The Frog MTB 69 is a 26in wheel junior mountain bike suitable for 10-12 year olds.

>>> Best kids mountain bikes and how to get your kids riding

Review by Ben Day

Kids are blessed with some great bikes nowadays and when UK brand Frog sent in this model for my son to test, I could not help but draw comparisons to the first MTBs I rode back in the late 80’s.

Here before my son is a beautifully finished bike with geometry that’s been tuned for children with components sized to match a working suspension fork and hydraulic disc brakes. All for £640.

My boy has ridden this a lot over the last few months and there are some observations I have made which I asked him for feedback on.

The overall weight of the bike is good at 11.4kg. The geometry is sorted with a minimal headtube, good reach and great standover.

The fork is well set up, however to achieve any modicum of sag for my boy means that the rebound is a bit too slow due to the low pressure in the fork. He will grow into this as he gets heavier but the fact that he can move the forks at all is a blessing for a bike of this size! The fork works very well for little people.

Components like the bar width and crank arm length at 140mm are sized cleverly for junior riders. The brakes run impressively close to the bars for small hands and provide ample power.

I feel the gearing could do with a slightly different spread and other competitors are fitting a 42 tooth cassette at this price point. A wise move as off-road on steep trails did require a lot of out of the saddle climbing. [Since this review was written, we have learned from Frog that all bikes are now shipping with an 11-40 cassette. This is a great addition to the bikes specification and should eliminate one of our concerns. Well done Frog for making the change to make cycling for kids more fun!]

The tyres in dry conditions are fine however don’t get put off by how narrow they are, you only have to look at a kids Race BMX to get the concept that they don’t need a huge air chamber to provide grip, just run the pressure super low.

If I was to upgrade anything it would be to get better pedals; they don’t grip well in the wet with minimal pins and possibly a smaller front chainring for those steeper climbs.

Review by Ben Day