Boardman JNR Hybrid Bike - 24 inch Wheel

Having a low weight, controls the ideal size for young hands, and geometry that is designed for kids, the Boardman JNR Hybrid 24in Wheel is a value offering for the budding young cyclist. It's well made and equally well kitted out, and its ability to take full mudguards, a rack and knobbly tyres makes it quite a versatile machine too. It looks like it wouldn't be out of place in our best children's bikes buyer's guide.

Ride

At a smidge over 10kg the JNR 24in doesn't have much weight to it – at least in the real world rather than just on the scales. This means my nine-year-old daughter, Isla, felt completely at home on it.

Watching her riding around on it on the local pump track, or the gravel track that runs around the park, I could see that the geometry worked for her whether she was sat in the saddle rolling along, tackling descents at speed, or getting out of the saddle to climb.

In her words, she said that it was easy to ride.

The geometry looked to spread her centre of gravity out well, and the lengthy wheelbase brings stability that boosted her confidence at speed, or when she was riding on a gravel track with a loose surface underneath her.

The steering is neutral, helped by the wide handlebar, and the very short stem doesn't put a lot of weight out front.

But it's that low overall weight that is the key, making the Boardman extremely manoeuvrable, especially at slow speeds. Isla is quite a cautious girl, and doesn't have her older brother's fearlessness, so when she was tackling the pump track or when we were trying out trails in the local woods, she would tackle the technical sections slowly. Meanwhile, her brother was bombing around in the background on the bigger JNR 26in, being reviewed soon.

The fact that the bike felt great in her hands gave her the confidence to take her time. This in turn boosted her confidence, so that she could then start to ride faster and take on more challenges.

In an urban environment, while she isn't yet strong enough to lift the front wheel up onto a full-height kerb while riding, she could at least lift it enough onto a dropped kerb when joining the pavement from an angle.

The bike's neutral handling and low weight gave her the added confidence to take her hand off the handlebar to signal even when in traffic.

Frame & Fork

The Boardman JNR 24in has an aluminium frame with triple-butted tubes that have differing wall thicknesses along their length.

The tubing is thicker at the ends to cope with higher stresses and thinner towards the middle to allow some flex for comfort. We may only be talking tenths of a millimetre here, but triple butting is something we normally only see on higher-end adult road bikes, so to see it on a kid's bike is impressive.

The fork pairs a steel steerer with aluminium blades. These are lighter than the blades of the all-steel forks that are often fitted to children's bikes.

The welding has a smooth finish throughout and the shiny blue finish with neat orange details looks flash.

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.

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

Finishing Kit

The JNR comes with Microshift's Advent rear derailleur and shifter.

The 1x system means only one shifter is required, and its size easily works for smaller hands.

The index finger shifts to a larger gear while a thumb-shifter goes the opposite way, with the child's hand on the bar at all times for stability.

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

The 9-speed cassette has a range of 11-42T and is paired to a basic Prowheel chainset with a 32T chainring.

It's a good spread of gears, although there are quite big jumps at the larger end of the cassette.

That said, most young children have yet to develop a narrow cadence range, so it's not much of an issue.

While the 26in model gets disc brake, our 24in bike comes with V-brakes.

That does take away some initial braking performance in the wet, but the Tektro 855 AL-EN callipers are powerful, and that power is achievable because the Tektro TS325A levers work a treat with small hands.

The rest of the components are simple aluminium pieces that will stand up to plenty of abuse. The handlebar has a slight rise to give it a bit more height, while its 540mm width helps to keep the steering neutral.

The 50mm stem has a rise/fall of 10°.

A quick-release seatpost lets you easily adjust the saddle height with the 250mm post offering plenty of length.

The Boardman-branded saddle offers a decent amount of padding for all kinds of riding, and my daughter found it comfortable for rides of around 90 minutes while wearing normal leggings.

The 24in wheels have double-walled aluminium rims paired to alloy hubs, both of which are laced with 28-spokes.

It's a strong build, as we had no issues with trueness after two months of testing on rough trails and potholed roads. The 1.5in VEE Speedster tyres have a relatively smooth centre section, so they roll quickly on flat surfaces, with a slight shoulder tread to give a little bite off road.

They are absolutely fine for road use or on trails in summer when things are dry and firm, and there's room for knobbly tyres should you want to upgrade for the winter.

Value

At £380 I consider the JNR 24in to be good value for money. You can pick up much cheaper bikes off-the-shelf, but the Boardman balances an attractive price along with that quality frame, a low weight and decent finishing kit.

The Giant ARX 24 that I reviewed a while back is a little pricier at £399 for the cheaper of the two models, £425 for the other. It has an aluminium alloy frame and fork, and much of the rest of the kit is also pretty similar. The 12-32 cassette means you don't get quite the spread of gears of the Boardman, though at just over 9kg the Giant is a little lighter.

Frog Bikes are a popular choice for many aspiring cyclists. Its Frog 62 is a 24in hybrid with an aluminium frame and fork, an 8-speed groupset and it comes with mudguards fitted.

It costs £500 and is nearly a kilo lighter at 9.25kg.

Conclusion

Overall, Boardman's JNR 24in offers good value, being just a touch cheaper than some of its competitors. It's a well specced bike overall and thanks to the weight and geometry it's a fun and easy bike to ride.

Verdict

A well-made, versatile hybrid bike that is well kitted out for the money.