Is suspension a good idea on a kids mountain bike? We all grew up with fully rigid bikes, and “it never did me any harm”, the internet roundly told me.

The idea that the next generation of riders should have a crap time on their bikes because us millennials did is daft though. Just because we rode around on bone-crunchingly hard shopping bikes doesn’t make it a good idea. Suspension makes it easier to ride without crashing, more comfy, and my kids are increasingly likely to come riding with me again. That sounds like a win to me.

Enter the Early Rider Hellion, it’s the epitome of mountain bike development, with a lightweight alloy frame, a 100mm travel fork and a host of little details dialling it in to young riders. It is truly standing on the shoulders of giants, passing down the painfully acquired knowledge of decades of riding, thousands of bikes, and millions of rides. Here’s why it’s one of the best kids mountain bikes around, and why my kid and I like it so much…

– Short of time? Click here to skip to the verdict –

Early Rider’s Hellion 24 has internal cable routing, but there’s nothing running through the headset, thank god

Early Rider Hellion 24 need to know

• Triple-butted aluminium kids hardtail, with CNC’s chainstay yoke and sliding dropouts to grow the frame
• Three ‘sizes’ thanks to a choice of 16, 20 and 24in wheel options
• First RST fork with light damping tune for small riders
• Kid specific cockpit and components, with short cranks and a narrow bar

The biggest Hellion runs on 24in wheels, and there are two smaller sizes on offer

Sizing

The Hellion comes in a choice of three wheel sizes, 16, 20 and 24in, spanning ages 4-11 years. There’s very little difference between the Hellion models, except the smallest bike gets a rigid fork. The chainstays grow proportionally between the wheel sizes, as does the front centre measurement. Really then you can think of the wheel sizes as akin to sizing on an adult bike.

This is really important – on any bike – because it ensures the smallest or biggest sizes don’t end up with out of whack geometry. Specifically, chainstays that are too short for proper stability when descending and climbing, or too long to turn corners properly.

Building three different sizes is absolutely going to add complexity for Early Rider, and therefore cost too, but it’s worth paying in my opinion. Afterall, the goal is for your kids to have a good time… and want to come back and do it all again.

Frame

The frame is made from the same stuff pretty much all kids bikes are made from, 6061 alloy. It’s light, cheap and strong. Early Rider has used triple butted tubes to give it an edge though, saving weight where the frame is under less stress.

In my experience kids like bright colours on their mountain bikes, and it’s a shame the Hellion doesn’t come in bright orange or hot pink. Clearly it’s been designed to appeal to mums and dads, with a brushed metal or army green finish.

The CNCd chainstay yoke looks great, and also ensures there’s tons of clearance for the rear wheel

The finishing is sublime all the same, the bike’s silhouette and build quality is effectively a miniaturised adults bike. The Hellion comes with internal cable routing (and an option for a dropper), a CNCd chainstay yoke, adjustable chainstays so you can grow the back end, and clearance for a 2.6in tyre at the back. Who’d need that tyre is beyond me though, just stick with the stock 2.2in.

Mums and Dads doing home servicing will love the chainstay protection, threaded BB and semi integrated headset with cartridge bearings too.

A threaded BB should make any home mechanic thrilled

Geometry

If a 67º head angle seems pretty steep to you, it really isn’t in the world of kids bikes, where closer to 70º is about the norm. The YT Jeffsy Primus 24 is slacker than this, but there aren’t many others raking out the fork to this extent.

Adding 10mm of chainstay length will make the bike more stable, but also harder to corner… it’s great to have the option though

There’s an argument to say if it could be built slacker for more vertiginous terrain, but my daughter isn’t riding super steep stuff yet. And if she was we’d probably have opted for a full suspension bike. That makes 67º about right for blue-graded trails and natural singletrack where the terrain doesn’t carry you away.

The wheelbase is big too, 30mm longer than that Jeffsy Primus and about the same as the Marin Rift Zone Jr we reviewed a year back. I could have made it longer too by around 5mm, thanks to the sliding dropouts that let you plus or minus around 10mm of chainstay length.

There’s a big easy to use QR lever for the seat post, but I’d rather have a dropper with remote

Components

Early Rider hasn’t specced a dinky dropper post on the Hellion and that’s a real miss because dropping your saddle out the way on descents is really important. Yes there’s an easy-to-use QR lever to drop the saddle, but would you want that on your grownup bike?

Shimano 11speed gears with a big 51T granny gear is perfect for young riders, hats off to Early Rider here because most kids brands feature fewer gears

Aside from that the spec is damn near perfect, you get single ring 11 speed shifting from Shimano with short 150mm cranks for small legs.

The cassette covers the usual 11-51T gear range from Shimano, which is very unusual on kids bikes, where the temptation is to add less range at the expense of the crawler gears. Why, I’m not too sure, but well done Early Rider for figuring out that kids can’t press the pedals as hard as adults.

Short cranks and a 30T chainring make pedalling uphill as easy as possible

Combined with a 30T chainring – the smallest Shimano makes except the pricier XT – it’s just about right for less powerful riders.

Small arms demand smaller bars so the Hellion comes with a 640mm bar and short stem. Shimano Deore brakes have a really short lever pull too, and with 160mm rotors there’s still plenty of stopping power for light riders. My daughter’s using one finger braking now too, thanks to the easy lever action.

The Hellion 24 is one of the best looking kids bikes I’ve ever seen… shame it doesn’t come in a garish colour though

Performance

At 185cm and 82kg I can’t actually ride the Hellion myself, not without a trip to the chiropractor afterwards. So this review relies on observation, careful setup and feedback from my daughter Pippa about how she felt on the bike.

In her words though, mountain biking has changed for her with this bike: “I know I can stop on steeper stuff now and that means I can go faster. I don’t get wobbled off on roots now either, I think because the squishy fork is helping me steer round and over things better.”

Shimano MT6000 are probably the best brakes going for kids’ little hands, as the lever feel is light and you can adjust their reach too

Climbing

At 10.9kg the Hellion 24 is a light bike. There are kids bikes out there that weigh less, like the Specialized Riprock at 10.7kg, but none I can find with the same spec level and big sizing and geometry you’ll find here.

However, the full spread of 11 gears and that 51T on the cassette made every climb on blue trails doable. That said I’d probably recommend an aftermarket 28T chainring from someone like Burgtec if your kiddo is small for their age, dropping the resistance a little.

The seated position looks perfect to me too, the front wheel doesn’t loop out even on the steeper stuff, meaning Pippa is far enough forward even with the seat at full height.

The RST isn’t there to impress parents at the bike shop, it’s a proper working fork with an air spring, so you can set the sag right

Descending

A dropper post would be the icing on the Hellion cake. Without one, I’m encouraging Pippa to get used to dropping the post just a few centimeters for every descent, because I know how awkward it can be to have a saddle pushing you forward off the bike. OneUp makes a wicked little V3 90mm post that would slot right in.

Early Rider has gone for an RST fork on the Hellion, there’s 100mm travel there which is actually pretty big on a kids bike – any more and it would upset the bike’s geometry as it dips into the travel.

The compression dial is truly effective, add clicks for a heavier tune or take them off to get the fork moving more freely

Plenty of forks on kids bikes are there for show, with coil springs that are too firm for lightweight riders to move, sticky stanchions that break away abruptly, and dampers that spike.

Not the RST First, it’s a proper fork, on a miniature scale. The chassis itself is lightweight and stiff, with a tapered steerer, 15mm bolt through and magnesium lowers. Inside is an air spring that works with really low pressures – I pumped in 45psi, which seemed about right for my daughter’s weight.

There’s also a low speed compression dial that’s genuinely effective. I added a couple of indexed clicks, to help it hold the front up in corners without impacting on its suppleness. The indexed rebound knob at the bottom of the right stanchion is also effectal, I only added one click though as it’s too slow and gets packed down at the other end of the spectrum.