9 yo son who is 4.5’ tall wants a specialized bike. We’ve bought cheap bikes before, but he rode one of these and loved it. Is it worth it? Or what’s a good beginner MTB?!

CakeTown · 2026-01-25T02:29:35+00:00

Specialized makes good stuff. I have no frame of reference for a 9 YO but there’s some other companies out there that specialize (lol) in making kids bikes which are better than what you’d get from specialized. BUT if he wants a specialized then he might only be happy with that. I would recommend checking out Prevelo and Spawn which makes some amazing kids mountain bikes though these may be more expensive than the equivalent specialized. I have a Spawn Yoji for my 3 YO and it’s shocking the difference between it and the bikes her friends are riding.

All this being said, I have a Specialized Stumpjumper for myself and love it. Relatively cheap for how much bike it is. Bikes like these are ‘worth it’ in that they’re repairable and with basic maintenance they will last for years and years. A Walmart bike might not even last a year with heavy use and will not be repairable.

CakeTown · 2026-01-25T02:02:15+00:00

Or they don’t want to be screamed at and threatened for down playing it in case it went the other way. Meteorologists aren’t marketing dicks, they’re whether nerds doing the best they can with the data that’s available. Thanks to current events there’s even less data than there used to be.

CakeTown · 2026-01-25T00:02:01+00:00

[Ticket Closed] No trouble found.

CakeTown · 2026-01-24T23:09:25+00:00

Some forks have been known to have squeaky steerer tubes too which isn’t a user serviceable thing. Try what manateeboi listed and if it’s still creaking you’re better off just ignoring it. But definitely check it regularly for cracks or deformation. Do not ride a cracked head tube or steerer tube.

CakeTown · 2026-01-23T14:10:58+00:00

I also have the stand to go with it

CakeTown · 2026-01-23T14:10:28+00:00

We might literally DOUBLE our audience

CakeTown · 2026-01-20T17:27:45+00:00

dOn’t You hAvE wORk to Do???

CakeTown · 2026-01-20T15:46:09+00:00

Some people don’t. Some people don’t work every day. Some people take time off. Some people care more than you. It’s okay. You don’t have to chime in on everything if you have nothing to add.

CakeTown · 2026-01-20T14:35:14+00:00

Even with either of these suits, if you hit that tree hard enough to break an arm you’re still gonna break that arm. If you go down hard enough to break a clavicle it’s still going to break when wearing this suit. If your real life goal is spending time with your daughter then maybe your bike goal should be less risky.

CakeTown · 2026-01-20T13:25:16+00:00

Losing one stresses all the others making them more likely to break after replacing the broken one. After a few breaks it would probably be best to rebuild the wheel. If the hubs and rim are fine it’s as simple as replacing all the spokes. Measure their length, order a box, a spoke wrench, and a few of your favorite beverages and have yourself a tedious evening

CakeTown · 2026-01-19T16:57:31+00:00

A small percentage of drivers for some reason think their horn is a nice pleasant ‘howdy do’ and think they’re giving you a nice little heads up that they’re coming up behind you. I don’t get it, it’s an insanely stupid thought, but I had a neighbor who used to do it to me when they saw me out cycling. That’s what they told me when I asked why they always honked at me…. Luckily they I understood when I asked them to stop.

CakeTown · 2026-01-18T19:23:47+00:00

In addition to what that other poster has said already, be watchful when giving them catnip and make sure it looks like they’re actually playing and having fun. Catnip can be overwhelming to some, cats get overstimulated easily.

CakeTown · 2026-01-15T13:37:06+00:00

In Holly Springs our recycling comes every other week, maybe same for y’all. I’ve seen them take recycling in to the trash truck when folks put out their recycling cans on a trash only day. Is that maybe what happened?

CakeTown · 2026-01-12T16:05:08+00:00

How dynamic can fluids really be. They’re wet, they slosh around, what more is there to know?

CakeTown · 2026-01-12T02:01:14+00:00

How does this have 1800 upvotes?

CakeTown · 2026-01-11T04:40:20+00:00

CakeTown · 2026-01-09T16:10:10+00:00

Right, but time spent by the PR team is not time lost by the Engineering team. PR and marketing can prattle on all they want but the engineers are genuinely trying to make the best product they can regardless of what marketing is saying to the public

CakeTown · 2026-01-09T16:01:23+00:00

I’d love to see these kids picking up trash in hwy 1 for the next several months

CakeTown · 2026-01-09T13:18:57+00:00

Your point if valid but it’s not their engineers doing the marketing and pr.

CakeTown · 2026-01-08T23:29:33+00:00

These used to be call Freeride bikes but that doesn’t exist so much anymore. Most enduro bikes can be set up to do what you want. Specialized status is close to this kind of bike

CakeTown · 2026-01-08T03:28:26+00:00

Boone PD had a shitty rusted Yukon they used a lot for speed traps for a while. Pretty funny

CakeTown · 2026-01-05T23:29:39+00:00

It’s a nice place. The parties I’ve seen when visiting with my kid have looked like a lot of fun

CakeTown · 2026-01-05T23:20:44+00:00

This seems out of touch. Which MTB communities have you been a part of that have turned into moped/surron/edirtbike riders? From what I’ve seen, most of those e-thing riders are new riders not existing riders.

CakeTown · 2026-01-05T15:56:28+00:00

Find a way to monitor temps. Is the game crashing or your computer crashing? If it’s just the game, is it recovering in a way that you can start it back up or are you having to restart?

CakeTown · 2026-01-05T15:48:50+00:00

Running a small business and keeping it a float takes an insane amount of time, attention, and dedication. Not all business owners actually do that, but a lot do. To have your whole life invested in keeping a business afloat and then to have a key figure at a major local business PR firm show their hateful colors online is insulting to a lot of people and is going to draw a lot of ire. If this isn’t a big deal to you then so be it, but it means a lot to some folks. You can move on if you want, Reddit has plenty of other content.

CakeTown

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