Cleary Bikes offers both neighborhood whips and a couple of hard hitting steel hardtails. Its tough not to love a steel hardtail as they last forever, offer a more damp ride and have that nice thinner tubed aesthetic. With years of experience in designing and manufacturing kids bikes, Cleary has really refined their offerings by delivering their builds with great value. Thanks to Cleary for providing a test bike.
Cleary Scout 26 inch Details:
- Bike Dad Recommended Age- 9 to 13
- Weight- 28.5 lbs
- Min/Max seat heights- 25-30 inches
- Features- Tubeless Capable Rims and 2.25 inch Crown Gems, 100mm air sprung fork with rebound and compression adjustment, 10 spd 11-42 T sunrace cassette, 28T front chainring, Tektro hydraulic dis brakes, 69 HA, 73.5 STA, 415mm chainstays, 380mm reach.
- MSRP- $860 USD
- Available- Cleary Bikes
"This is a very well rounded bike. With our 9 and 12 year old testers, this bike found time at the dirt jumps, the local trail system and ripping around the neighborhood. Not all kids mountain bikes can handle true MTB terrain, this is one of them. At $860 USD, the build and capabilities of this bike make it a great choice for the hard charging MTB kid who is entertaining a hardtail. " -Colin
I’ve got a 54″ tall 10 yr old and am looking at a used Cleary Scout for $750 or new Polygon D24 currently on sale for $999. I would describe him as a confident, capable, and aggressive rider. Utah trails (varies a lot from mountain singletrack to desert flow to Moab jank). Any input, including other suggestions, is appreciated.
You will need to upgrade D24 brakes to hydraulic rather than mechanical and ideally you will get shorter cranks for the Cleary Scout 24 (unless they have been upgraded to 140mm already). He will probably benefit the jump to 26 inch wheels as soon as he can fit a 16 inch bike comfortably considering the terrain you are riding.
Colin, have you had a chance to look at the new Cleary Scout for 22′?
One coming in a couple weeks. They look good. Not sure how the sunrace derailleur and shifter performs, will be a first for us.
What do you think about the Cleary Scout in the 24in vs the Pello Reyes with the air for for an all-rounder?
The 4.5 lb weight difference is big in a 24. That said, the Cleary has a better brakes, cassette, derailleur, and tires. The new Reyes uses a RST first fork which is better than the spinner grind of last year. The cleary suffers from 165 mm cranks (way too long for a 24) which hopefully will change to 140 once stock is back. We really like the Pello reyes as an all rounder and while we have tried the Cleary 26 and loved it…the crank length and weight in a 24 is hard to over look but we have not tried the 24. If you have a stronger, more skilled kiddo the extra weight may not be as big a deal. Geometry is very similar between the two bikes.