Boardman JNR Hybrid Bike - 26 inch Wheel

The Boardman JNR Hybrid 26in Wheel is a bike with geometry well suited to children and with a light-enough build to not limit your youngster's cycling fun. With good quality disc brakes and a wide-ranging cassette, it also has all the go-and-slow it needs – and in a form that can be easily operated by small hands. The Boardman's also well up there with the bikes in our ​best kids' bikes buyer's guide.

Ride

The key things about a child's bike is that it has to be fun to ride – and the easiest way to make that happen is to keep the weight down. Bright colours and cartoon character logos may well increase the likelihood of a bike sale, but if it rides like a tank it'll remain in the shed.

Boardman has focused on that with the JNR Hybrid range. Its 11.5kg weight may not sound featherweight, but in reality, the aluminium alloy frameset feels nimble.

My 10-year-old son has been riding the JNR and watching him in the woods, on the road or riding on the pump track I could see that he found the Boardman nicely balanced and controllable.

The front end is light enough that he could hop the wheel up onto a high kerb, and when riding off road he was able to stand out of the saddle and let the bike ride over bumps or tree roots.

The bike's reasonable weight even makes a difference on climbs. The spread of gears helps, but with the bike not feeling sluggish he was happy to get out of the saddle to tackle the long drags.

The Boardman feels lighter than some of the cheap steel offerings he'd ridden before, so he didn't feel like he was being held back by the JNR. His exact words were 'It felt rewarding' once we had reached the top of draggy climb when he was exposed to a tough wind on Salisbury Plain.

The geometry works well too. The bike is designed for children from 136-154cm tall, around nine to 12 years old according to Boardman.

The frame looks long compared to an adult's bike, but when paired to the very short stem my son found the reach was spot on, and he looked to have a lot of confidence in the handling when descending whether that was quickly on a smooth surface or when focused on more technical off-road sections.

In fact, the JNR looked as though it tracked nicely with the handling being well balanced and non-twitchy; the length of the wheelbase adds to that composure.

Frame & Fork

The JNR 26" has a triple-butted aluminium frame. This means that the tubes have differing wall thicknesses along their length – thicker to take higher stresses at the ends where they're welded, and thinner towards the centre of the tubes to allow some flex for comfort.

We're only talking tenths of a millimetre here, but triple butting is something we normally only see on higher-end adult road bikes, so it's great that Boardman has made the effort here.

The welding has a smooth finish to it throughout and the matt paintjob does exactly what you want it to do on a child's bike – stand up to plenty of abuse.

All the cables run externally, which makes it easy for parents to fettle, adjust and replace them, and the threaded square taper bottom bracket hasn't shown any reliability issues in the mud- and salt-covered roads and trails Charlie was riding on.

The fork has aluminium blades paired with a steel steerer, which is lighter than an all-steel fork.

You'll find mounting points on the frame for a bottle cage, and it'll even take full mudguards and a rack too.

So mini-bikepacking is well catered for.

Finishing Kit

The Boardman JNR gearing comes courtesy of Microshift's Advent rear derailleur and shifter.

The 1x setup means your child only needs to use one hand to change gear, and it's sized well for smaller hands.

Shifts to a larger gear use the index finger, with a thumb-shifter changing to a lower gear. All the while your child has their hands on the bar for stability and safe cycling.

Neither lever requires a huge amount of pressure, and they are much easier to use than the Gripshift setup used on a lot of children's bikes.

The 9-speed 11-42T cassette is paired with a basic Prowheel chainset with a 32T chainring. The result is a genuinely good spread of gears, if perhaps a little gappy at times.

The disc brakes are a welcome addition.

The Tektro levers are again designed for smaller hands, which are paired to Clarks callipers and 160mm front and rear rotors.

The result is braking with good levels of bite whether it's wet or dry, which is just what your kid needs.

The rest of the components are basic aluminium stuff, which should stand up to plenty of abuse. The 580mm handlebar keeps the steering neutral and has a slight rise for a bit more height.

The stem is 50mm in length from the steerer cap centre to the centre of the bar.

The seatpost is secured by a quick-release lever, which makes it easy to adjust, and at 270mm there's plenty of length on offer.

My son had no issues with the Boardman-branded saddle.

The 26in wheels have double-walled aluminium rim paired to alloy hubs, both of which are laced with 28-spokes.

It seems to be a tough build too, as we had no issues with trueness throughout testing, and as with most children, the lad doesn't have much in the way of mechanical sympathy, so it's fair to say they weren't treated with the proverbial kid gloves.

The 1.5in VEE Speedster tyres have a relatively smooth centre section, so they roll quickly on smoother surfaces with a slight shoulder tread for a little bit of off-road bite.

They are fine for road use or on the trails in summer when things are dry and firm. There is room for some knobbly tyres though should you want to upgrade for the winter.

Value

At £420 I consider Boardman's JNR 26in to be good value. You can pick up much cheaper bikes off-the-shelf in many shops, but Boardman has balanced a good price, a high-quality, good-looking frame, a low weight and decent finishing kit.

Giant's ARX 26 is a little pricier at £445 and has an aluminium alloy frame and fork, but gets an 8-speed groupset and rim brakes rather than discs. I tested the 24in version, which I thought was a well-made, smart-looking machine.

Frog Bikes are a popular choice for many aspiring cyclists. Its Frog 69 is a 26in-wheel hybrid with an aluminium frame and fork, comes with an 8-speed groupset and has mudguards fitted.

It has rim brakes rather than discs, and at £510 the Frog is a little more expensive.

Conclusion

Overall, Boardman's JNR 26in offers good value for money for a bike that is very capable, good quality and fun to ride. The components are well specced for the money too.

Verdict

Lightweight and fun to ride says the kid, good value says the parent