Recreational & Family - Thoughts on Specialized Hotrock 20 inch girls?

Last week I posted about my search for a 20 inch girls bike with gears for my tall 6 1/2 year old for Christmas. I visited another LBS this week and saw the Specialized Hotrock 20 inch with 7 gears for girls. Thoughts?? The store also had the Electra Townie with gears, which was super cute, but frame looked a lot heavier than Specialized, and the bike looks a little cutesy/beachy for our use (urban rail-trails, urban parks, packed gravel roads at mountain home).

Last week I posted about my search for a 20 inch girls bike with gears for my tall 6 1/2 year old for Christmas. I visited another LBS this week and saw the Specialized Hotrock 20 inch with 7 gears for girls. Thoughts?? The store also had the Electra Townie with gears, which was super cute, but frame looked a lot heavier than Specialized, and the bike looks a little cutesy/beachy for our use (urban rail-trails, urban parks, packed gravel roads at mountain home).

We have the 24" Hotrocks for my son and daughter, and have been pleased. My son in particular can be rough on his bike - but even with the derailler REALLY bent in after a crash, it still shifted fine. One of the advantages of a 7-speed geartrain. ;-) He's put around 1500 miles on his over the past 18 months, and we've had absolutely no issues whatsoever.

My kids both rode a 20" Specialized mountain bike when they were young. (They're 20 and 22 now.) My daughter got it first, then passed it to her brother when she got a 24" Hardrock. They were both beautiful bikes. They weren't ultra-lightweight - that would have jacked the price up too much - but they were lighter than department store bikes, and so much better quality. The 7-speed rear/no front derailleur on the 20-incher was perfect for someone learning to shift gears - only one lever to worry about - up was up and down was down. No combinations to worry about. We gave that bike to a nephew when our kids got through with it. I wish we had it back. We'd keep it for future grandchildren. We do still have the 24" Hardrock. I let kids in my 6th grade class ride it on our yearly bike ride field trip. Some of them don't have bikes at all :( and some have bikes that are unridable. They enjoy riding a nice little bike on which everything works the way it should. :)

I highly recommend that bike, or the equivalents from companies like Trek, Jamis, Giant, Scott, etc. Getting kids into gears is also great and opens up lots more terrain and ability for them.

They have very good resale value or can be handed down very well to siblings, and even then still have good resale value after multiple kids and years of use.

The Specialized Hotrock also comes in a street version with a rigid fork and some narrower (but still plenty wide) and less knobby tires. Keep that in top consideration depending on where she rides. A suspension fork at this level bike, and her likely use, is heavier and not very effective anyway. At your stated use (urban rail-trails, urban parks, packed gravel roads at mountain home) I'd go for the Hotrock street version. Really great kids bike and probably my #1 pick when my daughter is a little older.

My daughter is on her second Hot Rock. Great bikes! I also recommend the Raleigh Mountain Scout.