Advice for new e-bike rider 11 years old?

[Hankj]

Or really for her dad, a life long cyclist with 150k+ miles under his belt?

Hi I'm Hank from Seattle. I currently ride a Salsa Vaya on roads and an Ibis Ripmo off roads. I've been on e-bikes here and there and found them to be wonderful fun and good exercise. No crusty analog cyclist bias here at all. But at the moment not worth the price for me, as my cycling has reduced a bit and I'll take all the exercise I can get on my short commute and as frequent as possible singletrack forays into our incredible Cascade Mountain mountain bike infrastructure.

But for my girl! She turns 12 in May. Has some time in pedaling bikes, but given that we live smack in the middle of Seattle -- statistically an exceptionally dangerous city for cyclists unfortunately -- she doesn't have the free range bike everywhere background I had as a kid.

Type 1 and 2 ebikes are legal for any age in my state.

Her mom and I love to ride bikes with her! We've done five tours in Europe with her so far: two Weehoo, one Followme Tandem, two Hase Pino tandem. Getting her on a tandem with me has been a good solution for balancing mom and dad's desire to cover some ground and get some exercise with her ability and comfort limits. Do some tandem riding w/ her at home too, as well as plenty of regular family bike rides.

While fun, this family bike riding is not in the least a workout for mom or dad.

So I decided to get my girl an ebike and see how that goes. Hopefully it helps at least to some extend to balance our group and make everyone even happier together. If it goes well we might rent her a small ebike instead of a seat on a Pino on our next (fingers crossed) family tour in Europe in late August/early September.

I'm a sensible, safety-minded guy, will find a safe place for her to learn the e-bike on low settings, etc. I know cycling, but I don't know e-bikes! As such would love to hear any and all practical advice about e-biking in general and particularly for a tween-age kid.

The bike I bought: 2020 Rocky Mountain Growler PowerPlay hardtail mtb. I could well be wrong, but thought that maybe a mid-motor, low engine cut off speed, and no throttle would help her not zip off accidentally into traffic. I like all types of bikes, but find that slack-ish mountain bikes with big wheels and tires are remarkably apt at staying upright when the going gets unusual. I like the stock WTB Ranger 2.8 tires: low-knob, easy-rolling, good enough on pavement and great on dirt roads. I'm a bit concerned that the Growler will be too heavy for her 105lbs to handle (got a good deal on the entry-level Growler that has some near throw away part spec. I have a garage full of nice mtb part so think I can get weight down to between 18 and 20 kilos without too much expense). I might put a suspension adjusted steel fork on it for now and add a quality suspension fork when she is ready to take it on real mtb rides ...

So anyway that's the deal, all advice from you experienced e-bike riders is appreciated!

Hank

 

[steve_sordy]

I have a 13-year old grandson (size small on a bike) and he has been riding my size large emtb whenever he can get his hands on it for the last 2 years. He just drops the saddle and away he goes! He loved it from the first minute and has never had a moments bother with it.

Bearing in mind her size and weight, I would not go for the 2.8" tyres. I'd put some much smaller ones on, maybe down to 2.2" if the rims will take them. This will drop the BB a bit, but that should help her, especially as she will be mostly not doing rough trails .The bike will be fine and so will she. I'm sure that me + my analogue bike weighed far more than her + her emtb and 2.2" tyres were fine for me on rough trails. Go tubeless for additional benefit, or at least fit sealant filled tubes. I would leave the suspension fork on for the time being. She will probably amaze you.

Depending upon her leg length, shorter cranks might help.

 

[R120]

Mondrake now make kids EMTB's

KIDS BIKES

Sabes lo qué te da a ti el mountain bike y las bicis Mondraker, y quieres que los niños disfruten tanto o más que tú. Por eso hacemos bicis para todos ellos, a partir de los 3 años, con todo lo...

www.mondraker.com

 

[Hankj]

Steve I've considered lower volume tires, but will wait to see stand over first. She's 5'3 and leggy. Fwiw I'm tall and kid is growing like a weed. But yeah, immediate fit is a concern.

Those Mondraker bikes look great, but at 5'3 and destined to be maybe up to 6' she'd grow out too quick. And already bought the Growler PP so there's that little detail ....

 

[R120]

Well growler is a good option - actually wish they sold them this side of the pond!

 

[Hankj]

Well growler is a good option - actually wish they sold them this side of the pond!

Geometry is pretty modern without super long reach, and relatively high stack. Longish wheelbase but shorter chainstays for ebike, mid-slack 66.5 headtube. On paper it looks like a pretty stable set up with good ability to roll over stuff while still having a relatively upright body position and comfortably high hands. Trade off is probably harder to properly press into the front wheel to rail loose corners etc, but knowing my kid she's a long way off from an attacking posture anyway.

If she can comfortably do a 30 mile out and back on the local paved rail trails in 2 hours or less that would be a big win.

Since it appears that there's very little media out there on the Rocky Mountain Growler PowerPlay, I'll post a thread in the appropriate section reviewing the bike and tracking modifications and upgrades. It's the medium size "10" model. I'm betting it weighs 54lbs out the box ....

 

[R120]

Yes it would be good to hear feedback - there are very few decent hardtail emtb's, most are more commuter bikes with a suspension fork.

 

[LivingADVStyle]

Welcome! I really enjoyed the trial of the Orbea Urrun I did befor I got my Rise. I was impressed with the simplicity and light weight of it. But as you said you already have the bike!

All the best with your daughter - glad you are doing so much to accommodate her needs. Nothing worse than a child having a brutal time on a ride to turn them off the sport.

 

[Mr_Price]

I’m not sure you should over think the weight of the bike. I used to ride some pretty heavy Motos when I was her age / size. Good for you for trying to find a solution and good luck with it.

 

[steve_sordy]

If you’re talking about the grommy I have one. It sucks.

Good lightweight bikes for kids are hard to find. The first thing to do is to scale up the bike weight as a fraction of their weight and then apply that to your weight to come up with a bike for you!! You soon realise that most kids are riding bikes that have a massive fraction of their weight compared to you (talking non "e" here). I see some parents urging their kids to keep up when they are riding a bike that is proportionately several times what they would consider for themselves. No wonder some kids give up on bikes!

I used a company in the UK called Islabikes, founded by a women's bike champion from years ago when she struggled to find bikes for her kids after professional retirement. I bought her bikes, from coaster bikes and on upwards. I would keep the tyres for my grand-daughter as she was not an enthusiastic biker but fitted mtb tyres for my grandson; his third word was "bike"!" Islabikes are high quality and although the purchase price is high, so is the used price and I sold easily. My cost of ownership averaged at 69pence per week!

I later bought a used Giant (alloy/carbon) XC bike size S, resprayed it, ditched the old and unsuitable kit, and then steadily rebuilt the bike over the next two years, with better kit as birthdays & Xmas came along (wheels, dropper....). When he outgrew it, I sold it to @Rob Rides EMTB for his daughter. He said he was well pleased with it. The lad remained a total enthusiast. I only wished that I had had more skills to pass on to him. We had the most enormous fun riding together over the years, but I fear I held him back from his true potential.

 

[R120]

That's a sweet DJ bike