Best Kids' Hybrid Bike 20" & 24" UK 2026 | Falcon vs Shyre Hopton

Most children don't need a mountain bike. They need something light enough to pedal up the hill to school, tough enough for the park and the towpath, and simple enough that the gears don't become a battle. That's a hybrid, and at 20" and 24" wheel sizes we sell two ranges worth your money: Falcon's Jetstream, Starlight, Aurora and Cyclone from £188.99, and our own Shyre Hopton from £319.99.

The gap between them is £131 at 20" and £136 at 24". What that buys is mostly weight — the Falcon 20" is 11.75kg, the Hopton 20" is 8.9kg — and, we'd argue, the difference between a child who rides every day and one who doesn't. We build both in our Shrewsbury workshop; here's the honest comparison.

Quick answer

• Best kids' hybrid overall (20" and 24"): Shyre Hopton — 8.9kg / 9.9kg, 7-speed, lifetime frame warranty
• Best budget kids' hybrid: Falcon Jetstream 20" / Starlight 20" — £188.99, 6-speed
• Best budget 24": Falcon Aurora / Cyclone — £203.99, 18-speed

20" and 24" kids' hybrids compared

Shyre weights are ready-to-ride including pedals and kickstand. Falcon weights are as listed on the product pages.

Falcon Jetstream, Starlight, Aurora, Cyclone: what £189–£204 gets you

Falcon's kids' hybrids are the same recipe at both wheel sizes: a hi-tensile steel frame and rigid steel fork, 1.75" trekking tyres on alloy rims, V-brakes with reach-adjustable levers, a chain guard, a bell and a 250mm seatpost for growing room. The 20" Jetstream (grey) and Starlight (white) are 6-speed; the 24" Aurora (white) and Cyclone (grey) go to 18-speed with a triple chainset.

The good bits: they're cheaper than almost anything else with a real brand name and a Shimano rear mech, the rigid fork is actually the right choice for a hybrid (a cheap suspension fork just adds weight and bounce on tarmac), and the Starlight even gets a 140mm crank, which is a properly junior length. Reach-adjustable levers mean you can dial the brakes in for small hands in the workshop.

The honest bit: 11.75kg at 20" and 13.3kg at 24" is heavy for a hybrid. Steel does that. The 18-speed triple on the 24" bikes is also more gears than a 10-year-old needs — three shifters' worth of decisions on a bike that mostly goes to school and back. If your child is confident and strong, none of this will hold them back. If they're small for their age or still building confidence, it will.

Shyre Hopton: why we made our own kids' hybrid

The Hopton is our own-brand bike, designed after years of watching what happened to the kids' bikes we sold. Three things kept coming up: they were too heavy, they had adult-proportioned parts shrunk onto a small frame, and the brakes were set up for adult hands. So the Hopton fixes those three things and doesn't bother with anything else.

• Weight. 8.9kg for the 20", 9.9kg for the 24" — ready to ride, with pedals and kickstand fitted. That's around 3kg lighter than the Falcon equivalent, on a child who might weigh 25–35kg. It's the difference between them pushing up the hill and riding it.
• Junior Fit. 6061 aluminium frame and fork, shorter-than-adult cranks, narrow bars, a junior saddle, and Tektro V-brakes with short-reach levers where "the lever blade sits closer to the bar, so a smaller hand can get right round it".
• One shifter. 7-speed LTWOO with a right-hand thumb shifter. One click up, one click down. On the 24" that's a 32-tooth chainring with a 14–28 freewheel, which is plenty for Shropshire hills.
• The boring bits done properly: sealed-bearing bottom bracket, double-wall alloy rims, 250mm micro-adjust seatpost with a quick-release clamp, and a kickstand as standard so it isn't lying on the drive.
• Lifetime frame and fork warranty that transfers with the bike, two years on everything else, 90-day returns, and our Trade Up scheme for when they've grown.

It's £319.99 (20") and £339.99 (24"). That's a lot more than a Falcon. It's also a bike we'd expect to go through two or three children.

The 26" step: Falcon Explorer/Expression vs Shyre Hopton 26

Somewhere around 10–13 a child is too big for a 24" but not ready for an adult frame. Two options here:

The Falcon Explorer and Expression are adult hybrids — full-size steel frames with steel mudguards and a rear rack, 16kg, aimed at riders from 160cm up. They're a good buy for a tall 13-year-old (the low-step Expression especially), and they come with the commuter kit fitted. Stock on both comes and goes, so check the page.

The Hopton 26 is a junior bike that happens to have 26" wheels: sized for 145–160cm, with the same short-reach levers and shorter cranks as the smaller Hoptons, at 10.75kg. If your child is 10–13 and under 160cm, this is the one; the Falcon frames will simply be too big.

Which size does your child need?

Measure inside leg, shoes off, floor to crotch — then check the product page, because age is a rough guide at best:

• 20": roughly 115–135cm tall. Falcon says inside leg 51–64cm; Hopton 20 is from 52cm.
• 24": roughly 130–150cm tall. Falcon says 56–67cm; Hopton 24 is from 60cm.
• 26" Hopton: 145–160cm, inside leg from 66cm. 26" Falcon: 160cm+.

Between sizes, go smaller. Our complete kids' bike sizing guide has the full charts.

Who is each one for?

Falcon hybrids — good for: first geared bike on a budget, confident kids, flat areas, a bike that'll live outside the back door. Not for: small or light children, hilly rides, parents who'll be lifting it onto a bike rack twice a weekend.

Shyre Hopton — good for: daily school runs, hills, smaller riders, families who want one bike to hand down and then trade up. Not for: proper off-road — that's what the Shyre Eastie with its disc brakes and suspension fork is for.

Final verdict

For under £205, the Falcon Jetstream, Starlight, Aurora and Cyclone are honest, well-equipped steel hybrids and we'd happily sell one to any family who's decided the budget is the budget. But if you can stretch to it, the Shyre Hopton is the better bike by a wide margin: three kilos lighter, one simple shifter, brakes a six-year-old can actually pull, and a frame we guarantee for life. We designed it because nothing else at 20" and 24" did all of that — and we still think nothing else does.

Check the Shyre Hopton 20" price → Check the Shyre Hopton 24" price → Shop all Falcon bikes → Shop all Shyre bikes →

More from the blog

• Best Kids Bikes for Ages 4–8 in 2026 (Squish vs Hoy vs Shyre)
• What Size Bike Does My Child Need? The Complete Kids' Bike Sizing Guide
• Best Kids' Bikes Under £150 UK (2026)

Ready to find your next bike?

Every kids' bike we sell is safety-checked in our Shrewsbury workshop, with free UK delivery, a 12-month warranty (lifetime on Shyre frames and forks) and 90-day no-quibble returns. 

Shop all kids' hybrid bikes →