Anyone’s kid riding a Cleary meerkat?

[Nooch]

Eyeballing a Meerkat 24 for my daughter, curious as to first hand opinions versus something like a cannondale cujo 24 or trek wahoo?

Thanks!

[CNY rider]

One of my daughters is on the Cannondale.......whatever the no suspension model is.
She loves it.
Rides on pavement and dirt roads.
Price was reasonable and quality is good.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Nooch

Eyeballing a Meerkat 24 for my daughter, curious as to first hand opinions versus something like a cannondale cujo 24 or trek wahoo?

Thanks!

8 year old daughter has a Meerkat, had the Owl before that(her 6 YO sister has that now) and can't recommend them high enough. Durable, well made, good components..after them bashing them around, they still work great..

[Nooch]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

8 year old daughter has a Meerkat, had the Owl before that(her 6 YO sister has that now) and can't recommend them high enough. Durable, well made, good components..after them bashing them around, they still work great..

Do they distribute through QBP or anyone, do you know off hand? If I can buy one local that would be the icing for me..

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Nooch

Do they distribute through QBP or anyone, do you know off hand? If I can buy one local that would be the icing for me..

Don't know, got them from Vecchio's, think he got them direct from Cleary..Don't think they are QBP product.

https://www.clearybikes.com/apps/store-locator

I got mine in the box and they were both setup really well..You can buy direct..

[benb]

My son has the Trek that is similar.. 24" wheels, fully rigid aluminum frame. I'm not sure but I think my son's was called a Superfly, they are not using that name now, but his bike is probably closest to the Precaliber 24 8-speed boys today.

I think it's super worth it for a kid to skip the suspension at this point in their riding. The LBS was telling us the same bike with a suspension fork was +8lbs heavier at the time we bought his. They are not high performance suspension forks at these price points either. On top of that while my son can ride quite well he's nowhere near ready to hop over a log or jump off anything. He's not really very comfortable riding out of the saddle even.

8-10lbs of extra suspension weight is a ton of weight when you weigh 50lbs.

We have had 0 trouble with the derailleurs on his bike. I think his has 6-speeds in the rear. It has a much beefier chain than a 10-11 speed adult bike and has lower tolerances for derailleur adjustment. I might have had to adjust it once. Personally I'd not have paid extra for an internally geared hub if the bike with the internally geared hub cost more now that I know the derailleur has been fine. The meerkat is $600 so that's a very premium kids bike, my son's was about $400 and that was already premium enough the LBS had to special order it cause not enough people buy them to justify carrying it in the store, and we live in a very well to do area and that's a big LBS with hundreds of bikes on the floor. I'd consider how many kids are going to ride the bike since it might get outgrown quick. Overall though having the really nice kids bike is nice.. you will spend way less time fixing it and it will be safe with actual working brakes as opposed to the cheap kids stuff.

Only other thing.. I think the grip shifters on these kids bikes are terrible.. anything other than a grip shifter would be better. My son could understand how to use the gears correctly before he could reliably have the strength to twist the grip shifter in the direction of increased cable tension. So he could upshift the bike easily but had to work so hard to downshift he risked upsetting the bikes handling or having to stop and have one of us downshift it. But the grip shifter has not gone out of adjustment or failed. So the Cleary having a trigger shifter is great as long as it can be adjusted to be reachable for the kid & their thumb is strong enough for the downshifts.

[flydhest]

Do you want/need flat bars and suspension ? My 8-1/2 year old is on the Giant cross bike with 24” wheels. It is awesome.

Just throwing out options.

We have had Cleary in our family and our 6-1/2 yo is on a 20” and they are great.

[joosttx]

My daughter is on my sons meerkat that we repainted. Needless to say they are great and is surviving two kids who thrash their bikes.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally Posted by benb

I think it's super worth it for a kid to skip the suspension at this point in their riding. The LBS was telling us the same bike with a suspension fork was +8lbs heavier at the time we bought his. They are not high performance suspension forks at these price points either. On top of that while my son can ride quite well he's nowhere near ready to hop over a log or jump off anything. He's not really very comfortable riding out of the saddle even.

8-10lbs of extra suspension weight is a ton of weight when you weigh 50lbs.

I'm looking for a 24" mountain bike for my 10 yo. I am tempted by the mid-fat kids bikes out there, mainly to avoid cheap, heavy suspension forks.

Anyone have experience with one something like this?

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...oe-24/p/22705/

[93KgBike]

We've had good luck with Priority kids bikes, and now Raleigh rowdies.

Also have a Kent bmx with an oil slick paint job we rebuilt.

I was so close to buying a pair of Frog's at Christmas. so glad I did not.

[Nooch]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

I'm looking for a 24" mountain bike for my 10 yo. I am tempted by the mid-fat kids bikes out there, mainly to avoid cheap, heavy suspension forks.

Anyone have experience with one something like this?

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...oe-24/p/22705/

I'm really at the toss up between the meerkat and the roscoe.. Leaning toward the roscoe at the moment since it'd be from the LBS, and it comes in pink -- pink is awfully important, lol...

[benb]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

I'm looking for a 24" mountain bike for my 10 yo. I am tempted by the mid-fat kids bikes out there, mainly to avoid cheap, heavy suspension forks.

Anyone have experience with one something like this?

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...oe-24/p/22705/

It all depends on how good your kid is, where he/she rides and what technical level they are at.

Can they ride wheelies? Are they jumping stuff? How are the MTB skills? Jump over logs? Wheelie drops? Bunny hops?

I got my first non-BMX bike (a rigid MTB) when I was 12, despite riding constantly and trying to pull wheelies & jumping off stuff my skills were nowhere near the point where I needed suspension or ultra fat tires or anything.

If the bigger fat tires add too much weight they probably don't add anything but they're not something to break the same way a suspension fork on a $500 bike.

It's been a long time since I had a $500 hardtail MTB.. but the fork on mine lasted like 3 months before I broke the internals and that was just deciding to enter a couple of first-timer level X/C races.

[Nooch]

Originally Posted by benb

It all depends on how good your kid is, where he/she rides and what technical level they are at.

Can they ride wheelies? Are they jumping stuff? How are the MTB skills? Jump over logs? Wheelie drops? Bunny hops?

I got my first non-BMX bike (a rigid MTB) when I was 12, despite riding constantly and trying to pull wheelies & jumping off stuff my skills were nowhere near the point where I needed suspension or ultra fat tires or anything.

If the bigger fat tires add too much weight they probably don't add anything but they're not something to break the same way a suspension fork on a $500 bike.

It's been a long time since I had a $500 hardtail MTB.. but the fork on mine lasted like 3 months before I broke the internals and that was just deciding to enter a couple of first-timer level X/C races.

No skills to speak of, really, but she's just getting to the cusp of being into a 24" bike. That said, I also have no skills, lol, but hopefully we can get out into the woods more. She also has two younger sisters, so I'm looking for longevity.

The meerkat looks a little smaller, but I can't seem to find any posted weights to compare. The meerkat also has hydro discs versus cable, and the internal hub versus a normal RD (don't know if that's a pro or not).

TheGunner said "which one does she like better? buy that one." I don't necessarily disagree, and think pink will probably win out on that front..

[p nut]

I’m looking for a new bike for my 7yo daughter as well. But can’t justify $600 for a bike she’ll ride around the block. Maybe 3-5 miles at most.

I may buy a used Trek/Spec ($80-100) and lace up some light 24” wheels.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Nooch

No skills to speak of, really, but she's just getting to the cusp of being into a 24" bike. That said, I also have no skills, lol, but hopefully we can get out into the woods more. She also has two younger sisters, so I'm looking for longevity.

The meerkat looks a little smaller, but I can't seem to find any posted weights to compare. The meerkat also has hydro discs versus cable, and the internal hub versus a normal RD (don't know if that's a pro or not).

TheGunner said "which one does she like better? buy that one." I don't necessarily disagree, and think pink will probably win out on that front..

The Meerkat is definitely a sweet bike if you want to spend the money, don't think she'll outgrow it in a year, have another kid to pass it on to, whatever.

It looks like an exceptionally well thought out bike. For a kid you'll probably never have to do anything to the brakes ever unless they were defective, hydro brakes are often super low maintenance. The internal Hub should be more resistant to damage from getting dropped in the grass. Less stuff on the outside to get gunked up. Trigger shifters should be easier for little fingers IMO. It doesn't have suspension which seems like a positive.

You never know what's going to happen though. My son learned to ride at 4, this year he's 6 turning 7 in the fall, and he hasn't wanted to ride much. He did 10 mile rides last year when he was 5, probably has not done a 5 mile ride this year.