I've finally tracked down a bike for my lad that isn't the other end of the country!

HURAH!

16.0 24v, looks like its had a pretty easy life.

Can't wait to show him it!

Only problem now is his little sister getting grumpy that she hasn't got one!

I have a few upgrades planned already

Can anyone explain what a 36v can do over a 24v?

I wont be doing it soon, but just trying to understand the benefit.

My son had a 36-volt version from day 1, so I can't tell you how much slower the 24-volt version is. But I will tell you that a 36-V with a light rider on board (50 lbs) on max power setting is a little rocket ship.

HAHA! Brilliant!

Its currently on max setting which I need to turn down before he has his first go later.

The bike is mint! Looks like it has never seen mud! (that will change!)

The rear end is very stiff - I think I'll strip it down and grease it all up - maybe even see if I can get some proper bearings for the axle (which I think I read on here is just a plastic sleeve rather than a true bearing)

The bike is quite noisey to push, but I think its mostly chain noise, and also some from the motor I think...its silent once it gets going, and similarly quiet when its under its own "steam".

The front brake is crap, and needs adjusting - but for now I'll leave it crap to save him going over the bars as he learns to stand up on it etc.

I had a right laught whizzing round the house on it last night, and up and around the drive. It is really really quiet and I'm so please with it!

I just hope the little dude likes it!

I'm thinking I'll let him get used to it, then in a few years when most people upgrade to a "normal" bike I'll switch it up to a 48v with custom controller, revised motor and lipo4's for power - but that can wait....

Well the good news is - he loves it.

The bad news is - he cant touch the floor!

I was torn between the 12.5 and 16.0...went for the 16 assuming he would just about fit it, but he doesn't.

Which means he will need stabelisers - At 4.

Doh.

There are several things you can do to lower the bike to suit your child.

If is the first generation with upper and lower triple clamps, you could slide the fork tubes up by an inch.

In the rear, you can at least take some of the preload off the spring, or even unwind the collar and let the spring press against the upper mounting point (but that could do some long-term damage - but the whole shock is cheap to replace if that happens), or you could get a softer spring which would allow more sag.

Just by softening up the rear of our 16, we had our 3 year old riding and he could put both feet down.

Pete

Thanks, I'll give that a go. I'll strip it down and grease it all too whilst I'm at it. Hopefully it will help. He isn't a very big 4 year old, and there is no fat on him either.

I Guess a lighter spring will be needed! Thanks

our 5 yr old daughter is getting one in a fornight for her 6th birthday..

I've added hydraulic mountain bike brakes to my daughters 36v. She is quite small even for a 6 year old girl and she couldn't apply enough pressure to operate the single piston cable operated set up fitted as standard.

The mountain bike brakes require far less pressure and are adjustable for both reach and span which is a benefit.

Fitted both front and rear in less than an hour!

Does the 36v come with disk rear as standard, or did you convert the band brake. I'm finding the band brake very noisy on the 24v, (also doesn't work well in reverse) and it would be nice to change to a disk, but looks like it would need mountings fabricated.