Equipping riders with a safe and durable bicycle adequate to handle Moab's rugged terrain is one of the biggest obstacles to getting kids on bikes. The information here is intended to help parents determine if the bicycle they have is appropriate for their rider to use on trails with a MYC after-school group and what to look for when shopping for used or new bicycles.

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Two Categories of Bicycles

Bicycles can be broken into two general categories which include department store bikes and bike shop bikes. Department store bicycles like those found at Walmart and other big box stores include brands like Huffy, Magma, Schwinn, Hyper, Mongoose, and others. While these bicycles often offer a less expensive alternative to a bike found at a bike shop, they are most often extremely low quality and not properly assembled. Unfortunately these bikes are not acceptable for use on trails especially around Moab because they are unsafe. Bikes purchased through a bike shop on the other hand are much better quality and are assembled by professional mechanics. Often times entry level bikes from bike shops are only slightly more expensive than department store bikes and offer a significant increase in value and quality.  Major bicycle brand manufacturers that can be found at bike shops include Trek, Specialized, Kona, Cannondale, Giant, Scott, Rocky Mountain to name a few.  The beginning cost of a new, good quality entry level bicycle is around $1000. Many bicycle shops around Moab offer local discounts.  ​

 

We Recommend

After nearly 5 years of taking kids out mountain biking in Moab we recommend equipping kids with a bike with as many of the following features as possible:

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-The largest wheel size appropriate for rider height:  24, 26, 27.5, 29

-Hardtail or full suspension

-Adjustable air suspension fork.  Stick to brand names such as Fox or Rock Shox

-Disc Brakes

-Minimum 2.3 knobby tires

-1 x drivetrains (Avoid bikes with triple cranksets and front derailleurs) Shimano: Deore and above quality.   SRAM: NX and above   quality

-Thru axles front and rear 

-Dropper post

-High quality pedals with metal pins

-All mountain / slacker geometry.  Avoid race specific bicycles

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​​​Moab Bike Shops

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Chile Pepper Bike Shop

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Poison Spider Bike Shop

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Double Down

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Rim Cyclery

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Moab Cyclery

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Bike Fiend 

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Bighorn Mountainbiking 

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