Canyon Neuron Young Hero in the test: The fully for kids and teens impresses with a high-quality air suspension, is solidly equipped all round and is also a stunner in terms of price. Anyone who wants their offspring to play outside has good arguments at hand with this bike.
A real mountain bike has full suspension - at least that's the opinion of many young people, and you can hardly blame them. For the kids, biking is not synonymous with quiet tours through forest and meadows, like mum and dad love so much - they want to tackle adventurous downhills, test themselves and their equipment and feel the fascination of modern MTB technology. And where you can inspire elementary school children with a 24er rigid bike, teenagers with off-road experience need a real chassis with a lot of suspension travel in order to be able to take the next step off-road - i.e. a bike like the Canyon Neuron Young Hero.
Canyon Neuron Young Hero: Aggressively priced trail fully
It goes without saying that parents get a little nervous given the price level of modern fullys. Canyon fully understands this, which is why the Koblenz-based company has made their cheapest trail fully, the Neuron 5, a significantly cheaper variant. The Young Hero, available in two compact sizes for children and teens up to approx. 1,58 or 166 cm tall, is almost identical to the bike for adults in terms of equipment: Air suspension is just as much a part as is a state-of-the-art 1×12 gear system 10-51 cassette. And if you take a closer look, you will even discover a UDH derailleur hanger that is already designed for the next generation of rear derailleurs, but is of course also compatible with a conventional Shimano Deore changer.
But first things first: The focus is of course on the suspension, which offers 130 mm of travel on the Canyon Neuron Young Hero. The Manitou machete at the front is designed for a rather low rider weight; Compression and rebound are adjustable. The Manitou Mara, which fills almost the entire length of the installation space under the top tube, can be adjusted very precisely to the respective area of use with four-stage platform damping - from brisk rides to rather slippery surfaces to difficult passages with root carpets and rock gardens. And of course the rebound damping can also be adjusted individually.
Chassis with numerous setting options
A chassis that leaves nothing to be desired and is combined with 27,5-inch wheels on the Young Hero, as Canyon does with the two smallest sizes of the adult Neuron - the larger models are equipped with 29er wheels, so that they can be used on all Frame heights result in largely the same driving characteristics. At 2,25 inches, the Schwalbe tires on the teenage bike are a bit narrower - this reduces the weight without any disadvantages in terms of handling. Rims with an internal width of 25 mm are fitted to match.
As a typical trail fully, the Neuron combines a slack steering angle with a short stem to combine good straight-line stability with maneuverability. This also results in a more upright sitting position, which is of course particularly useful on youth MTBs. It should be noted that the two frame sizes of the Young Hero do not differ in height, but only in length, and that by only 20 mm. So you can't go wrong when choosing the frame size, and with an adjustment range of 20 cm for the seat height, there's a lot of leeway.
Same height but longer
Our 1,54-year-old test rider, Tyler, who is 2m tall, rode the XNUMXXS variant but would certainly be able to do with the longer frame. Kids who already have a little more off-road experience should opt for the larger model.
With Shimano Deore gears and Tektro brakes, the Canyon Neuron Young Hero is solid and class-standard equipped; Gear cable and brake line are internally routed and the chainstays are fitted with protective pads almost up to the rear pivot. With the Schwalbe Nobby Nic, a grippy all-rounder has been assembled that is said to offer even more traction and optimized self-cleaning with an improved profile. And both are urgently needed - because with a bike like this there should be no stopping even in bad weather when the trails in the city forest lure you outside...
