Vpace Danny24: Mini dirt bike for kids from Vpace - bike buddy for pump track & dirt park

With their Vpace Danny24 V2, the Horgenzell-based company claims to have developed the perfect toy for dirt jumps, pump tracks and street sessions. As the name suggests, the Danny24 rolls on small 24-inch wheels. This means it should fit children from 1.35 metres tall. As with all Vpace bikes, the same principles apply here: the lowest possible weight, well thought-out geometry and child-friendly components.

Pump track - the ultimate MTB skills school

Most parents will have noticed by now: Asphalt pump tracks have been springing up like mushrooms for a few years now. The black undulating tracks have long been more than just a practice course for a few cracks on unsprung singlespeed bikes with frames that seem far too small.

The modern pump track is ideal as a quickly and safely accessible playground for bikers, skateboarders and scooter riders of all ages and abilities. This is where kids meet up with their friends in the afternoon to hang out and do a few laps on the track. At the weekend, the pump tracks mutate into an adventure course for the whole family. Three-year-olds on balance bikes, tricksters with their stunt scooters, mums and dads desperately trying to pump their offspring on a fully.

The ultimate bike playground

On the pump track, the next generation learns basic skills such as turn taking, balance and speed control. The tracks are designed in such a way that you can challenge yourself more and more as your skills improve. An obstacle that a five-year-old can still roll over can be used as a ski jump by older children.

We have summarised the three most important riding techniques for pump tracks in a separate article. Fourcross pro Steffi Marth gives the best tips here.

A special bike is not really necessary for your first laps on the pump track. You can have just as much fun with an entry-level Puky as with a BMX bike. But of course there are also manufacturers who have just the right bike in their range for use on the pump track or in the dirt park.

Vpace Danny24 - the surfer

As befits a dirt bike, the Vpace Danny24 comes with a low-maintenance single-speed drive - after all, the kids shouldn't be pedalling over the hills, but should be getting up to speed by pushing with their arms and legs. To keep the chain tensioned, the aluminium frame with butted tubes has horizontal dropouts. A chain tensioner is therefore not necessary.

Vpace Danny24 - Equipment & geometry (manufacturer's specifications)

• Frame made of 6061 aluminium, with horizontal dropout and integrated chain tensioner, 142 x 12 mm thru axle
• Fork RST Snyper, 24 inch, 100 mm travel
• Stem Reverse Black One 35 mm
• Handlebars Reverse lead 660 mm, 25 mm rise
• Brakes Shimano MT401, 160 mm brake discs
• Impellers Vpace QR 100, rear wheel: Novatec D256 SBT, 142 x 12 mm 13T - rim: Shining DB-30, rim width 24 mm
• Crank handle 145 mm, 30 mm chainring, Q-factor 150 mm
• Tyres Schwalbe Billy Bonkers 24 x 2.0 inch
• Weight 10 kg (incl. front & rear brake)
• Price 1049 Euro

The matt grey frame alone makes the eyes of the adolescent shredders sparkle. No gaudy paintwork, no colourful decals, no glittering fairy dust. The Danny24 quickly makes it clear: this is a serious piece of sports equipment with which you can really make an impression in front of the gang. But then you need to be able to keep the rhythm when pushing over the waves and not fidget around like a clown at a Taylor Swift concert.

Vpace Danny24 - child-friendly equipment

Many components are not installed on the Danny24. But the existing ones fit the target group well. The cranks are pleasantly short at 145 millimetres and the Q-factor is also a comfortable 150 millimetres. Vpace slips 29 millimetre slim grips from Reverse onto the 660 millimetre wide handlebars. With these, even smaller children's hands have everything safely under control. Even if the handlebars appear quite wide at first glance, the grips also allow a hand position further inwards. The kids choose the right grip position automatically, as we discovered during our test on the pump track. In combination with the 35 millimetre short stem, the cockpit provides good control and a lot of safety.

Perfect for gimmicks

According to Vpace, the rear brake line is mounted so long that bar spins are also possible at any time. The front brake must then be removed. But even if our tester is still a long way from performing tricks in this category, the brake line on our test bike was not designed for action with handlebar rotation. An X-Up would probably be the highest of feelings with this cable length.

The braking power is always sufficient for the area of use. The Shimano disc brakes have a pleasantly direct pressure point and brake levers that youngsters can operate with just one or two fingers, depending on their current skills.

Adjustable air fork from RST

Top: The Vpace Danny24 is fitted with the RST Snyper, a high-quality air fork that can be neatly adapted to the low rider weight and responds sensitively. The 100-millimetre fork also has adjustable compression damping. This allows the Snyper to be ridden a little harder on the tarmac pump track, for example, so that no unnecessary energy is wasted. On dirt tracks, on the other hand, it offers more comfort and safety when jumping in the open position.

So far, our tester has been travelling with a Kubikes 24S MTB. Rides on easy terrain work just as well as fast laps on the wave track. So what are the advantages of the Danny24, which is specially designed for pump track and dirt action?

Vpace Danny24 - lively and reactive geometry

Our tester rolls out onto the track with a rich buzzing freewheel - still a little cautious, as you have to get used to the new spec. But after just a few laps, there is no longer any trace of restraint. The low, sloping saddle prevents you from sitting down - otherwise your bottom would simply slide towards the rear tyre - and gives the little rider a lot of freedom of movement to gain momentum.

When standing up, you quickly understand the rhythm of the track and the lap times get faster and faster. The low-profile Schwalbe tyres, which are easy to accelerate but still provide sufficient grip on earthy ground, also contribute to this. Thanks to the short chainstays and compact wheelbase, the Vpace Danny24 scurries nimbly through the berms, but never feels nervous. With the wide handlebars, the youngster has the bike well under control and steers the grey speedster precisely through the bends.

Is the Vpace Danny24 your new bike buddy?

So do all kids need a Danny now? Clearly: no, of course not. The mini dirt bike has an extremely narrow range of use. Even the journey to school is barely feasible due to the sloping saddle. Pedalling standing up with a school bag on your back? Nobody really wants to do that. Thanks to the single-speed drive, off-road excursions are also done quite quickly. This makes the Danny24 purely a second bike - and that's quite a luxury for bikers in this age group.

But if you have a pump track or dirt track nearby and really ambitious kids in the house, the Danny24 is probably one of the best kids' dirt bikes you can buy at the moment. The equipment and geometry are extremely harmonious and the weight is pleasantly low. And because the pump track is the ideal school for technique and coordination, you have the best chance of preparing your offspring for biking in real terrain.

By the way: Even though Vpace recommends the Danny24 for riders taller than 135 cm, we also tested the bike with a rider who is 128 cm tall and he got on really well. If you have taller children at home: Vpace will soon be launching a Danny with 26-inch tyres.

If you've got the urge for a few fast laps on the pump track and want to know which bike is the most fun: In this article we have tested 8 exciting dirt bikes from wheel size 26 inches for you. >>