Review of the woom Original 3 Automagic 16" wheel bike. The bike has MAGIC gears which our 5-year-old reviewer loved.
Frog MTB 62 Rider Review
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The Frog MTB 62 is Frog Bike's smallest Mountain Bike, alongside their Frog 67 and Frog 72.
Frog has kitted this 24-inch wheel, front suspension mountain bike out, designed for ease and comfort to help riders build confidence and progress like a pro!
The Frog MTB 62 hardtail boasts a brilliant set of components, including hydraulics disk brakes, air suspension forks, and a 9-speed drivetrain.
Our eight year-old cycle sprog tester was eager to try out this kids mountain bike and share their thoughts, putting it to the test on their local mountain bike trails and pump track.
Disclosure: We were not paid to write this review, and all opinions are our own. We do use affiliate links so may get a small commission if you choose to buy through the links on this page. This funds the website, and we thank you for your support.
Frog MTB 62 review
Frog MTB 62 key data:
Price - £835.00
Weight - 11.3kg (incl pedals)
Inside leg range - 58cm to 70cm (23" to 27”)
Age range - 8 to 10 years
Colours - Grey and Blue or Grey and Red.
Date of review: Summer 2023
Tester Age/Height: 8 years old, 136cm
Pros - Great components, lightweight and can perform well across a range of riding styles from pavements to off-road and back again
Cons - Better suited to gravel riding than full-on mountain biking
Frog MTB 62 scores
Quality - 3/5 - We love the air sprung suspension that can be adjusted to the riders weight and the Hydraulic disk brakes, but the tyres and frame geometry let it down.
Weight - 5/5 - One of the lightest 24" wheel mountain bikes with suspension on the market.
Value for money - 4/5 - This is a top of the range kids mountain bike- the components and air suspension mean it's not cheap!
Resale value - 3/5 - Good.
Final verdict - A high-end child's Mountain Bike that is suited to all-round off-road riding, we love the air suspension which keeps the weight low. Due to the frame geometry, this might not be the right bike for a child wanting to progress onto steep downhill trails.
Frog Bikes
Frog has successfully established itself as a premium brand in the UK kid's bike market in a relatively short space of time.
Despite the competitive market, they've consistently produced good bikes across the whole kids' range.
Jerry & Shelley Lawson founded Frog Bikes in 2013 and followed the now-common story of being dissatisfied with the kids' bikes on the market, so decided to do their own.
Frog is all about bikes for kids, and their ethos is all about designing better bikes:
“Our bikes are not scaled-down adult bikes, as children are not miniature adults. At Frog, we put the child into the centre and design our bikes around the child’s unique anatomy and his/her unique needs”
In addition to making classic kids' bikes such as 12-inch balance bikes and first pedal bikes. They then offer a range of bikes including city, hybrid, mountain bike, road bike and even track bikes (for the budding Olympian).
They offer a direct sales model where you can purchase from their website, or be directed to your nearest stockist. They also work with The Bike Cub so you can access their bikes on a subscription basis.
The Frog MTB 62
Frog have a range of three mountain bikes. this is the smaller one with 24-inch wheels, and then there are two larger 26-inch wheeled versions.
Why it's called the 62? We wondered ourselves, but found that Frog base their sizing on "Tentative Rider Minimum Inseam" according to their website. So a Frog 62 is designed for children with a minimum inseam of 62cms. If a child is confident though, this can be less; 58cm- not a particularly exciting name, but practical nevertheless.
The Frog MTB 62 as mentioned has 24-inch wheels and could be a young rider's first proper mountain bike. As a mountain bike, it has off-road tyres, an air-sprung suspension fork and hydraulic disc brakes, meaning it is ready to leave the tarmac behind.
For me, there is something a bit funky about the look of 24-inch wheeled kids' bikes. The mix of nearly adult-sized wheels and full-sized components, but a frame with child proportions is odd, but fear not, they ride just fine!
The frame is made of 6061 T6 heat-treated aluminium and is paired with an air-sprung fork which keeps the weight down, but more importantly, can be tuned to the rider's weight by adding or removing air. Rather than a steel spring in lower-end suspension forks, there is an air cartridge which is pressurised to make the fork firmer, or softer.
The 24-inch wheels have sealed cartridge bearings and use quick-release skewers rather than bolt-through axles. The wheels look good and have a couple of coloured spokes to help locate the valves and coordinate with the overall colour scheme.
You get nine gears, operated with a simple trigger shifter and provide plenty of range for getting up the hills. The brakes are hydraulic disc brakes, which offer plenty of power and are adjustable for smaller hands.
All the other components on offer are a good quality selection and they show a well thought out bike ready for action.
Thoughts from riding the Frog MTB 62
It's been an easy bike to get on with, my tester immediately got along fine with the Frog, and there was plenty of adjustment on the stem to drop the handlebars to a comfortable height. All the controls are easy to use although the long brake levers tend to encourage a whole-hand approach to braking rather than one finger, which is all that is required with hydraulic disc brakes.
The Frog MTB 62 has been a fantastic all-rounder, and spinning around town on paths has been great. It has offered a comfortable and secure ride and has not felt 'overbiked' for just doing normal riding. This is essentially the strength of the Frog MTB 62, in that it can turn its hand to anything.
Heading to the pump track is a crucial part of testing, the Frog shined and gave many a happy hour of lap after lap. The only area where we found it was let down was getting properly off-road and heading into mountain bike terrain.
The geometry of the Frog MTB 62 is pretty conservative and has not borrowed a lot from modern mountain bikes.
The Frog offers a nearly 70-degree head angle, coupled with a longish 60mm stem, better suited to gravel riding than full-on mountain biking.
The result is a bike that doesn't give as much confidence off-road as it could, a slacker head angle (many mountain bikes are around 65 degrees) allows the bike to roll over obstacles easier and the steering to be calmer.
So the Frog MTB 62, is not a bad mountain bike, but if your young rider is committed to riding off-road and looking to progress, then this will be a consideration. If however, you're looking for a great all-rounder, then the Frog MTB 62 is going to shine through.
Similarly, the tyres play into the all-rounder style of the bike. Despite claiming to be 2.1 inches wide (tyre measurements are notoriously variable) they are not.
So we have a narrow knobbly tyre, which, you guessed it, is great for a range of terrain, but less so for 'proper' mountain bike use.
For a brand that has created several specialist categories for their bikes such as track and city, It would be great to see their MTB range push more into mountain biking and be more focused.
It's hard to fault any of the components in their own right, and Frog has pulled together a very reliable and robust bike.
The suspension fork works really well and is easy to set up for lightweight riders. Gears and brakes have all worked flawlessly and it's not skipped a beat anywhere.
Overall verdict
There are more specifically focused mountain bikes out there at this price, but if we consider the Frog MTB 62 as an all-around bike then it makes much more sense. It has great components, is lightweight and can perform well across a range of riding styles from pavements to off-road and back again.
The frame comes with a free 10-year extended warranty and Frog also sells touch up paint kits through G.PAINT, allowing you to keep the bike looking new and shiny and can be handy for a quick touch up to increase the bike's resale value.
Where to buy the Frog 62 Mountain Bike
The Frog 62 MTB comes a Red and Grey as well as the Blue and Grey our tester was riding.
Alternatives to the Frog MTB 62
Mountain Bikes with suspension are pretty limited in the 24 inch wheel category. But if this is the size of your child we can't recommend enough getting the right size bike rather than a larger bike they'll grow into, a bike that is too big won't inspire confidence in off-road terrain.
Our Best 24" wheel kids mountain bike buyers guide is a great place to find more suggestions, some of our favorites include the Squish 24 as it has the most squish! With 80mm of air suspension.
The Orbea 24 and the Cannondale 24" kids ranges are good, with more budget friendly options.
The Cube Acid 240 AllRoad is another brilliant option if you are looking for a more hybrid- all round off-road bike.
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Comments
Pretty spot on review.
We have this bike and it has been brilliant moving on from an islabike. At the bike park it has given our son confidence to clear table tops and gap jumps and has handled well groomed runs easily.
The narrow tyres and geometry have limited confidence though on rooty and rocky runs, especially in the wet. We’ve changed the tyres which has helped a bit but the rear chain stays have limited the size to 2.0 or 2.1 Maxxis as there isn’t the clearance.
Great to hear your view on the bike Morris – sounds like your son is getting a lot of fun out of it (despite the geometry and tyres).