Video: Hayes' JUnit Line Includes Forks, Controls, Wheels and Brakes For Kids

Apr 12, 2019
by Hayes Bicycle  
Hayes JUnit Junior Components

by HayesPerformanceSystems
Views: 2,648    Faves: 4    Comments: 0


Press Release: Hayes

We recently headed to St. George Utah in search of dry trails and nice weather to test the new Hayes Bicycle collection of products. We hooked up with our friends at the Outlaw Team coached by Tyson Henrie.

The team has some 30 riders that often ski together in the winter and ride together in the summer. It was a family affair with Ted & River Bell (father & son), Dan & Sam Dean, Dan & Clive LaRiviere, and Jason & Brodey Walker who all traveled down from Salt Lake City to spend a few days having some fun in the sun!

You have to get up early to get the right light

If you have ever done a video or photo shoot you know that you need to scout the location in advance to be sure the light is good, the trails are amazing, and in this case to be sure all the riders could handle the challenging trails. One thing we learned quickly was these kids were more than capable of riding anything in front of them from steep drops to challenging single track.

We spent the evening pimping out the bikes and getting all the new products adjusted and fit to the specific riders size and bike. A big thanks to the crew at Commencal bikes who will be the title sponsor this season for Team Outlaw.

So what is new, and why do we think these components will make such a big difference?

A key component of the JUNIT system is that the Manitou Machete 20” and 24” suspension forks offer complete adult functionality and adjustability, yet specifically tuned for kids. Our team was able to apply our extensive suspension expertise and knowledge to create something truly unique. Finally, young riders have the option of either a 20” or 24” fork to shred on a lightweight, high-quality Manitou chassis.

Another component of the JUNIT system is the new SUNringlé Düroc wheels. Offered in both 20” and 24”, JUNIT Düroc are high-quality, tubeless ready wheels for kids. Our wheel engineers applied their experience in designing rim profiles, materials, as well as applying SUNringlé Tubeless Ready (STR) technology yielding a premium youth wheel system.

Building off our award-winning Dominion A4 hydraulic brake, our product development team set out to design a brake system specifically for any rider with smaller hands. Dominion SFL (Short Finger Lever) maintains all the power and feel of our proven A4 design, fitted with a specifically smaller designed and narrower brake lever optimized for small hands.

JUNIT ProTaper MTB handlebar and grip is the final part of this system. Engineering began by researching anthropometric data from a NASA database. We determined the average hand size of a 6-10 year old which set the team into motion. Normally, grip diameter is a result of adding material to a standard handlebar size. For the JUNIT ProTaper handlebar system, we flipped the script. We began by determining the ideal grip diameter and worked inward. The result is a handlebar and grip with a 23mm outside diameter that’s ideal for a smaller ergonomic profile. The JUNIT ProTaper handlebar and grip are specifically designed to be used together.

photo

Please stop by our booth - S3 at Sea Otter this weekend by the kids test track to see all the new JUNIT collection and learn more about the new Hayes Dominion A2 disc brakes, Manitou suspension forks, SUNringle' tubeless wheels and ProTaper small diameter bars and grips.

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50 Comments
  • 12 0
 This is awesome, I just finished stripping all the heavy crappy parts off my sons specialized rip rock, and have been having a hard time finding quality parts to replace them with, especially the fork. I will definitely be getting the fork and brakes and probably the rims too.
  • 2 1
 Specialized should be ashamed for pushing that trashy bike. Good on you for fixing it up. Fwiw the 24" is actually a 26" frame on both ends. The backend is super long and the front end is really steep yet the reach is short. No my favorite. You'll want the biggest angle set you can find for the front end to slacken it out to something less sketchy. A 69d HTA will get freaky steep undersag and braking... Maybe steeper than a BMX.
  • 3 0
 @Svinyard: 26/24 wheel combo to address the HA?
  • 1 0
 @mammal: Good idea, but the reach is already really short on it iirc and that would make it shorter. I'd just angle set it heavily and run it 26" similar to what VPace did with their 26". Its the 29er concept but for 24" bikes. Short frame but bigger wheels. It'll roll over stuff well, but for kids, they need bikes that are poppy, fun and agile so they can develop skills like manuals, bunnyhops, skinny/tech riding, drops and sick jumps with kid whips. Not oversizing a bike helps with that. Rolling down the hill is good too but rollover speed shouldn't be a priority for young kids (my opinion) unless they are really trying to win races...but then a different bike is needed all together. u10 racing DH scene is INSANE, those kids are flying and the ladies are just as fast. The kid scene is super legit, unfortunately Trek, Spesh, Giant, Cannondale only put out heavy/expensive trash to dupe kids in your LBS. Someone needs to call them out for the harm they are doing to the kids scene and how much they hold it back. Then companies like Vitus put out a 24" airfork hardtail, 67d HTA, maxxis tires, hydraulic disk brakes, decent geo in a 25lb bike for 480$. As a small company their product absolutely destroys what the big brands are doing and its cheaper. I think Calibre is going to be special in the kids world as well with their cheap supply chain and high quality bikes. They need to get it done tho. Big brands are just cash grabbing kids with trash because that's all there is locally. Its changing tho! However, as you can see the used market is polluted with a bunch of garbage bikes (seriously 6lb coil forks for a 60lb kid...). It'll take a few more years for the market to do what Vitus is doing and then for used bikes to show up.
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: I agree specialized should be ashamed the parts are super cheap and ridiculously heavy, and I would have been super disappointed, had I not paid half price for a slightly used bike. I figured I would be replacing all the parts anyhow so no sense buying a new one. I actually bought the 20” model and will be using the 24” fork in the front to slacken the head angle, that way I’ll be able to still use the fork when I get my son a 24” wheeled bike. I was also looking at the vitus, they have some nice kids bikes only problem was the cost of shipping to where I live.
  • 3 0
 The only good kids bike that Spec makes in Hotwalk. Everything else is crap. I would however like to see super light products across the line. Kids are damn light.
24” rims at 300g or less, complete wheel should not weigh more than 1200g.
Stem+bar combo at 200g
Short 150 cranks with sub 150QR factor.
Small, light pedals.

Brakes and grips do it for me here, good job Hayes.

Scouting out for a 100mm SID...
  • 2 0
 Ha, Waki on the kids bike stuff. Good times. Are you on MTBR kids forum? We are always going through this stuff. A couple of those guys are actually in this video. Insanely talented kids.

Fwiw 150mm cranks are too long for 24". BB is already so low and it brings kids knees up really high. 135 or 140mm is ideal for this size. Trailcraft directmount is awesome. Good luck on the SID. Super light in 26" and apparently work great once they are retuned for a 60lb rider.
  • 2 0
 @Svinyard: hi, no not on the mtbr kids. A rather early 26” SID would be tits. Otherwise Reba has to cut it. Plenty of those around here. I did get a warp stem recently. 86g for 40mm Smile would never ride it myself. I found a good solution for pedals too. Remove springs in worn out mallets dh. I barely missed a carbon bar at 110g! Guy wanted pennies for it. Shimano brake levers work great for my daughter, i must say though, she has short cranks on her 20” Meta AM which is a damn heavy bike BtW, and I see her having th issue with Q Factor. Kod sbikes should be using like 55BBss ith outboard bearings and narrow cranks. Kid ship stability is poor, imagine yourself pedalling as wide as the outsides of your pedals.

BTW my 5yr old son just did a proper bunnyhop today. Then jumped over a stick. Sooooo proud, almost crying hahha. Felt better than me clearing a big line on dirt jumps last weekend
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns: Good point on the Q-Line. Wren Stem btw is a great option at 74g and 35$ on ebay. I know adults that run them. They are DH rated....I wont use it lol. Carbon bars are cheap on ebay. 110g would be great. KC008, AEST pedals are super light. AEST is Ti axle I think.

CONGRATS on the 5yro bunny hop. No small feat! My best Dad moment has been the INCREDIBLE stoke we had after the kids first DH run on a fast flow track. It blew his mind and he was going nuts hugging me etc. Good times to come! Make sure you got him on a FF helmet 100%. My little guy 4yro nearly killed a tooth and smashed his face (mom was there too...ugh). Bloody mess even at 1mph. My kids never ride without their Bell Super 2/3r or Fox Proframe. A buddys 5yr had to be lifeflighted out from a speed bump jump gone wrong at high speed. Broke his jaw etc. FF baby! Good luck. BTW when does Lil Waki get his PB account?
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: he has a FF since last year. He also nearly killed a tooth. My daughter has one too now. Proframe and 2R respectively hahaha. Fox launch jr pads almost always and elbow guards so etimes, .What is often overlooked is the gloves. Once at the pumptrack he took off his gloves to take a sip of water from the bottle and didn’t put them back on. Crashed directly. I’ve been cutting off pieces of his torn skin at home afterwards...

How long did it take you to get your boy to stand on pedals instead of sitting?
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns: You are dialed man!
The helmet thing is hilarious, nice work (sorry about the tooth). Totally agree on the gloves.

So my youngest is the sweet nice kid, he got his Spawn Yoji on his 3rd birthday. He pedaled the first day really well in our neighborhood with a slight, slight slope. After about 4mo to so, after he got the bike, he could stand and pedal decently... but with some wobbling that freaked me out a bit.

We started to stand and pedal by simply standing and coasting down the slight decline on smooth pavement (dirt would have been better). They would follow a progression by just standing for a second and then sitting down. Overtime he could stand for longer and longer coasting . It worked really well and I've helped a few other kids do the same. Then pedaling was introduced. It took a little while.

Now at 4.5 he can hit some little jumps at speed and lean the bike over etc. and does well on mellow single track. I wish he had a mtb on some days with disk brakes because he'd be great on mellow green runs going down. He's smaller than big brother so he isn't jumping on our 20" Hardtail yet.
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: My sons face saved several times by the solid visor on his toddler helmet. Not a scratch from a few face plants on the sidewalk

Myself I a 50/50 on full face helmets on small children. Back in the day I read a report on dirt bike injuries (broken necks specifically) caused by chin bars digging in and snapping undeveloped spines. I think LEAT may have cured that but still worry. That being said they have full face and 3/4 helmets now.

Congrats on the Bunny Hop Waki. I would get weepy myself if our kids do same.
  • 1 1
 @fabwizard: That's an interesting concept. I think the highspeeds of MX could be of concern but going full face, while perhaps there are some downsides, is by far the lesser of evils. The benefits greatly outweigh the risks. There are so many BMX and MX kids permanently in FF helmets that I don't think the spinal injury part is that much of a risk or we'd see so much more of it.
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: bmx is 75 degree on average now. Slack/trails would be 74.
  • 4 0
 Very cool. Now can we hear about the OEMs that are using it? Kid needs a new bike lol! Commencal Clash looks sick tho the spec is pretty heavy aside from suspension.

Fwiw this fork is like 3.8lbs which is a touch lighter than a Fox 34 and a lot lighter than any of the other spec'd forks on 24" sleds.

The first big production, legit Kids suspension! (McCloud shock now has the Nino kids specific tune option). Pretty awesome. Have to thank the Pioneers like Brian at Lil Shredder for forging the way when no one else would.
  • 1 0
 Dont forget Spawn Bikes.

I just finished a big upgrade to one of our two 2018 Rocky Mt. Vertex 20".

First bike I just swapped the tires for the Spawn 2.2 x 20"

Second bike has a shorter stem. Spawn cranks(much shorter but can remember size at the moment), swapped the rims for Spawn TR, and tires again for their 2.2 and set up tubeless.

Honestly, this is the bike that Rocky should have made. They can thank me by giving me two vertex 24s with my above modifications(They could make a BC Edition). The tires alone totally changed the bike. It is now a real Mt. bike but still a bit heavy. The added traction was immediately apparent on both bikes, they were able to climb steeper and looser trails and descending confidence and ability went through the roof. I didnt realize how much the 1.9 tires were holding them back. For 2019 Rocky put a 2.2 on but did not change the rim, which i found pinched the tire to much, the wider spawn rims made for a much better fit, and TR. That being said I should have just bought the Spawn in the first place as the above modifications(after paying the LBS to lace the rims) was about 800. Add that to the original price and we have a 1600 kids bike 0-:

If you have a Spawn/Lil Shedder/Commencal 24" for sale and in good shape drop me a message as the one kid is just about to outgrow the Vertex.
  • 3 0
 @fabwizard: Lol, nice work man. Yeah Rocky needs to get their stuff together. Here's the deal for you, the Vertex 24" sucks and is expensive.

Vitus Nucleus 24" for 480$ shipped to CA in 5 days for free with no taxes. Insane value. You'd have to spend over 800$ to get anything comparable. Air fork, decent maxxis tires (Spawns a good upgrade), 140mm cranks!!!!!, decent geo, 25 or 26lbs, 9sp 11-36 gearing (awesome for the price) and hydraulic disk brakes.

You'll have more than enough money to upgrade if you want too. Vitus is killing it for the value in 24/24" hardtails.
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: Wow that is a great option. Big thanks.
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: Crank looks identical to the Spawn I put on the vertex. Thinking that the fork may be the weak link in this package. For this size the kids will need a bit more squish. They are already bottoming out their current 65 mm forks. (ends up being a real compromise between plush and bottoming).
  • 1 0
 @fabwizard: Yeah, its amazing value and better than most everything else...but these are still short travel hard tails. Kids will still shred them, but there is a limit to the suspension.

Commencal's Meta HT+ 24" has a 120mm fork and nice geometry! Its got a pretty terrible spec aside from that tho. Wheels and tires are super heavy, drive train isn't ideal, cranks are to long. You could take that package and swap all that stuff, but you'd be around 1900$ at that point for a shredding hard tail.

TrailCraft 24" is a sweet package and they will do a custom build for you, but if you are going for move travel then you are getting into dropping close to 2k.

I'd wait it out to see what other companies are doing with this J-Unit line. The dampers on this fork will be pretty impressive as well as the nice air spring (their top end spring with a steel shaft instead of alum).
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: Hopefully J-Unit Group are reading these and they can hook up our kids as testers in the Great White North as we ride the North Shore and Hornby Island year round;-)

I was looking at the Commencals and had not realized the spec was poor. I am worried that we may need to go Full squish soon and the prices go through the roof then.

That leaves me back with Spawn or Lil Shredder then if I need the more squish.
  • 1 0
 @fabwizard: Little shredder is a fortune. Spawn is only 80mm of travel on Velvet fork (not bad) but also has the wrong cranks, maybe you could extend the travel of the fork easily tho? Prevelo makes a nice 24" hardtail but still only 80mm of travel.

OR how about this!:

- you just get the Vitus for cheap (480$)
-You get an aftermarket JUnit fork at 120mm for (450$)
- Maxtion tires - 90$
- Angleset headset if possible for 50$

You can drop the HTA to 66d or 65.5d, throw that 120mm JUnit fork on there with Maxtion tires and go shred!

Prob about the same cost as the Spawn and the cranks will be correct. Another 100$ and you can make it 11-42 if you wanted.

Thats not a bad idea.
  • 3 0
 good money spent on a top end kids bike /parts will always be worth it!
and will gladly pay more to ride more runs/km's in a day with the fam
start them young!
if you want lifelong brand loyalty ......
  • 2 0
 This^^. Cheaper than an Ipad and a phone right? Spend the money and then sell a nice used bike to some kid that needs it. Makes the world a better place Smile
  • 2 0
 We have been through two spawn Banshee 16" bikes for the kids and bought both used for 325 each, rode the wheels off them, sold the one for 325, and the other is waiting for the next ripper to grow into it.

I cannot recommend these bikes enough.

You will see depreciation if you buy new but not crazy like the junk brands, especially when many are ready for the garbage when the one kid is done with them.
  • 3 0
 Always was a problem finding proper 20-24" suspension forks so this makes a lot of sense!
  • 1 0
 Yeah the only legit 20" is the one Lil Shredder designed. Spawn, Trailcraft, Prevelo spec that and it's unreal for little kids. This is now a sick looking option for same price, I'm guessing the damper for this one is better. Both are sweet. In 24" tho, there has literally been nothing that was very good. Lots of 26" forks used that have a ladies tune that sucked for kids and were way heavy. But this is new! And sick and lighter than those 26" ones!
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: spinner grind 300 air fork for 20" is awesome, and much lighter than the coil that comes on kids bikes. My son was hitting big jumps with it.

forums.mtbr.com/families-riding-kids/new-version-spinner-grind-air-20-a-1064083.html
  • 1 0
 @fruitsd79: yeah it's not bad, especially as a DJ kind of fork. If you get a chance to mess with with the fork Brian man... It's a different beast tho. It has adjustable compression, handles very low psi and is super plush with nearly zero sticktion. You see the difference when riding rougher terrain, it tracks amazingly well like a Fox fork would but for a 50lb kid. That's why it's 450$ aftermarket Smile
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: He outgrew a 20" mtb so fast, i can't justify 450 for the fork. He was able to hit every line at the Railyard on a 20" hardtail with the spinner fork. tackled the toughest rock gardens on our local trail with a $100 hotrock. The money is going in to the 24" bike now.
  • 1 0
 @fruitsd79: yeah of course. Spinner is great and kids on Flow bikes have crushed it for sure. Sounds like you guys are ripping!!

No more Hotrocks for 24" tho lol. He is due for that FS I'm guessing. Good luck going broke like the rest of us lol. Cheers
  • 1 0
 @Svinyard: big hit grom 24 now. Getting it built for some lift access this summer
  • 1 0
 The only thing that makes me sad about this is that I've build my kids' bikes 24 and 20" bikes already. The 20" could use some upgrades, but it's already silly enough and no more kids to pass it down to.
  • 1 0
 adopt!?!
  • 2 0
 What happened with answer components? Did they made it all ProTaper or what?
  • 1 0
 Yep. Answer products still available to an extent, but the new products have shifted to Protaper. I loved the answer AM stem, and thought the Answer branding was waaaaaay better, so I'm a bit disappointed.
  • 1 0
 That’s what I’m saying they has some of the coolest designs too. I don’t know why they would switch it to ProTaper when their variety is not as big@mammal:
  • 1 0
 @mammal: agreed. Protaper branding sucks
  • 2 0
 It's a good time to be a kid!
  • 1 0
 Man I saw their new dh fork a couple of years ago n I’ve been waiting to fully see it at detail ever since!!
  • 1 0
 I have my 7 year old kid's Transition Ripcord at 21.1# ready to rip. I'm a bit jealous of it honestly.
  • 1 0
 On edit, 22.1#.
  • 2 0
 Ha you keep getting lower and lower weight out of that thing.

I'd like to see Transition update that frame and travel to make it more of an all-mountain bike. Imagine that with this lighter suspension at 140mm of travel. Basically like an SB5, Troy, Mach 5.5, 5010 etc. Super versatile. I'll hit you up again on your part spec when I lighten up our next bike (likely a Clash 24). Cheers
  • 1 0
 Rad bike, I got one for my son, within a few weeks his confidence and riding improved 100%
  • 1 0
 No need to invent the wheel, there's still a bunch of 26in bikes for kids!
  • 1 0
 26" is a little big for my 8yo still.
  • 1 0
 Aren’t most kids bikes 135 in the rear?
  • 1 0
 wow very cool video guys
  • 1 0
 Cool they're doing this!
  • 1 1
 Lol







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