In the beginning
As a child I was left wanting. By that I mean I had a 'mountain bike', so basic needs were met, however I only ever had a cheap and nasty big box store bike (Kmart, I believe). If memory serves me correctly it was about $120 at the time (90's), had 15 gears and gave me some freedom to roam around the neighborhood. But most of the other kids I knew had fancy bikes, like Apollo and Giant. At the time I may not have been able to express why their bikes were better, however the times I managed to score a ride I could sense, no feel, how much better they rode. I started saving up all my pocket money with the goal of buying a beauty, well what I thought was a pretty sweet bike, an Apollo which retailed for $800.
Encouraged by my parents to save and not spend my pocket money, I never met that goal.
So now as an adult earning better pocket money, but also holding significantly more responsibilities, I have decided to get myself a 'decent' bike. Partially spurred on by the desire to spend time with my kids who are at that age where riding a bike is entertaining, when it's not gaming time, but mostly because I feel like I missed out as a child.
Research
So I did my research, and what did I find:
- Cheap bikes can still be had for ~$120
- Budget bikes still leave much to be desired
- <$1,000 is still achievable for a decent bike
- For any specification of bike there are heaps of equivalent choices across brands
- If you are patient and willing not to be picky on specific model or brand you can get a decent discount off RRP
- If you want a specific colour you limit your choices, less so if you want black
- Postage ranges from expensive to crazy
- Quality in store customer service and advice is dead
- Dual suspension pushes prices well above $1k; and adds weight!
So what I decided to focus on was a quality brand Hardtails for the kids and I, rear cassette only for simplicity and reduced weight and hydraulic disc brakes. Budget of $1k including postage a piece.
I used 99 Spokes heavily during my search, in particular for comparing features of different bikes. Especially the scatter plot it produces in the comparison page, visually showing price to spec level of the bikes you have selected.
First Challenge
The first priority was to get my youngest off a BMX style bike. So a 24” was in my sights. The kid wanted black, which meant options were easy to find but not in stock. I don’t know if it was just the lead up to Christmas but we struggled to find any 24” bikes in stock and in budget. We did find one at a fair price that fitted the plan, but then found postage was $200 extra. We ended up at Bikes Online where we found the
Polygon Premier 24 XC Disc Evo. Not black but a delightful green.
Warning, online colour and real colour were quite different. Was a more gently paler green than the vivid picture online. Price was within budget, postage was reasonable and was delivered at a busy time of year in just 3 business days. Amazing.
Come Christmas unboxing, we made it a father son moment and sat down to build the bike together a couple of days early only to find a flat rear tyre. Easy solved, new tube for $10 from a nearby store and a little extra effort to whip the wheel and tyre off to replace the tube. An email and photo to the retailer and a week later we had a spare ready for the next real flat. Kid 1 gives the bike a 10/10.
Second Challenge
Next onto the other kid. The young one liked a
Merida Matts 6.5 V in Black/Green we saw in a store. Why you ask, because he liked the colour! So I could have got away with a sub $500 bike which would have left extra budget for me to get something better. But… I couldn’t do it, wouldn’t like my kid to have the same regret as I with a sub-par bike. I decided instead of finding another youth sized bike it would be better to get an adult's bike but in a smaller frame, last him longer that way. Whilst not all models came in appropriate sizes, enough were available in small or extra small to give us some options. The problem again was stock not available, in these sizes. His choice of colour kept changing as I tried to find options that were the right size, in stock and price/postage within budget.
When we first started looking we shortlisted a
Cube Aim Pro but it wasn’t yet available sale. 2 months into the search with no success, lo and behold the Cube became available at
99 bikes and we bought it quick smart. A bit pricier this time but still in budget (I’m sure a month ago postage from 99 bikes was excessive). Bike was posted in a reasonable timeframe, nothing noteworthy. We enjoyed the build process and everything went to plan. Kid 2 gives the bike a 10/10.
Final Challenge
On to the most important one! I had my eye on a Norco Storm 2, I sat on a bright yellow one 1 size too big at a local store and liked the colour and the bike. The biggest challenge I had was online stores unwilling to post bikes. I contemplated many bikes along the way: Marlin 6 Gen 3, Merida BIG.NINE 80, Polygon XTRADA, Giant Talon 2; to name a few. What I ended up with was not even on my short list. I came across a deal at
Pushys on a
Jamis Durango A1. Bought it over a long weekend and it took them what felt like an age to dispatch the order (about a week inc PH) and then took another week for the courier to deliver. But once receive was all in order, other than incorrect routing of one of the hydraulic brake cables to the near side of the head stem, which I haven't yet been able to correct because I need a brake bleed kit to disconnect, reroute and reconnect the brakes. Meaning some rubbing on the paintwork but otherwise is functional until I can resolve it. Overall I give the bike a 9/10.
Price Summary
Do kids have it better?
I got a bit sidetracked with back story, my intention was to reflect on whether kids have it better than we ever did when we were young. The entry level, but decent brand, bike I wanted back in the day was $800. No suspension, no disc brakes and reasonable but basic gearing. In today's money that's equivilent to ~$1,800. What we got in 2025 was 3 bikes for ~20% more, and lots of technological advancement that comes with time. So yes, kids have it better these days. I wouldn't be spending $2k per kid for a bike and they would have therefore ended up with mediocre one from a big box store!
Would you go with a $150 bike for your kids or splash out for what I am suggesting is a decent one for < $1k? Or would you go full bore and spoil yourself and kids and go for a $10k full suspension high spec ride?
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