Originally Posted by
Russ Roth
no kidding. I looked at so many and even at 450 msrp Kona has bolt on wheels, freewheel. While I'm not convinced kids need better than disc the crap wheels so many if them came with is unbelievable and I don't understand how bikes are still being built with freewheel when cassettes have been around for the last 30 years. Worst is that any of the 7sp come with the Shimano Revo shifter and kid's can't turn them. The 8sp are a lighter action but every 7sp I test was hard for me to turn.
We had a 20" Giant MTX that was 1x7 and served as the first geared bike for both my girls. That thing was a workhorse, but it was also the last bike that was going to be low end shifting for them. After 6 years of use, the gripshift was still difficult to use. It just doesnt cost much to have good shifting.
Whoever decided to put grip shift on bikes designed for kids as young as 7 deserves to be publicly shamed.
Little hands + gripshift = frustration for kid and parent.