A great bike if you don't like to stop.
I bought this bike for my 9 year old daughter. Overall it is a good bike for $[...], however, there are 2 major design flaws I have found already. The braking system is RIDICULOUS for a child of 9-10; perhaps ok for an 11 or 12 year old, but a 9 year old does not have the finger strenght to operate the brakes from the top of the drops, and they can just barely reach the lever when they go down in the drops. Moving from the top riding position, grabbing the brakes and stopping quickly in an emergency is next to impossible and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS if your child hands are not big enough. The other minor flaw is that the handlebar has an adapter to fit the stem, which is cheesy. The correct size stem should have been used, but the manufacture cheaps out on this feature.

I spent another $[...] to get the bike modified to a straight handlebar, correct stem, brake levers and other minor parts and labor so that it would be safe for my daughter to ride.

The bike is much more appropriate if your child has larger hands, but without in-line brake levers added, I think its still a little dangerous.

It is an attactive bike, and my daughter loved it, but unless your child is bigger, I would suggest spending $300 (cost of the bike + needed modifications) on an nice Trek kids bike.

Don't believe the other reviews - I did and regret it
I trusted all these reviews against my instinct to not buy a bike online and I regret it. Upon recieving this bike, I took it to a shop to be assembled and tuned up by a qualified technician. He called me later to tell me there was a serious defect in the manufacturing and to return it if I could. Now I'm having a hard time dealing with Amazon trying to get my partially assembled bike mailed back to them. It's not worth the incredible hassle I'm dealing with now, just buy a better bike. I guess you do get what you paid for. Overall, it's just not worth the disappointment, I promise.

Great Option for this age group
This was the only option we could find for our growing daughter that wasn't closer to a grand in price. As a family we tend to take off and ride our local rail trail for several miles, often riding to other nearby towns. Our daughter was doing up to 15 mile trips on her 20" that she outgrew. We really wanted a bike with lightweight wheels and tires for long rides. Her 20" that she outgrew was 7 speed, and therefore she was already comfortable shifting on hills. Also her natural cadence is much higher than her friends that learned on single speed bikes.

There are at least 4 different 24" tire sizes that are not interchangeable. This size is the only one that has the option of using skinny road tires. However the tires that come on it are a medium width that's about perfect for our local rail trail made of packed gravel. It's nice knowing we have the option to use pavement tires if we want to.

Our daughter actually didn't like the road handlebars, but everything else was good considering the price (not high end components, but serviceable). I switched the handlebars to an alloy straight bar ($10), and found Shimano 7x3 combined trigger shifters/brakes (another $35). The stock twist shifters will actually go on a straight bar, with the addition of simple brake levers.

She now has the equivalent of a fitness bike, with geometry appropriate for her age, That rolls easily on lightweight wheels, that allows road tires if we want to add them, that allows shifting to go over hills... for very little money compared to the other options. But more importantly our daughter loves it.

Great bike
We got just what we wanted. My daughter really enjoys it.
It came in good shape and was just as descibed.

I love my bike!
My husband and I have been runners, but wanted to start biking and did not want to spend a lot of money. He did some research and according to other people who had bought it, this was a very good bike for the money. I enjoy it immensely. Of course, it's not as light as the bikes that are over a thousand dollars, but it is fun to ride, shifts fairly smoothly, brakes well and feels good on the road. Definitely the bike to buy if you want to try cycling without the huge investment!