Quality kids bike

[VeloceNiente]

I attempted a forum search on this but the search function doesn’t seem to be working.

I’m looking for a next-step bike for my 8 year old.

The current bike is a lightweight race BMX I happened to find on OfferUp for $150.

Now we’re looking for a bike with some gears. The Salsa journeyman 24” looks fine, but at $800, a little steep.

I’m considering putting a bike together, maybe with a china-direct 24” lightweight road or gravel frame and decent rim brake group. Has anyone here done a project like that?

The only 24” wheel frames i have found so far on china-direct are mountain bike geometry with disc brakes.

And if anyone has a bike for sale that might work, let me know.