Kids who enjoy a solid romp down the side of a mountain, complete with aggressive terrain, need a mountain bike that can handle every bump, rock, and other obstacles in their path. The 2020 Rocky Mountain Reaper definitely fits that bill. Coming in at three different sizes, although we tested out and will be reviewing the 27.5 model here. The MSRP for the Reaper 27.5 is $2,849.00 USD.

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Available in a cool shade of brown with light blue accents on the front, the Rocky Mountain Reaper almost blends in with the terrain. After all, mountainside trails are known for being brown and surrounded by clear blue skies. However, what young riders are able to do with this bike certainly doesn’t blend in at all. With a bike that can handle enduro, downhill and all-mountain riding, it’s easy to see why.

The FORM™ Alloy frame features full sealed cartridge bearings and a press-fit bottom bracket. It comes with internal cable routing and 2-Bolt ISCG05 mountain tabs. Our demo weighed-in at around 31.5 lbs without pedals, meaning the Reaper is light enough for a young rider to handle, while while having the proper components and suspension to take on rough terrain.

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Your kid’s Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5 will include a RockShox Deluxe Select RT shock with 130mm of rear travel, a RockShox Sektor RL 130mm fork, and a Rocky Mountain Toonie dropper (100mm travel) attached to a WTB Volt Race 142 saddle. The 27.5-inch tires, Maxxis Minion DHR II Folding 27.5 x 2.3 in both the front and the back, can handle even the roughest terrain. The overall size of them and the frame makes it clear that this bike is designed for older kids, those who have outgrown other models in both height and ability. The tires are mounted on Shimano MT400 Boost 15mm hubs in the front, with Shimano MT400 Boost 148mm in the back. Stainless steel spokes and WTB ST i23 TCS tubeless rims complete the picture.

The Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5 At-A-Glance

STANDOVER HEIGHT

31.18 inches

DRIVETRAIN

1 x 12

WHEEL SIZE

27.5in or 26in

WEIGHT

~31 lbs sans pedals

The brakes are Shimano M6000 2 piston stoppers with 180mm rotors and Shimano M6000 brake levers. Rocky Mountain Lock-On Light grips are attached to Rocky Mountain AM 760mm handlebars. The shifter is a SRAM SX Eagle.

What really gives the bike it’s power (besides your child’s feet, of course) is the drivetrain. It’s composed of a Sram SX Eagle chain, 30T chainring, and a 12-speed cassette. All can handle the speed and terrain of the mountainside while helping your young rider stay in control.

Speaking of control, the Rocky Mountain Reaper comes with the brand’s patented RIDE9 adjustment system. All that you – or your child – need is a set of hex keys to adjust the interlocking clips, customizing the bike to handle the given terrain. There are nine different possible settings (hence the name of the system), each of which changes the angle of the head tube and the seat tube. The reach and bottom bracket drop are adjusted as well. The three main angle settings, each broken down into several minute adjustments, are for neutral ground, high-speed stability, and proper traction when climbing. This makes the ride customizable, based on your child’s preferences and the mountainsides that they’re conquering.

Rocky Mountain Reaper Comparison Chart

The Reaper is available in 3 sizes. A couple of them can even accommodate different wheel sizes. Read our review featuring the Rocky Mountain Reaper 26 here.

Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5 Build Specs

Who Is The Reaper Made For?

This full-suspension bike with 27.5 inch wheels is for kids who like the rough and beaten trails. It’s excellent for rock gardens and roots. The frame’s geometry is the perfect fit for steep descents, bike parks, and shuttle laps. Trail riders who don’t mind the bumps and young enduro racers will enjoy all the attributes of the Reaper 27.5. The bike’s suspension set up welcomes the jumps and drops that lie ahead. Even beginning mountain bikers who are advancing their skills on rugged rides will appreciate the bikes capabilities. Regarding size and fit, the Reaper 27.5 has a standover height of 31.18 inches and you can view the Rocky Mountain sizing chart here.

Angles And Measurements – Reaper 27.5

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Riding The Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5

Our kid is about 5’0 tall and weighs close to 90lbs with sopping wet gear and his pockets full of rocks. Over the last couple of years, his bike handling skills have improved dramatically. He’s always had a good sense of balance, but his confidence when riding technical features has risen. He’s not the fastest, but he knows how to roll the rocks and is comfy getting in the air.

Cornering on the Reaper 27.5 was pretty darn good. If you can do it properly and set your tire pressure correctly, the Maxxis tires aboard the Reaper hold true and track through loose dirt. You can’t execute correct body position when cornering on a bike that doesn’t fit, so be sure to get the right size Reaper for your kids. They’ll be able to loop through the berms a whole lot easier.

Shorter chainstays are now a common design feature a lot of mountain bikes for riders of all ages and the Reaper 27.5 is demonstrative of this. We compared its 426mm chainstay length to other bikes we’ve recently had (including a hardtail xc bike), and they’re all within a few millimeters. Shorter chainstays result in a more playful, quick-reacting frame. Longer chainstays are more stable at high speeds. With the Reaper 27.5, the rear end was stabilized by the RockShox shock. Of all things, something that our kid specifically spoke about was the saddle. He said it was super comfortable compared to other bikes he’s ridden. It allowed him to be a little more cozy and remain content on longer rides.

Having the suspension set up properly is paramount to ensuring your Reaper performs as intended. We do our best to keep a shock pump with us so we can add or release air depending on where and how we’re riding. The Reaper’s RockShox components are the right size because kids don’t need tons of travel and you can get the squish just right depending on your child’s weight and riding style.

Jumping with the Reaper 27.5 was always a good time. Getting up to speed on proper slopes is easy and the bike’s suspension assists with pre-loading for take-offs and smooths out the return to earth.

The Reaper performed very well on jagged trails. Even pedaling up the chunky stuff while clipped-in, a strong intermediate rider will be able to maximize her/his power. Pedal-bob wasn’t an issue and the dropper post worked very well when our kid was pedaling across rolling country.

Summing Up The Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5

The Rocky Mountain Reaper 27.5 is going to be the choice for groms who like to chomp on rocks after they finish their vegetables. It has the right geometry and components for younger humans who appreciate earning their turns on trails with technical descents. The bike will really shine when the liftie removes it from the sled at the bike park and tells you to “have a good ride”. Rocky Mountain has been making award-winning bikes for decades and the Reaper 27.5 will prepare your kids for their first adult-sized mountain bike in the company’s line-up.

Oakley, best known for its line of performance sunglasses and protective eyewear, also offers the DRT5 mountain bike helmet. In keeping with their reputation, the helmet is designed to work with their sunglasses. It features a set of clips towards the crown of the head to hold sunglasses, as well as a low front strap system that integrates well with them. MSRP for the Oakley DRT5 is $200.00 USD.

Our oldest son loves this helmet. And, that’s not always the case. He thinks it’s comfy and stylish. He even ended up with a pair of Oakley sunglasses in order to complete the look and utilize the helmet’s sunglasses storage clips. Our youngest son is 13 and he would wear a medium size Oakley DRT5. A small helmet will fit many kids 10 years old and younger.

Oakley DRT5 Size Chart

Measure your kid’s head by wrapping a fabric tape measure around their head. If you don’t have one of those, we just used a headphone wire and a ruler. The measurements below are for the circumference.

Convenience isn’t the only thing that makes this helmet noteworthy. It’s also designed with plenty of protection in place. The outer hard shell, made of polycarbonate, protects the head in case of hard falls. The inner EPS foam helps as well, ensuring that there’s enough of shock cushioning to prevent injuries. Plus, the sides and back of the helmet are longer than those in other Oakley helmet models, increasing the parts of the head that are protected and covered.

Speaking of safety, the helmet was designed to meet MIPS (Multi-Directional Impact Protection System) regulations. When a rider falls, the outer shell of the helmet slides slightly on the head, keeping rotational injuries at bay and ensuring that the brain remains covered, no matter what happens.

The Oakley DRT5 mountain bike helmet was designed with the help of pro DH mountain biker, Greg Minnaar. The inclusion of plenty of ventilation holes keeps the rider’s head cool on hot days or when exerting themselves on the trail. Other details, like sweat-wicking silicone strips on the forehead, prevent sweat from ending up in the eyes and making it tough to see what lies ahead.

The Right Size And An Adjustable Fit – Oakley DRT5 Helmet

As far as fit is concerned, on top of the three different sizes available, small, medium, and large, the helmet includes a 360-degree BOA fit system. This allows for additional size customizations, ensuring that it fits the head perfectly. There’s nothing worse than a helmet that slips in the middle of a ride, forcing you to stop and make adjustments on the fly. That won’t happen with the Oakley DRT5. The built-in adjustable straps make sure of it.

Not only does the helmet include a number of bells and whistles, but it’s also quite stylish. With several colors to choose from, including blackout, Greg Minaar gray, dark brush, and white, all featuring the Oakley logo on the visor section, it’s easy to find one that matches the rest of your gear. The included visor is adjustable, allowing you to block as much light as possible before you need to reach for your trusty (probably Oakley) sunglasses. Plus, you’ll get some admiring looks (because of the helmet and you’re riding skills, of course) as you traverse the trails.

On top of the many safety features and the stylish design, the Oakley DRT5 comes with a limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. There’s nothing quite like a company that stands behind their products. With Oakley, you have few worries, other than what lies on the trail ahead.

Norco Sight 27.5 Review: Norco follows a philosophy based on “unlimited riding potential.” This line of thinking influences all of their products, from bikes for adults to those designed for young riders like the Norco Sight 27.5. Designed to fill in the gap between mountain bikes for kids and those that are the right size for small adults, the Sight 27.5 might be just what your kid needs when they take to the trails.

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Who Is The Norco Sight 27.5 Built For? 

This full-suspension mountain bike for kids will fit groms 4ft 9in tall through 5ft 2in tall. We recommend this bike for all-mountain riding, technical trail riding, jumps and drops, enduro and downhill.

The Norco Sight 27.5 At A Glance 

Geometry And Components – Norco Sight 27.5

Featuring an aluminum-alloy frame that allows for plenty of stability without weighing the rider down, the Norco Sight 27.5 is comparable to Norco’s other models with one difference – the size. The bike uses the company’s 6061 aluminum-alloy frame with a kid-sized geometry to fit 27.5-inch wheel. Throw in 140mm of rear travel and 150mm in the front, and this allows the frame to compress when things get rough. This is in-line with the rest of the bike’s specs of the bike, which has it perfectly aligned for kids whose skills have outpaced their smaller bikes, yet aren’t quite ready for what an adult-sized model has to offer. We would also be remiss to mention that the color scheme of this bike would make Enzo Ferrari downright giddy. It just looks like it wants to be turned loose and go fast.

Norco’s Proprietary Online Bike Set-Up System

Thanks to Norco’s Ride Aligned^TM system, the bike can be set up properly for each specific rider. How does this work? The tuning system essentially customizes the bike, based on the rider’s measurements and ability. Stability and balance are the system’s main goals, and it achieves this by using the metrics of the rider who the bike is intended for. Ride Aligned is not only a tuning system, it is a holistic, rider-center design system bringing all aspects from geometry, fit, suspension and setup together. The results are a mountain bike designed using suspension kinematics and the company’s proprietary app-based technology for all of the specs of a custom system without the price tag.

On top of the Ride Aligned system, the Norco Sight 27.5 is built with a youth-tuned suspension system, designed in part because the company understands that young riders prefer bikes with lighter springs and less dampening power. The dropper post is also sized for lightweight riders. A standard dropper post built for adults won’t compress when the biker is less than 90 lbs. However, the one on the Sight is specifically made to do just this – providing your lightweight rider with a post that’s designed just for them.

Build Chart For The 2020 Norco Sight 27.5

Among our favorite features for the Sight 27.5 are the dropper, Pike fork, and SDG goodies.

Similar to the Norco Fluid FS 1 24, the Sight 27.5 ships with a SDG Jr. Pro component package. Composed of kid-sized pedals, bars, saddle and grips – this accessory package is also available as and upgrade for any kids’ mountain bike. You can purchase it in color options: black, blue, green and pink from Amazon | Competitive Cyclist | Jenson USA

Norco Sight 27.5 Geometry

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Riding the Norco Sight 27.5

Our rider was very excited to get on this bike because he was eager to see how the suspension measured up against other bikes he has been on. The very first thing we did was get the air fork and shock dialed-in. The fork doesn’t have a lock-out feature, but we always carry a shock pump with us to make sure we tune the goodies to fit the terrain du jour.

Intermediate through advanced mountain bikers will know what the Norco Sight 27.5 is capable of. And, when your kid gets used to the bike’s geometry, fun and progression will ensue.

You don’t have to be at a world-class bike park to enjoy riding a world-class mountain bike. The Sight 27.5 is suitable for suburban fun as well.

After getting the initial set up of the Sight taken care of, we were able to get on several rides with it. All of the components selected for this build are a very good fit. We loved tinkering with tire pressure and suspension tuning based on where we were riding. Learning to corner well on the bike didn’t take too long. The bike’s geometry allows the proper sized rider to stand up on the pedals, shift his/her weight correctly and guide it along the desired path.

The Norco Sight 27.5 is a gravity-agnostic mountain bike for your riotous and unrestrained juveniles. It makes no difference if they’re blasting the roots and rocks of the PNW or the local university campus. The RockShox suspension package can bear the gnar.

Of course the Sight 27.5 is a purpose-built mountain bike for the gravity-minded demographic, but it was an apt pedaler as well. The Eagle drivetrain dutifully got our kid where he needed to be and kept him on the straight and narrow when conditions dictated steady power and balance. If you don’t already have them, we strongly encourage you to pick up a decent pair of shoes to go along with the SDG pedals. The pedals have small screws/pins that extend from the platform and grip the sole of your rider’s shoes.

Riding in Moab is similar to riding a big, concrete skate park and following a decrease in air pressure, the Maxxis tires on the Sight 27.5 gripped the sandstone like Pooh and the honey jar. Getting the ergonomics correct for our rider was a snap. We adjusted the rotation and position of the levers: dropper, brakes, shifter so our womp rat could operate them safely and properly. One finger on each brake lever at the correct angle, the dropper lever and trigger shifter were also moved so he could easily reach them when split-second decisions needed to be made.

A good sense of balance doesn’t come with the Norco Sight 27.5 – that’s achieved through a lot of practice. But your kid will be eager to get out on the bike again and again due to its good looks and overall great build.

When riding technical terrain, you can make several adjustments to the Norco Sight 27.5 to fit your kid’s weight, riding ability and style.

The Norco Sight 27.5 Is Built For Your Kid

We really like having choices based on the type of mountain biking our family enjoys the most. If your child prefers terrain where a durable, full-suspension bike with mid-range travel is required, you’re not going to need to look beyond the Norco Sight 27.5. A kid-specific geometry, strong aluminum-alloy frame, burly wheel set, and proven components from industry leaders have all come together to provide a capable machine. Aside from the bike’s great looks, it’s a mini-downhill trail stomper that’s going to make anyone who rides it smile, hoot, and holler.

Does Your Kid Need A Slightly Smaller Bike?

Norco also offers the Fluid FS 1 24. This bike is suited for the same crowd as the Sight 27.5 but its geometry is designed for younger/smaller mountain bikers. The Fluid 24 is built to fit kids appox. 9-12 years old and the bike has a 22.4 inch standover height.

Steadyrack Review: If you’ve ever tried to lift your bike off the floor to hang it in one of the many types indoor storage racks available you’ll appreciate Steadyrack. There are plenty of racks available in the market and some are inexpensive but impractical. Meanwhile, others are costly yet leave much to be desired regarding ease-of-use. The Steadyrack balances both price and convenience.

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Out of the box, the Steadyrack consists of its main body, a rear tire rest, two end caps, and some nuts & bolts for mounting the main body and tire rest. The main body is made with a combination of steel and UV-treated plastic. The general concept of the rack is that it stores bikes vertically. You nest the front wheel of the bike off the ground in a foldable cradle and rest the rear wheel against a plastic hub.

If you’ve done a little D-I-Y, you should already have these items handy:

• Tape measure
• Power drill with drill bits: 10mm (3/8”) for the rack and 8mm (5/16”) for the rear tire rest
• Phillips screw driver/bit
• 13mm (1/2”) socket to tighten the bolts
• Stud finder (if mounting to drywall)

The rack is easy to install. Measure twice – drill once. Bikes come in different sizes, and getting the mounting height correct is important. Make sure you follow the directions so the rear wheel of the bike is the proper distance from the floor.

A Steadyrack can hold up to 77 lbs. Mounting it to the right section of the wall will dictate whether it stays put or comes crashing down. You’ll want to mount the rack to studs in the wall.

No Heavy Lifting Required

The most convenient feature of Steadyrack is it eliminates the main annoyance that bedevil many bike owners. When properly installed, you won’t have to lift your bike more than just an inch or so off the ground. Gone is the awkward workout one goes through when hanging them on overhead racks. The Steadyrack allows you lift the front wheel and roll it into place. Even your kid will be able to store her or his own bike easily.

Line ‘Em Up

The Steadyrack also swivels your bike in both directions (about 160°) almost flat against the wall. Of course, this depends on things like the size of your handlebars and so on, but the Steadyrack swivels in both directions and can stay as flat as possible next to your wall. This swivel feature can save you a ton of space especially in tight spaces like a small apartment or garage. Best of all, you can install several separate Steadyracks and line the bikes against the wall. When not in use, simply fold up the main unit against the wall and it stays out of the way.

Different Steadyracks for Different Bikes

The Steadyrack comes in different versions – the Classic Rack, the Fat Rack, and the Fender Rack. Each is able to accommodate a specific front wheel width and diameter, so be sure to purchase the right ones for each of your bikes.

The Classic Rack and the Fat Rack are similar except for the wheel dimensions they can accommodate, and the Fender Rack is a hybrid of sorts. The Classic Rack is the least expensive and accommodates standard road and mountain bikes, the Fender Rack allows you to store bikes with mudguards, and the Fat Rack accepts oversized bikes and bikes with fat tires.

Keep It Super-Simple With A Steadyrack

With a Steadyrack, there’s no more arguing about who left his or her bike leaning against the wall. On an empty garage wall, you may be able to line up all your bikes neatly, with room to spare. You will gain valuable space around the garage with its swivel feature. You can even order different colored end caps for each member of the family to identify your rack quickly. This wall-mounted rack system is well-priced. Its innovative and space-saving features are definitely worth every penny.

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