Kawasaki Girl's K20G 20-Inch Bicycle Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My daughter is petite; so, we got her this pricey 5-speed bike with 20-inch wheels for xmas 2008. Item arrived well-packaged but with a few friction marks. I had to install the front wheel, seat, pedals, water bottle cage, and handlebar. I broke them down to these steps.
1. Front wheel looked straight but the wheel did not spin freely. I had to regrease and repack the wheel bearings.
2. Handlebars installed easily. The cables and shifters are pre-installed; I just had to loosen the adjusting bolt and the handlebar slipped into place.
3. Pedals screwed in easily.
4. Seat had to be adjusted to correct angle. The bolts are hard to get to, but hopefully, you only need to do this once.
5. Water cage is flimsy and I hate where it goes 'cause the water bottle gets dirt and grime really fast.
6. Brakes. The V-brakes are strong but I had to adjust the front brakes. I've always found cantilever and V-brakes a clumsy burdensome ordeal. These were no exception. If you don't have the patience to do it right, take the bike to a bike mechanic and get them set right the first time.
7. The travel on the brake levers was too much for my daughter's small hands. On her maiden voyage I saw her struggle to grasp the levers to come to a stop. Turning the adjustment screws all the way in was still not enough. I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me longer adjustment screws. That did the trick. So, you may want to keep an eye on your brake levers. Lever to outside of handlebar should be no more than three inches. My mtn bike and hybrid bikes are 3.5. This bike was originally set at about 3.75 - way too large a gap for a 10 year old.
Now that the bike is finely tuned, it rides great. My daughter loves it and it rides well and stops on a dime. The bike is heavy, but the extra gearing will compensate for that. Again, I only got this bike because my daughter is petite and quickly out grew a single-speed 20-inch bike, but she is not big enough to jump on a 24-inch bike. This will tie her over for a couple more years.
I ride and work on my own bikes; I have a tandem, hybrid, mountain and even a lowrider bike. I have the tools and knowledge to make all the necessary adjustments to make this bike road worthy. I feel this bike should have been put together better at the factory than in the condition I received it - I should not have had to touch the bearings and brakes. Most buyers should consider taking this bike to a qualified bike mechanic.


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This 20-inch bicycle is perfect as a girl's first mountain bike. It is built on a low-profile frame for greater clearance, and it features a suspension fork to smooth the trail. Six-speed gears help flatten hills, and linear-pull MTB brakes provide safe stopping power in all conditions.


Features and Specifications:

Low-profile frame
Six-speed gears
Linear-pull brakes
Suspension fork
Handlebar bag
Kickstand
Frame: Steel, hardtail frame
Front Suspension: Non-adjustable, 50-millimeter travel
Rear Shock: None
Rims: Steel, 20 inches by 1.5 inches
Tires: 20-inch by 2-inch knobby tires
Shifter: Grip shift, six-speed
Front Derailleur: None
Rear Derailleur: Six-speed
Crank: Steel, 40 T
Pedals: MTB type
Saddle: MTB type
Seat Post: Steel, 25.4 inches by 10 inches
Handlebars: Steel, 560 millimeters by 108 millimeters
Stem: Steel, 25-degree rise, 80 millimeters
Headset: Steel, threaded 1 inch
Brakeset: Linear pull (front and rear)

About Cycle Force Group Cycle Force Group is one of the world's largest suppliers of bicycles and bicycle-related products. It distributes several internationally known brand names, including Polaris, Victory, Ford, Kawasaki, International, and Smith & Wesson. Cycle Force Group's design and distribution headquarters is centrally located in Ames, Iowa.

What's in the Box? Bicycle, handlebar bag, kickstand

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Diamondback Octane Jr Girls' Mountain Bike (20-Inch Wheels) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a very nice bike, packed nicely, was put together easily, I wouldn't have known how to adjust the brakes, no directions, but my hubby did :). It's great quality, but no kickstand so I'll have to buy one. My 8 year old loves the color its a pearly-pink, she is 4'5" with a 24" inseam and this bike is great for her, the 24" bike would have overwhelmed her because biking has been a challenge to her and she just learned to ride with no training wheels, but the seat is raised about what it shows in the picture(more then halfway up the bar) it can still be raised up a bit but you may opt for the Octane 24" if your child is close to this size or any bigger(go by inseam). I'm hoping she gets a couple years out of it, but I plan to pass it down to my 4 year old when she's about 6, so its a great buy for me in the longrun anyway. Its a dream compared to the cheap toy store bike she learned on, the old bike was heavy and awkward and by the time she was comfortable handling it she was way too big for it, I wish I had bought her a quality bike to begin with and maybe she would have learned easier, I'm very pleased I bought this bike enstead of going back to the toystore for a cheap one. The alluminum frame makes it lightweight and easy to handle.

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Pacific Exploit Front Suspension Girl's/Women's Bike Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The price is good; but, and these are big BUTS!
Let me preface this by saying, I have ridden for many years with a bike club. I have also been a bike mechanic and have worked on all sorts of bikes from high end carbon fiber road bikes, to aluminum frame, chrome-moly, and good old fashion steel bikes.
I have put together many off the rack production bikes. This one by far is the worst.
DESIGN FLAW:
The geometry of the bike is such that the crank arms and pedals place are only 3 inches from the front tire. This 3 inches is WITHOUT your feet in position. For a normal 12 year old child, and I measured this, their shoe front is JUST 1/2 INCH AWAY FROM THE FRONT TIRE!!! This has disaster written all over it. I mean what child can ride in perfect foot position. The only fix for this is toe clip cage. Most 12 year old children can't ride with toe clip cages, or will not use them.
CRAFTSMANSHIP:
Each of the rims for the tires were wavy. The deviation was slight greater 1/4 from center. Steel rims are difficult to true. Even on a truing stand, you can't remove the blip. The problem is from the manufacturer. Also the decals were ripped and applied with bubbles and wiped off with a dirty greasy rag. The paint job had many dings and scratches from either manufacturing, packaging or shipping. I would think the two aforementioned.
The brakes on this bike are a joke. Linear pull brakes are cheap form of braking. Shimano has a version called the V brake. The problem lies in this: Cheap or poorly-specified linear pull brakes can suffer sudden catastrophic failure when the noodle end pulls through the metal stirrup. This will leave you with NO braking whatsoever!
Compared to side caliper brakes, these are very poor in function and design.
The components are poorly made. They are not not quality known manufacturers like Shimano, Campy, or SRAM.
CONCLUSION:
I am going to see what the company is willing to do. The problem this is a present for my child. She is in love with it. I can fix almost everything on this but the design flaw. I can only place the toe clip cages on there for her if in insists on keeping it.
Thus far, Pacific has not impressed me...nor other reviewers in this category. Looking at other models from them in this genre, 24" girl's bikes, they just don't seem to understand the market.
If I can't get satisfaction, I am probably going to look at HUFFY. For the most part, their off the rack bikes are okay.

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