riser bar is on a kids bike. On Char’s Cnoc she had BMX style bars which started tilted in towards her and as she grew we rotated them away, which gave longer reach as well as increasing the bar height. Having a riser bar on this bike will allow us to do the same thing.) I actually managed to set the bike up with a very similar saddle, pedal, bars relationship as she was used to on the Cnoc.
The exciting day eventually came where Char would get to ride her new bike.
We took her down to the local park, the bike was put into second gear, she climbed on it (with tippitoes on the floor and a little wobble) spun her pedals into position and was off. No problems, she took to the bike like a duck to water. Whizzing around with a grin on her face, seemingly going faster than she ever did on her Cnoc (thank you 20″ wheels). She quickly sussed out the brakes, and had soon worked out what was needed to slow down and stop.
She started asking about the gears, so we explained:
We put the bike into first and she rode up a hill that she’d never managed to ride before.
She then went whizzing round the lake and found that she liked 7th gear as it was fastest (it’s a 7 speed bike). However, she wanted to keep it in 7th all the time, but quickly foud that it wasn’t always possible to pull away in such a high gear. After a bit more coaching from Mommy she had the gears cracked and could change through all the gears, using the revo twist shifter, provided that she was moving.
Char asked for me to increase the reach of the bars, so with a quick tweak with an Allen key the bars were twisted forward and the brakes and shifter re-positioned.
She happily rode around for a bit longer, with her only complaint being that the saddle was uncomfortable. The saddle is way too big for a kids derriere. Luckily I had a spare Madison kids saddle which I put on the bike when we got home. She rode with that the day after and didn’t have any complaints.
We were due to go for a little xc ride the next day (from home), but as I lifted my wife’s bike over one of the cars on the drive I put my back out, which has left me in a horizontal position since. (The joys of getting older!)
My Observations of the Bike
The Performance 20 comes in two frame sizes. 10″ and 11″.
Unfortunately, the Raleigh site don’t give detailed geometry information on these frames (in the same way that Frog and Isla do). The lack of this information almost made me ignore the bike. In the end I overlaid scaled pictures of the 10″ bike over the Isla and Frog equivalents, in photoshop, to do a comparison. Raleigh, I really shouldn’t have to do this, please put the info on your site.
The outcome was that the 10″ is very similar to the Beinn 20 small, with the bottom bracket of the Raleigh being about 1/2″ higher. Based on this I assumed that the 11″ would be similar to the Beinn 20 large and, having bought the 11″ for Char, this appears to be the case.
Upon receiving the bike, one of the first things I did was weigh it. A claimed weight of 7.97Kg turned out to be about 8.2Kg (with the pedals on). This is close enough to the quoted weight and I always expect companies to quote a weight that is on the light side of what you can expect to get in the real world.
I guess the next question to ask is have any corners been cut to get this bike down to the weight that it is? Yes, but I would say only in one area, the tyres. The tyres are Innova 20 x 1.35 with an arrow type tread pattern. I took one of the tyres off and weighed it and it came in at 308g, which is mighty light. However, for me this tyre is not really suitable for our intended use. There are no knobbles on the side of the tyre which make me think that it would not grip too well in the corners when off-road. Plus, I’d like a bit more volume in my tyres to give Char bit of suspension and comfort. The Beinn comes with Kenda SB8 which have more volume and offer a reasonable amount of grip. The Frog’s come with two sets of tyres one for the road and one for off-road, I believe that these are both Kenda’s too. I’ve ordered a couple of Schwalbe folding Mow Joe’s for Char’s bike, a 2.1″ at the front and a 1.85″ at the rear. I’m also going to experiment with a ghetto tubeless setup to bring the weight down as much as I can.
The wheels themselves have nice two-tone rims built onto 20h no name hubs with thick plain gauge spokes. The build quality seems pretty good and they run smoothly, I guess time will tell how smooth they are after they’ve been subjected to some mud and rain.
The crankset is a lovely 114mm affair finished in black. The chainring is 32 tooth and non-replaceable (which seems to be par for the course in this sector) with internal and external plastic chain guards.
There’s a Tourney 7 speed rear cassette and mech. The mech has got a nice short cage and shifter really easily. I like KMC chains, so I was pleased to see one connecting the two parts of the drive chain together.
Going back to the front chainring, this is where there is a lack of attention to detail on Raleigh’s part. The axle on the BB is too long. The result is that when the bike is in first gear the chain rubs the inner chain guard, and conversely in seventh gear the chain is well clear of the outer chain guard. I don’t believe that Islabikes would have overlooked this.
My five year old daughter has no problems changing the revo twist shifter through the gears, but I don’t like them. They seem big and bulky for her to grip onto and turn. As with all twist shift arrangements the associated bar grips seem to have too large a diameter for kids hands. Also, with twist shifters the brake levers are pushed a long way inboard, which means that riders with small hands have to ride with their hands quite a way inboard of the end of the bar, so that they can use the brakes. I can see me fitting Altus trigger shifters and thin foam grips at some point in the near future. Interestingly, Frog fit trigger shifters, but seem to fit quite chunky big grips.
Fitted to the Cranks are a pair of run of the mill resin pedals. I’ll be swapping these out for a pair of CNCesque Wellgo KC001 pedals, which should hopefully be lighter and give more grip.
When I first saw the brake levers I wasn’t impressed. It looked as though Raleigh had fitted adult levers to a kids bike to cut costs. They don’t look as small and neat as the ones on Char’s Cnoc, even though Tektro claim they are kids brakes. However, I adjusted the lever reach and the bite point and was a little happier. Char rode the bike and it was obvious from the of that she had the brakes mastered; she was able to control the braking pressure with ease to slow down or stop (she even sneaked in a controlled slid at on point). So, having seen her using the brakes I’m now very happy with their function.
The handlebars are great. As I’ve harped on above, I love the fact that being riser bars you can pivot them to adjust the reach (similar to the bars on the Cnoc). The width is good and wide, which will help a little one to learn to control the bike better. The bars are connected to the forks with a neat short stem which has a number of spacers to adjust the height.
The seat post seems a decent quality budget offering, with a little bit of offset, which will help with adjustments as your kid grows. The saddle looks nice, but is too big for Char. The nose is too long and gets in the way, she wanted it changed straightaway. It’s smaller than an adult saddle, but I’d say it’s more suited for kids around 9-10 year old and above.
Quick release skewers keep the wheels and seat post in place and all seem good quality and work as they should.
Last but not least, the frame. The proportions look right, it is a handsome frame. The weld quality, finish and paintwork are good, the bike looks like a quality piece of kit. There’s a replaceable gear hanger as well as what appear to be mounts for mudguards (the bike does come with a seatpot attachable rear guard). I like the fact that it has an 1.125″ headtube as this gives me the option of fitting a Spinner Grind 20 Air fork in the future, if Char is up to the extra weight. The downside with the frame is the limited choice of colours. Yes the metallic blue is beautiful, buy grey as the other option isn’t very good. Let’s have some brighter colours (like the competition). Don’t assume that girls don’t ride a bike with a full top tube, they most definitely do. Girl friendly colours (not necessarily pink) would make this bike a serious option for a lot more girls and boys.
Verdict
I like the bike, a lot! However, I’m going to have to make a few extra purchases to get the bike I need.
Obviously, these changes are going to cost me a bob or two. Also, you have to consider that the resale won’t be as good as for the Beinn.
Beinn 20 Large
The Frog sounds like quite a complete package at a good price, but I find the geometry a bit odd.
Frog 55
Then there are other new kids on the block like the Dawes Academy 20, although more expensive than the Raleigh, how does it compare?
My head is telling me that the Isla Beinn is the best option as it is good quality kit and, because of resale, it will cost you less than the others in the long run.
However, for me I’m convinced that I have made the right choice in the Raleigh. I love tweaking and modifying bikes; therefore, I’ll get great pleasure making this the perfect bike for Char. Obviously, Char will enjoy her bike even more because of this.
Now, what’s this Dawes Academy 20 MTB that I see, £400, 9.4Kg pricey but nice…
Dawes Academy 20 MTB
.
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How could the Performance 20 be better…
In my opinion there are six simple changes that would make this bike a whole lot better and a whole lot more attractive (without really costing Raleigh much to do them).
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Its curious that the first post on a blog called "Reviews of things I own" would be about a product my son owns. But you have to understand my association with this bike, and the personal connection I have to it, to realize why I feel like this is my bike too.
As a lifelong cyclist and bike-lover, getting my son his first bike was a ritual. A rite of passage. My net was cast wide, and my search was exhaustive. After visits to multiple bike shops, some local, some far away, some online, I came upon the amazon listing for the Raleigh Rowdy. It contained only one photo, and a fairly sparse description. From the photo alone, I was immediately taken with the bike. Here we had a bike that looked, in its geometry profile at least, not unlike a classic MTB race bike of the era in which I came to love the sport. Sized down of course, for kids.