I remember the first time Claire rode her Marin SQ24″. It was much too big for her, but it was built and she wanted to try it, so we moved her pedals over. It was obviously heavier and a bit unwieldy – wheels, frame, suspension fork – and it was love from the first turn of the crank arms. The Marin has fantastic geometry. 

Now that 24″ wheeled San Quentin fits her perfectly. Too perfectly. And there’s not a frame on the market that speaks to me as a replacement, never mind a complete bike I’d consider buying. And you might be thinking that I’m just an overly picky bike nerd. Okay, maybe, but what’s your recommendation? There’s only one hard-and-fast requirement, Claire’s next bike will be another hardtail. 

There are plenty of great options once she fits and adult small, but what about the perfect youth setup between a 24″ kids bike and the size small 27″ adult rig that her mom would ride?

Okay, actually, there are two requirements. Firstly the next rig will be a hardtail, and secondly, it will have geometry at least as progressive as the Marin she’s currently riding. That’s a <65° HTA static and nicely balanced and proportional wheelbase. 

By both build spec and geometry charts – keeping in mind, great geometry is free – companies clearly feel that serious mountain bikers, or their parents, who are looking for a 26″ or extra small 27″ bike want a full suspension rig. I mean, Chromag, long mantled as the hardcore hardtail brand, makes a kid’s full suspension bike, the Minor Threat, in 24″, 26″ and 27″ wheel sizes but doesn’t offer a corresponding hardtail.  

The Clairebarian has been so well served by her Marin SQ 24″. We love the bike. And she’s ridden it a ton. Actually, she just changed out the bottom bracket she wore out. I know a handful of folks who have bought one. And even though her’s is a custom assemblage of new and used components, I find myself recommending the stock bike all the time. I’m not saying it’s the complete mountain bike rig for $1350. Budget for some tubeless valves and sealant. Budget to eventually add a dropper post. But even then.

The easy choice for me would be to pick up a SQ 26″ or even an extra-small SQ27″ that I could then mullet. Unfortunately, no such animal exists and it’s a huge sizing jump from the 345mm Reach on her SQ 24″ to the modern & aggressive 422mm Reach on a small SQ 27″. And it’s not just a Marin issue, there simply do not seem to be hardtails that fill this gap – either available as frames or as properly-equipped trail-worthy completes. 

Okay, so, why does it have to be a hardtail? Oh, so many reasons. For one, Claire loves to climb her bike and she’s put in some monster days over the last couple of years. Bike to rider weight ratio, she has to stand up and give’r when climbs get steep, and whatever the potential traction advantages of a full suspension rig, out-of-the-saddle uphill efforts are one place a hardtail shines. She’s also learning to shred it plenty fast downhill and how to maintain it, the latter of which is most certainly less expensive than a sag wagon. 

Anyway, I could go on and on but I think folks either get hardtails or they don’t and I’m not intending to evangelize here. Buy your kid whatever bike works best in your mind and on your budget and get into the forest as much as possible. For me and mine, that’s a hardtail. 

So what’s to be done then? We’ve been throwing around potential ideas for months but in the end we’re buying Claire a bike we already own, or a frame at least. Nina owns one of a few XS Chromag Sakura frames built and it’s been collecting dust since we built up her Waltworks a few years back. And being an older frame, the Reach is significantly shorter than what we’d be seeing on a current rig. 

Sure, it has an 1-1/8″ headtube and what goes for gravel bike geometry these days, but imagine if the headtube was a 44mm unit and slacked out some 4°. The bottom bracket would be lowered from its perch, floating in the 44t big-ring-friendly clouds, and the seat tube angle would steepen a little bit at the same time. The seat tube is 27.2″, but drill ad hole and there are a few good 120mm dropper post options now, and the rear spacing is 135x10mm, but legacy hubs are kicking around. 

Good work isn’t cheap (and cheap work isn’t good) but the frame, which is in good shape, was paid for over a decade ago so I’m considering that a $0.00 starting point for
a head tube angle tweak & repaint job. 

Great for Claire, but what about all the other youths shredding technical mountain bike trails? My advice for other bridge-bike hardtail aficionados looking out at a barren field of options? Have a bin full of take-off parts and you’re just looking for a frame? If you can track down an old 26″ steel frame in good or better condition, it’s not the end of the world to modernize and slacken out the headtube. The same goes if the frame is too old to already sport a disc brake mount, assuming it’s in great shape.  

Just in distracted curiosity, while writing this piece, I’ve come across a few steel Jamis and Kona bikes from the naughts and a slightly older, but super clean, Rocky Mountain and a Brodie that are all small enough that they would make perfect project machines. 

Or, maybe just follow the most ridden path into one of many solid full-suspension kids’ rigs. I mean, what do I know?!?