Cannondale’s newest Trail Balance bike aims to start kids off right (or rather left), giving your future shredder a sweet Lefty equipped bike before its even time to pedal. Their Kid Correct philosophy for children’s bikes boils down to starting off with light, quality, maneuverable bikes at every stage of riding. It’s all about maximizing the fun of those First Rides.
Cannondale Kid Correct – wide kid’s bike range
Cannondale has just launched an all-new range of kids bikes that divides out into three families – Trail bikes made to tackle singletrack, Quick bikes for cruising parks & bike paths, and the kid-fat plus-sized Cujo for a bit more off-road adventure. With a wider range of offerings, Cannondale says they now better fit both the kids themselves, and how different kids ride. Now for boys and girls, starting around one year old & up to eleven, there a more options to get hooked on the joy of cycling at any age.
Cannondale Trail Balance, Lefty equipped balance bike
The one that jumped out at us of course was that one legged balance bike. Love it or hate it, the Lefty is so recognizably Cannondale, and with the performance to back up the unconventional looks. So why not give a toddler one too?
The $200 Trail Balance is available in two colors purple/turquoise or green/blue for either boys or girls.
It gets 12″ wheels, a proper 1.125″ headset and threadless stem, and a mini alloy bar, alloy seatpost, and matching Kid’s Comfort saddle.
Cannondale Trail 12 singletrack-ready kid’s mountain bikes
The Trail bike family already hard dirt ready kids bikes in 16″, 20″ & 24″ wheel sizes to build that singletrack wanderlust. But now Cannondale is making it easier to get into mountain biking with the new, tiny Trail 12 single speed. Sharing 12″ wheels like the Trail Balance, the new Trail 12 brings super low standover and super easy gearing to a pedal bike to get small riders started. That low gear ratio was especially designed so that parents won’t have to constantly run to catch little cyclists zipping away down the sidewalk. But at the same time, it makes it easy for new pedalers to get up to speed, even with little ups and downs.
Like the balance bike, the Trail 12 comes in two bright colors to please boys or girls. The $220 single speeds stick with a standard two-legged fork and 1″ threadless steerer, and include a chainguard and tool-free training wheels.
Cannondale Quick park & bike path kids’ bikes
The Quick lineup is new in both 20″ & 24″ versions designed for sidewalk cruising. Less of a mountain bike and more of a kid’s bike path hybrid or flat bar gravel ride, these bikes opt for 1.5″ Kenda Small Block 8 tires and simple 1x drivetrains with a 7-speed derailleur & 11-28 cassette.
The V-brake equipped bikes sell for $360 with 20″ wheels or $380 with 24″ wheels.
Both come in two color schemes, so your kid gets to pick.
Cannondale Cujo plus-sized tire, alloy kids’ mountain bike
That Cujo is no slouch either. We just wrote about Salsa’s new kid-fat, Plus-sized mountain bikes for kids, and it looks like Cannondale has the little riders covered too. At $440 the 20″ Cujo 20 gets 2.6″ Kenda tires, 29mm internal Cannondale rims, a 1×7 drivetrain with an 11-34 cassette, and Tektro mechanical disc brakes.
The 24″ wheeled $500 Cujo 24 gets essentially the same spec & 2.6″ Kenda Slant 6 tires, stretched out for the larger wheels and a wider 11-34 8 speed cassette. Here, each bike comes in a single color per wheelsize to explore a bit more off track.
Kids’ bike tech
All of Cannondale’s new kids’ bikes follow their Kid Correct concept, so no matter how old the rider is or how much experience they have, they can hope on & ride away with a smile. Every one uses child-specific contact points, and geometry developed for young & small cyclists. That means low Q-factor & shorter cranks, smaller handlebars, grips, brake levers & seats, all to give kids comfortable control over their new bike.
The bikes also stick with Cannondale’s specialty, so they all get lightweight aluminum frames (and often forks) built to stand up to years of abuse from rough kids.
To make the bikes even cooler in kids’ eyes, Cannondale took real world inspiration for the bikes’ color schemes. Their designers collected elementary school kids’ drawings of what they wanted their new bike to look like, and worked with those bright & colorful palettes for the final designs.
