The BTwin Riverside 900 is a lightweight aluminium bike at a great price point.
For ages Decathlon’s own brand BTwin kids bikes have been much heavier steel affairs, so we’re really pleased to see that they’re upgrading to aluminium for the frame, fork and chainset. Not only is this lighter (and therefore easier to ride) it’s also much less likely to rust.
The Btwin Riverside 900 with 20″ wheels is a great hybrid bike for ages 6 – 9 years old with a height of 120 – 135cm.
It is available in a grey/green colour and is a lightweight bike that will be great for riding both on tarmac and on the trails.
The specification on the 900 range of BTwin kids bikes includes all the things we’d expect to see at a much higher price. This means you get things such as easy to use gears, child friendly brakes and shorter cranks for easier pedalling.
Comments
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Elton – this is great insights. Karen
Hi there, thank you for this very comprehensive list. Very apropos as we’re choosing a new bike for Santa to bring our 6 year old this Christmas. Basically we’re deciding between an Islabikes Beinn and a 2019 EarlyBikes Trail 20. Right now we’re preferring the IslaBikes Beinn 20 because it’s so light and its geometry is tailored for our little one (lower q-factor, smaller diameter grips, easier to squeeze brake handles, etc).
I’m just looking for some perspective on the EarlyBikes Trail 20. Do you know how they compare on geometry?
Come to think of it, any reason you haven’t reviewed earlybikes here? I mean, they are a premier UK children’s brand, right? Our girl has been on their belter 16 for a couple of years and I can’t say enough great about that bike.
I have purchased Saracen Mantra R2.0 for my daughter – could’t find any wheight before. But – it is about 8.00 kg without pedals and up to 8,5 kg with them. The stem is very long – I asked to cut down some 5-6cm at the lokal bike store so I can take the seat down as much as possible for my 115cm daughter (otherwise at the lowest position you still have some 8 cm out from the frame till the seat). it is good for longer children but as my daughter felt scary at the beginning with BIG bike, it feel beter with a lower position in the beginning. We moved from Earlyrider Belter to this and it is great bike as well.
Thanks for that feedback Ruta – I’ll add in the weights to the article. Good tip about the sizing – wondering if a bike shop could also supply a shorter post, so there’s still the benefit of the longer one at the child gets longer. Hope she had great fun riding it. Karen
I found your site really useful when researching bikes for my seven-year-old. No mean feat finding the right bike – he’s small for his age, but really wanted to get out on the trails.
We eventually settled on the Orbea MX20 Team. This combined all the features he and we (his parents) wanted. For us, these were:
1. Trigger shifters, rather than twist grip or tourney – because our son found them more intuitive and they enable him to maintain his grip while shifting;
2. V brakes rather than discs – because they’re lighter and easier to maintain, and less of a draw for small fingers;
3. A decent range of gears covering most kinds of riding; and
4. Tyres that are big enough to provide a bit of give when riding trails but are equally good on tarmac.
It is a great bike, my son loves riding it and I’m definitely happy with it!
In case it helps others to choose, I was worried about buying a bike without knowing its eight, so I emailed Orbea prior to making a decision. The response was:
MX20 XC: 10.3kg
MX20 Team: 8.97kg
MX20 Team Disc: 9.55kg
MX20 Park: 9.95kg
MX20 Speed: 9.96kg
Thanks so much for the feedback James – those weights are really useful to have – it’s strange they don’t make them publicly available. Glad you’re pleased with the bike – here’s to you both having lots of fun times out on the trails together. Karen
I always use your website as my first place of research when buying a bike for my children. I have just used it for the fourth time to purchase my son a Orbea MX20 Team disc as he has outgrown his Frog 48.
Thanks for the great site ??
So glad you find the website useful Chris – really appreciate you taking the time to get in touch. Hope your son enjoys his new bike! Karen
Hi,
Our daughter moved from her Cnoc 16 to the Isla Beinn 20 and has loved it for the past few months, especially with mud season now in full swing. Whilst spending hours looking for a replacement to the Cnoc we fell in love with the Cannondale Quick 20 (her sister has the ‘Boys’ 24 in Acid green). The Quick 20 is weighing in at 8.2kg with pedals so is up in the light category and we would have gone for it but were questioning the resale value in 12 months, hence the Isla instead.
Hi Will – thanks for getting in touch. The Cannondale is a great bike too, isn’t it – we’re finding that there are so many makes and models to choose from now – all with great specifications! At the moment the Islabikes do tend to hold their value well, as they’ve got the brand name plus the excellent quality of the build is proven over years and year. Hope your daughter has loads of fun on the Beinn 20. Karen
Hi, after looking at most these bikes pretty much over the last 3 months, i thought it also worth mentioning the Raleigh Performance 20 which comes (or did) in 10 or 11 inch frame and light c.8kg. good geometry and my 6yo son really liked how it felt. Decent components and riser bars which can be usefully asjusted dor fit/growth. Price is also competitive with the range in the article and some deala to be had though not many dealers stocking.
Thanks for the recommendation Stephen – much appreciated. Karen
We’ve just bought our second chartres (the 24 inch) and it’s brilliant. He loved the 20 inch version and cycled miles on it. Halfords will give you a discount for buying another wiggins which was good to discover!
That’s good to know Ed – thanks for the update. Hope he enjoys the 24″ version as much as the 20″. Will definitely be faster! Karen
We brought a Wiggins 20 inch Chartres. We are very happy. It’s a good bike. As in VERY good. My little one has done 50m + in the last month.
Its tough, well built and light. Great gear ratios let my little one get a 1m long 5-7.5% hill with no drama. He uses it for his cycle club and off road also. Its a great jack of all trades take it to the park, ride it 15miles, take on a bit of down hill bike.
Hi Carl – sounds like your Cycle Sprog is getting great use out of the Chartres. Good to hear it’s got the gears to get him up the hills – there’s nothing more dispiriting than having to get off and push! Thanks for the update – and hope he continues to enjoy his cycling – he’s certainly getting the miles in! Karen
Hello. I registered ages ago and was pleased to hear from you. We bought our three year old grandson a Cnoc16 from Islabikes early last year and he was cycling within seconds having started on a crap balance bike we’d got secondhand. He’s now ready, more than ready for gears and a bike for longer distances, although he has done up to 10k without difficulty on the Islabike, which has been a great buy despite the expense but because of the totally child oriented design and components. So it was great to get your reviews on the 20″ hybrids. We are biased in favour of Islabikes understandably. Have heard that thumb shifters for wee, not so strong fingers can be a problem, which itself points us towards Islabikes because of the twistgrip shift, so any further comment on that would be a help if you are able.
Thanks for the website: it’ll be on my list of favourites.
Tim
Hi Tim, Thanks for getting in touch – so glad your grandson is enjoying his Cnoc 16. As with anything, the quality of the components makes a huge difference in how easy the bike is to ride. Islabikes use top-end components, so their gears are very easy to use for most children. A bike with a cheaper twist grip will likely be harder to move. Some children prefer thumb shifters – it can be personal preference or what they first learn with. Again a well specified one should be easy to use, although if they have weak to double jointed thumbs then it’s best to stick to a twist grip. Hope he enjoys the move up to the next wheel size. Kind regards Karen