At the end of last week consumer-direct bike maker Canyon introduced their first ever bikes designed for kids. The project, years in development, had Canyon seeking to deliver real off-road performance in order to build the next generation of mountain bikers, at the same time with the affordable value developed through their entire range. What has come out of it are the Offspring – a pair of 16″ & 20″ rigid alloy bikes – and the newest 24″ addition to the alloy frame, front suspension Grand Canyon family.
Canyon wanted to package trail ready performance in bikes to get young riders excited to get out on the trail. And it looks like these three bikes will make for a good start from hydraulic disc brakes to crash-ready narrow grips, and knee-friendly stems to short alloy cranks, all across the board…
Every mountain biker has to start somewhere, and while a lot of the first generations of trail riders came up first on BMX bikes, now there are more and more trail-worthy bikes ready to head into the woods. With Canyon’s 16″, 20″ & 24″ offerings they are looking to give riders from around 98-153cm (3’3″-5′) tall a chance to hop on a capable mountain bike.
While not trying to compete on price with department store or toy store bikes, Canyon see these as built to the same level of performance, quality, and durability of their adult bikes. They also really see the need to deliver small bikes at light weights that make them easy to handle for small riders. To that end they’ve still managed to hit some reasonable pricepoints, and as we’ve seen in the past these premium kids bikes tend to retain a lot of value as they often times get re-sold to other families looking to outfit their kids. They’ve even gone to the trouble of spending a lot of time developing a special packaging for the Offspring, so smaller kids can get an exciting ‘un-boxing’ experience as the open up their bike and get ready to ride.
Offspring AL 16
Starting off small the 16″ Offspring uses a light but stiff aluminum frame and matching rigid alloy fork for the 500€ bike. While it looks like a single speed, it actually gets the SRAM Automatix 2 speed hub for improved gearing range without the hassle of the younger rider having to ever worry about shifting.
Even this smallest bike gets a set of hydraulic SRAM Level disc brakes with their short reach adjustability, and a fork with a thru axle front wheel. Like the 69er that we don’t see around too much, this little bike uses a 16″ rear wheel so they could get the standover for little shredders, but bumps that front wheel up to 18″ for much improved rollover. The 8.2kg/18lb bike gets a regular headset, standard 73mm BB, and Canyons own tiny 102mm alloy crankset. Canyon also make a small Offspring saddle, integrated aluminum bar/stem combo with a rubber knee guard, and narrow grips that still retain shock damping thanks to the special 19mm diameter bar.
Offspring AL 20
Stepping up to the 20″ Offspring, the 700€ bike gets a SRAM X4 9 speed driver with a trigger shift and an 11-34 cassette to get your kid deep into the woods. Otherwise the larger bike gets a mostly similar alloy frame and fork, now with thru-axles front & rear, and only adds a bit of weight to 9.1kg/20lb. It sticks with the same Level brakes & 140mm rotors.
The bigger Offspring also gets the same kid friendly bar/stem/pad and narrow grips combo with their durable, impact-resistant flanges to both keep your kid’s hands on the bar and keep from getting trashed every time the bike gets dropped on its side. It does get a bit longer 127mm alloy cranks, and slightly larger firm kids’ saddle.
Grand Canyon AL 24
The biggest bike out of the new Young Hero line-up is actually more of a scaled back adult’s mountain bike. The Grand Canyon AL 24 is meant to be a proper trail bike for riders not quite ready to move up to 26″ wheels. With a light alloy frame and a 65mm travel Spinner Grind Air fork that can really be dialed down for light riders, the 800€ bike is ready to hit some singletrack.
The 10.9kg/24lb bike gets the same X4 9 speed drivetrain on its larger 24″ wheels, which still come to a stop with SRAM Level brakes and 140mm rotors. It still gets a thru-axle rear, but the fork was QR only. Component wise, it sticks to the narrow 19mm alloy bar/stem with its integrated knee pad, but grows wider to 550mm for larger riders.
All of the bikes are available in two color schemes, each with a color-matched rear wheel. The 16″ has a black & blue option, the 20″ a black & lime green, the 24″ a black & red option, or the black, orange & blue colors of the Canyon Factory Enduro Team available for all three.
The bikes are available for order now, with the two Offspring expected to ship out and be in customer hands with 3-4 weeks, and the Grand Canyon 24s expected to ship in the first week of May.
