Our middle daughter is 7 years old. For her birthday this year she wanted a fat bike. So began my search for a 20" childs fat bike. It seems like this is a small niche with very few options. A lot of bike companies make a 24" fat bike which can be for a child or shorter adult. My search lead to a lot of dead ends. There was a few companies who used to make kids fat bikes but stopped. My search was narrowed down to two bikes. A Diamondback El Oso Nino for $400 or a specialized Fatboy for $770. I also looked at Mongoose bikes from Walmart. I just could not trust my daughter's safety to these bikes. Looking them over the build just does not seem on the same level as the Diamondback. I also have a younger daughter looking to the future I wanted the bike to last as long as possible to pass down.
Unfortunately neither bike was stocked anywhere that we would be able to test ride them. We would be buying and ordering off the internet. My first online bike purchase. My local bike shop offered to help assemble the bike. Although the specialized looks like it has higher end parts I just could not justify the added $300. Therefore the option we chose was the Diamondback. There is a weight penalty and a lower part spec. I know with young kids a bike being any heavier is bad. An extra pound to a child means a lot more than to an adult.
Looking at photos online we were able to plan for the bike. My daughter has twist grip shift on her current bike. She does not like this set up. She finds it hard and uncomfortable to shift. With the help of my local bike shop we ordered a thumb shifter that worked with the bike. My daughter picked out grips and pedals. The final custom touches for any bike. When assembling the bike we did have to maneuver the brakes around the thumb shifter. I had an old set of brakes off my bike we ended up using. Just a word of warning if you want to put on thumb shifter try to find one that is compatible with the Tektro brakes that come stock.
Finally it came time to ride the bike. The low standover is great. The 7 speed gear ratio has been great so far. We haven't ridden off road yet just around our neighborhood. My daughter is figuring out how to shift her bike. The thumb shift is a great improvement over the grip shift. She can easily shift through all of the gears. We just need to work on when and why to shift now. The gearing seems to be a good spread.
My daughter states her favorite part is the big tires, and being able to ride with her family. Not the most thorough and in depth review but she likes it. That is the best review for me. The first initial rides on the bike were rough. It was cold winter my daughter was wearing heavy pack boots and snow pants. She found this combination difficult to get the bike started. Now that it is a bit warmed and she is in tennis shoes. Getting the bike started is much easier.
We have not ridden off road but so far the fat bike is doing great. My daughter enjoys it and is building confidence on it every time we ride.
I will continue to update, as we move into the summer and start off road riding.
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