Designed for use by an average size and age range of riders from 8 - 12 years old, this 24" wheel, 9 speed geared machine is ready to go out of the box without a single upgrade. Utilizing a 26" air sprung fork and a standard size rear air shock, offering 100mm of front and rear travel the suspension can be dialed in perfectly for lighter weight riders within this age range. With geometry complimentary to the quick progression of young riders, The Ripcord can be used as a neighborhood explorer but really shines when taken to the trails. Its 67 degree head tube angle and short 381mm chainstays make it a capable and nimble bike both climbing and descending. A simple 1 x 9 drivetrain is used to eliminate the complexity of learning double shifting, and an e*thirteen LG1 chain retention device assuring an optimum ride.
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We wanted to build a kid's bike that provided the same killer riding experience as the rest of our line, and the last thing we wanted to do was create a product that required immediate upgrades due to sub-standard components. The young riders these days pick mountain biking up so quickly they can easily outgrow their equipment, and we wanted to be sure our bike was going to go the distance. The Ripcord is meant to do that and much more." - Transition Bikes Marketing manager Lars Sternberg
Parental testimony-
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It's been so cool to enjoy real trails with my son. The Ripcord's versatility enables us to go out and have fun together on real mountain bike trails, without compromise. I've been so pleasantly surprised to witness how the Ripcord immediately made my son a more confident rider. He hits jumps, drops, and rough sections now that he wouldn't have dreamed of before." - Matt Thompson / Momentum Trail Concepts
Rider testimony-
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It's a really fun bike, and that's what I like about it. I like riding downhill on it a lot a lot because I get to go really fast. It was the first time I went over a bunch of rocks and now it's actually kind of easy because I just pretend they don't exist. It was easy to figure out the gears and I climb hills a lot now and am getting used to the feeling. I like pedaling uphill and looking for a good downhill part where I can not pull the brakes at all and catch a lot of air!" - Cash Thompson
If you've got an aspiring young mountain biker in the house, and looking for a great bike that will provide them some of the best smiles per miles value then look no further, the Ripcord is here.
MENTIONS:
@TransitionBikeCompany
back in the day, you had to mail in the hard copies to get paid from them -- if they got lost in the mail, you were so screwed...
just as bad was if you didn't swipe the card well or the paper shifted, smudging the numbers --- if you couldn't read some/one of the numbers, you're SOL (if you didn't have the customer's contacts).
WHY? I don't know --- call me a pack rat --- I still have some of the envelops we used to mail in the credit card sale receipts.
Linky for yah!
www.evergreenmtb.org/trails/duthie-hill
20" is too small at one point, 26", even with super small frames, is too big.
my three kids were all riding 24" bikes (modified BMX Redline MX24's, 24" cruisers that I made off-road worthy instead of stock street spec). they're 13 now and they would still be riding them but, I got them all on big-kid bikes with 17"ish frames.
one's riding a 15" Breezer, one's riding an 18" Rocky Mountain (both 26"), the other's riding a 17" 700c/29er combo I wup'd up..
those days when they were riding those 24" Redline's was a great phase -- they got them when they were just a tad too short for the bikes.. used them like like single speed mountain bikes... until not too longer... I think they used them for about 4 years or so. that's a pretty good stretch for a growing kid.
me, i would totally get one of those RipCords for my kids if they hadn't already grown out of 24" wheel'd bikes.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/12209174
Hey Transition how about a frame or frame and fork deal for those that want to build it up themselves.
That said, I think owning a bike company, even a successful one is sort of a break even business as it is.
But come on: 1699$ to get a Rock Shox XC32, Jalco wheels, Sram X5, Shimano M396 ??? Are you serious?? This configuration is OK for a 600-700$ bike. Where is the rest of the 1000$??
So, be a good dad and find a bike with way better components for the same price!
You can't only consider the potential public retail price of the frame to justify the price of this bike. That's not fair.
What about the margins?
Kudos to Transition (again) for seeing through the bullshit and just getting people on good bikes without playing the stupid games like Trek and Specialized play to gain sales in all markets.
exactly what i was thinking.
If i had a kid i would much rather them be riding a quality bike than myself. How could you live with yourself as a parent if they crashed because the cheap bike they were on broke
I only mention this because I have taught a lot of kids how to ride and a key to it being fun for them is not overexerting them physically. A 1x10 drive train and a light bike is simple and fun because it isn't exhausting. I wouldn't get this for a kid new to riding. A kid who is already shredding is still probably better off on a used xs 26in FS* than this bike. Maybe if it was a frame/shock kit it would be okay but the weight/parts/price point of this is off.
*There are a lot of barely ridden xs bikes out there from guys trying to get their girl friends into riding. 5-6k rigs for 1k is not uncommon.
The real problem with kids' bikes isn't so much cost, or that the kids grow out of them so quickly - you can always resell or pass on to a younger sibling/cousin/friend, etc. The real issue is size/weight. If you wanted to make a kid's bike that feels as natural to throw around the trail to them as adult bikes feel to us, you'd have to go crazy on lightweight construction - but you have to pretty much use the same components and the same tubing as adult bikes to keep it reasonable, and thus you end up with only slight weight savings. Add to that the problem of smaller wheels (24" is not going to get over obstacles like 26", much less like 27.5 or 29), and the kids have an uphill battle. Sure, they've got youth, energy, and not knowing any better on their side, but that only goes so far.
www.sicklines.com/gallery/data/1037/aaron-gwin1.jpg
Shitty $100 walmart bikes (and the internet) are the reasons kids don't want to ride as much these days as when I was that age. If parents knew that a GOOD bike would get them off the couch and away from their smartphones for a minute, they'd probably buy one of these awesome bikes. Knowing something will be good for their child's health and increase their physical activity without any further persuasion is what most parents are looking for, but not every kid likes baseball.
Kids don't even know they want this yet, so advertising to the parents is what has to happen next.
Showing a 7 year old shred on one of these will make other kids want one, whether it's a Magazine advertisement, TV commercial, or internet ads...Jackson Goldstone could make a fortune doing TV commercials if a bike company got behind it with an ad campaign!
I don't mind spending the money if he's riding it, and the resale value should be good too. Even if he rides it for 2-3 years, and I sell it for $1000, it's cheap entertainment.
I'd like to get a cheap dropper seatpost for it so we don't have to stop for him to use the QR.
Cheers!
legit -- I had several products I couldn't get because of the stuff that went down in this link above.
I love what TBC has been putting out all these years --- products as well as the korky video's, I love the silly's.. I get really bored with the hard core, down your throat PR most companies shove in your face. I don't sell a boat load of them but, it's very rare I ever have problems with anything they produce. I think the last time I had to pull the warranty card was on a guy's Gran Mal and before that, 1 Dirt Bag... Zero issues since then.
Now what would really make this awesome is if they offer a trade-in program or re-sale something or other in the future to help people get these into the hands of up-and coming groms when they are ready to move up to bigger wheels.
Get a XS or small 100mm Full suspension frame, decent 32mm 100mm fork, and outfit it with all your older parts.
The only challenge used to be finding decent 24" rims. I used some Velocity rims with Rocket Rons with my sons Turner XCE.
The issue running 24's on 26" bikes is the pedal strikes until they grow enough to let you slap on the 26" wheels you should have sitting in the garage waiting. It teaches them skills to keep the pedals up when in rough ground.
www.bikerumor.com/2015/08/03/trailcraft-kids-mountain-bike-unboxed-weighed-first-impressions
www.commencalusa.com/PBSCProduct.asp?ItmID=15089697
Gonna be a blast this summer, Thanks Transition!
So your saying kids with shit bikes should'nt even bother riding just cus' they got, just that, shit bikes? You have too own a €$£€$£-bike?
You guys get props when you realease a bike for all the ghetto-kids out there. Dirt cheap that holds up. Until then, stop pissing on shit bikes. Truth is, the majority of parents/kids cant afford this. Go and "invent" some "new" wheel-size instead. I Know, im mad in this text, but i was once one of those kids, taco-ing rim after rim, bending forks, knowing i probably never Will own a "real" dirtbike.
This is when somebody tells me "oh we do soooo much good in the community, blablablablabla..."
i've always said if a bike gets you off the couch, then it's not a shit bike.
i don't know too many people that can lay out $1000+, for a bike the kid will outgrow in a year or two. but, on the other hand, how much is an X-box with all the crap that goes with it worth. they get changed out every couple of years, don't they?. maybe it's not that the bikes are too expensive, maybe it's just parents need to change their priorities when it comes to their kids activities.