Test Academy Trail 5: The sporty brand offers a compelling hardtail that impresses with its off-road-ready features and child-friendly design. However, it doesn't achieve a top ranking in terms of price and weight.
- High quality components
- Long fork travel
- Genuine off-road expertise
Academy Trail 5: Trail-ready MTB with child-friendly accessories
The Academy brand specializes in technically minimalist children's bicycles up to 26 inches, prioritizing minimal weight. The brand aims to keep the weight of each model below 40% of the average rider's weight, and the ratio is even more favorable for many bikes: for example, the 26-inch model weighs around nine kilograms, roughly a third to a quarter of the weight of a girl of the same size.
Conversely, this means that Academy omits all accessories, from the kickstand to the lighting system. Such accessories can be ordered separately from the manufacturer's website; however, those who value a dynamo lighting system will not find one there.
- Travel 100 mm
- Impeller size 24 inch
- Circuit 9-speed, cassette 11-41/ 32 teeth front
- frame material Aluminium
- Weight 12,2 kg
- Wheel weight 5,2 kg
- Features Air suspension fork, disc brakes, child-friendly seating geometry
- academy-bikes.de
- Price (RRP) EUR 979
Of course, this isn't a concern for a children's mountain bike – this type is clearly designed as a sports device and implemented accordingly without compromise. The 24-inch bike is equipped with hydraulic disc brakes and an air suspension fork that can be optimally adjusted to the rider's weight and offers a generous 100 mm of travel. This already indicates that Academy is targeting the Trail 5 more at kids who are already quite experienced off-road and can fully utilize the potential of this model.
Child-friendly seating geometry and MTB-typical steering
With a shallow head angle and steep seat angle, the frame geometry is designed for safe straight-line tracking on descents and optimal power transmission uphill; the seat geometry is truly child-friendly: even with the seat post extended far, the handlebars are positioned significantly higher than the saddle.
The nine-speed derailleur gears, with a 32-tooth chainring and 11-41 cassette, offer a wide gear range for all kinds of steep sections; they are operated with a special "short reach" shifter for small hands. The brake levers are also designed for children and ensure safe operation.
Increased weight due to heavier wheels
The only thing that slightly dampens the riding fun is the Academy's rather high overall weight of just over twelve kilograms. The wheelset, in particular, weighs in at 5,2 kilograms. Even in this price range, it's possible to do better: several comparable bikes save money on the wheelset. 1.000 up to 1.300 grams. Apart from this aspect (which can of course be mitigated by using lighter tires), the Academy Trail 5 is convincing all around, even if the price is rather high.
Not quite what you're looking for? We've tested a lot of other sporty kids' bikes. You can find an overview here: We tested these 24-inch children's bikes.
