Diamondback BicyclesYouth Mountain Bike Tess

Bought this bike for my 7-year-old daughter. It’s easy to focus on the negative reviews, but I found the assembly of the bike to be easy and the quality of the bike to be well-made. It is definitely on the heavier side for a 20” bike, which would make lifting it up onto a curb a slight challenge for a young child, but it does not affect riding. My daughter is flying on it with no issue. :) The gears have helped her keep up with her older sisters when we go up neighborhood hills. It's a rugged, sturdy bike, so she’s having a blast riding over curbs and bumps that she couldn’t do on previous bikes.It’s true: the instructions handbook wasn’t very helpful. It was a bit too wordy, didn’t have enough illustrations, and lacked clear easy-to-follow steps. So, I collected tips from fellow reviewers, watched a few videos, and consolidated instructions here as best I could:1. After getting all the packaging off of the bike parts (which probably took the most time out of the whole process, haha), you can use the big box the bike came in as a stand to prop up the bike. Set the bike up right, resting on its back wheel… then, hang the front of the bike (which doesn’t have a wheel) over and into the big box. Your bike should be standing upright, supported by the box.2. Now that the bike is standing upright, you can install the handlebars. Loosen the bolt on the piece that gets inserted into the rest of the bike. It’ll help it slide in easier. When it’s been inserted at the appropriate length, you can tighten the bolt to secure the connection to the rest of the bike.You may notice your handlebars look misaligned - like the brakes are in a weird position. DO NOT mess with the brakes themselves. To level out the brakes, simply loosen the bolt on the front of the handlebars. Once loosened, turn the handlebars until the brakes are aligned with the level of the rider’s arms/wrists/hands. Once level, you can tighten that front bolt. (See photos)3. Next install the seat. (See photo)4. Now that the seat is installed, flip the bike upside-down to install the front tire. (You no longer need the big box)You’ll need to loosen the brake wire to make enough space for the front bike to slide into place. (See photo) Also, you’ll need to temporarily remove the nut and washer from both sides (these will be secured in the next step).Once the brake is separated widely enough, insert the front wheel into place. Secure it into place by putting the wash and nut back on. The washer has small point end that should be inserted into a tiny hole on the bike frame. (See photo)Now, you can adjust the brake wire again to an appropriate length and tighten it accordingly.5. Attach foot pedals. They have L and R stickers for left and right. The R pedal goes on the side with the chain and gears. (See photo)6. Install the ‘gear protector’ rail (looks like a water bottle holder) over the gears on the right side of the rear tire. (See photo)7. I ordered a separate kickstand that would fit a 20” bike. Install was pretty straightforward. (See photo)8. Finally, install the front white reflector onto the handrails and the red rear reflector under the seat.9. Adjust the seat height so that the rider’s legs are almost fully extended, but with a slight bend in the knees. When seated, your rider might be on her/his tiptoes when standing on the ground.You’re done! Hope this helps - happy riding!

A great bike for kids upgrading from a "first" bike. Solid construction, a seven speed shifter (despite the six speed description), decent hand brakes front and rear, and a simple front suspension. If you're not mechanically inclined, you might want to leave the assembly to a professional bike shop. The assembly isn't difficult but there were a few things that required fiddling to work right on the bike I received:Front wheel bearings were way too tight. Could barely turn front axle by hand. Had to adjust bearing preload.Rear wheel bearings way too tight as well. Had to adjust bearing preload.Crank bearings way too tight as well. Adjusted during assembly.Headset bearings OK as received.Brake lever reach adjusted for small hands on both sides.Brakes adjusted front and rear for proper operation.The shifter worked great right out of the box.

Easy to assemble. Arrived in god condition. On-line pictures showed the bike in iridescent Blue in some places and iridescent pink in others. There was no ability to select a color, so we were hoping for the blue but received it in pink. But it is a really pretty iridescent pink. What I am most impressed with is that the the shifters are easy for a 6 year old to operate. That was my biggest concern about cheaper bikes. We have a Haro 20 inch mountain bike (about 10 years old now) and the shifter was really difficult to operate and our grandson could not always get to all 7 gears. My grand-daughter loves her bike and while still learning about gears, she can now keep up with her older brothers and parents. I have seen some better prices for this or similar bikes, but with bike demand so high now, we could not find a 20 " bike with gears at any bike store within 75 miles, so I jumped on this when I saw it. Highly recommend this bike.

I bought this because it says aluminum frame in the description which comes first in the page. I didn't notice it says steel in the latter section. And no, it is not aluminum, it is steel. The front brake caliper was broken when I took it from the box. But customer service was good that they sent me a spare part (even better than the original one) promptly. The bike itself is ok. Solid and smooth. I did some light tuning for brake and transmission.

Ok, I cheat, I've had a lot of practice assembling bicycles but....if you're not doing this on Christmas Eve and have some time it's really easy They give you enough tools, except for a phillip's screwdriver to complete the assembly . The only two problems were, the handlebars had to be over tightened to stop them from wiggling and the derailer needed to be adjusted a touch to get it into 1st. In this case the cable just needed to be tightened/adjusted just a little bit, and a little bit is almost too much. This bike is WELL constructed and the fit and finish are very nice. The derailer is smooth and once adjusted, very accurate. Be aware that the frame is small, my granddaughter is 55" tall with long legs and this is right on the edge for her, seat is as far up as it can safely go, same with the handle bars. In my opinion 55" is right between a short frame 24" and this bicycle.