Nicholas Haig-Arack satisfied his mini velo curiosity with a test of the Kyoot Itty Bitty, a “futuristic bicycle moto-cross transportation vehicle”. Read on for a subjective review of the 20″-wheeled joy machine and to find out more about the sole offering from the Austin, Texas-based Kyoot Bikes.

Kyoot Bikes is a one-man bike company based in Austin, Texas. Phil Bailey, the proprietor and designer behind Kyoot, is a bear of a guy with a deep history in the BMX world. He’s an experienced welder (even though all Kyoots are proudly made in Taiwan) and he spent almost a decade working for Odyssey BMX in Austin. I first made Phil’s acquaintance at an after-midnight karaoke party in Portland, Oregon after the MADE show. We sang a duet together to Billy Idol’s soft rock classic, “Eyes Without a Face”. I was not sober. I recall thinking that we sounded quite good.

A few weeks after our chance meeting in Portland, I contacted Phil to inquire about riding a Kyoot. I’ve been fascinated by small-wheeled bicycles since I first saw a Rick Hunter-built Cycle Truck. I had also been infatuated with the super-clean one Cam Falconer built for Isao, and then I fell in love when I got to ride the one Tom LaMarche brought to MADE this year. I knew that a custom framebuilder could make me a proper-fitting mini velo, but I just wasn’t sure about committing to 20” wheels. That’s where Kyoot Bikes came into the picture – their Itty Bitty checked all the boxes for me, with a pricepoint that allows for mini velo-curious customers like me to dip their toes in the water.

Kyoot Itty Bitty Quick Hits

• • Frame and fork: 4130 double-butted chromoly
  • Available in one size
  • Black ED coating under paint for rust prevention
  • BMX integrated headtube uses Campy 45/45 size bearings
  • Water bottle mounts (1 on downtube, 1 on each fork leg)
  • Rack mounts (front and rear)
  • Fender mounts
  • Fits standard 20” BMX tires (2.5” max width)
  • Hubs 100 mm QR front , 135 mm QR rear
  • Brakes are IS front mount and direct post mount rear
  • 160mm brake rotors max size
  • Seatpost size is 31.6 mm
  • Fully external cable routing
  • Standard 68 mm threaded bottom bracket
  • Made in Taiwan

Too Tall to Go Small?

My main concern was whether my gangly body would fit on a one-size-fits-all bike with tiny wheels – at 6’3”, I am just a few inches taller than the upper limit of the recommended height, according to Kyoot’s site. Phil assured me that I’d fit on the Itty Bitty, since he and I are both roughly the same height, with similar T. Rex-like body dimensions, and he designed the bike so he’d be able to ride it. Phil generously offered to send me his personal Kyoot Itty Bitty to test.

After keeping his bike for over a month and riding it on daily commutes and on multiple trail systems, I’ve come to a few conclusions about this bike – and it’s also raised a few unexpected questions.

Underbiking?

Phil’s bike arrived at my shop, Breakaway Bikes, the day before I was heading to Nevada City for the Cruiser Classic. Many folks at this event ride vintage BMX cruisers and klunkers, so underbiking on relatively mellow trails should be part of the fun. But would the Itty Bitty be too much underbike?

Right out of the box, I knew the tiny red ripper was built with components that would make it pretty capable as a teensy-weensy trail bike. With 840mm wide BMX riser bars, a Shimano Zee drivetrain, and an underseat-actuated KS ExaForm dropper seatpost slid down to the minimum insertion line, the bike felt bomber, like a big BMX that could be repeatedly sent down a set of stairs. The fit felt very similar to my “normal” bikes – even though the bike is small, I didn’t feel hunched over.

On the other hand, when climbing hills, out of the saddle, occasionally my knees knocked the handlebars. The frame, made of 4130 chromoly and painted stopsign red, came covered with cute anime and J-pop stickers and laced up with an amazing hi-vis frame bag, made by Split Bags from an upcycled traffic sign. It was immediately obvious that this bike is intended for having a great time. Every time I hopped on the little bike, it evoked my first feelings of riding bikes – pure joy, pure fucking around, no responsibilities, just having fun.

BMX Roots

So what differentiates the Kyoot Itty Bitty within the niche market of 20”-wheeled bikes? How is it different from the Bike Friday All-Packa or the Velo Orange Neutrino? Here’s what Phil had to say on the matter:

As far as inspiration, in 2016 my wife and I went to Japan and I saw lots of people riding mini bikes. I didn’t even know what a mini velo was. I’m a BMX rider, so it looked like everyone had a BMX bike with gears. I see a Kyoot Bike as a futuristic bicycle moto-cross transportation vehicle. I want to jump stuff, and all the mini velo bikes on the market would fold in half if I rode them how I want to ride our bikes.

Coming from BMX and being 6’4”, I basically destroyed everything that wasn’t a BMX bike. I tried getting into MTBing, but everything is so expensive. I always reverted to my BMX bike because it was the least broken and most reliable. I wanted to make a reasonably priced bike you could have fun riding all day, while still being able to get rad here and there.

It was a hoot to ride the Itty Bitty at the Cruiser Classic. For the most part, the bike rode just like any other bike, only with smaller wheels. On hardpack dirt trails, dirt roads, or pavement, I felt confident handling the tiny bike with ease. On the other hand, carrying a fast pace through crushed rock surfaces, or any section of trail with bigger rocks or roots, felt super sketchy on the Kyoot. I think that anyone who’s accustomed to the rollover speed and momentum of a 29” wheel – or even 27.5” or 26”, for that matter – will find that the tiny wheels tend to not carry the same speed, or get hung up, over obstacles on trails. But here’s the thing: the Itty Bitty isn’t a trail bike. It’s not even a mountain bike, so it’s unfair for me to evaluate it as such.

Goin’ Against Your Mind

Maybe I wasn’t judging the bike according to the right criteria. While I was watching some skilled BMXers have their way with the Itty Bitty on the dirt jumps in Nevada City, I realized that I had to alter my own preconceived ideas about what this bike is meant to do. It isn’t a small-wheeled big bike; the Kyoot Itty Bitty is a big BMX with gears and a dropper post, so you can ride from spot to spot and play around on street features or jumps. I don’t have the BMX skills to push this bike to its limits, but I soon found plenty of small-wheel-adept folks who could ride it like a BMX.

While our group was waiting in a big parking lot for the shuttle to take us back to the campground, several people asked if they could take the Kyoot bike out for a spin, and I willingly obliged. It was so much fun watching these younger riders play around on the bike, gracefully executing bunny hops, 180s, manuals, and fakies.  I’ve never owned a bike that invited such a high level of public interest.

That’s another thing about the Kyoot Itty Bitty – it’s a magnetic object. People are drawn to it. It elicits curiosity. Some folks have questions, and almost everyone wants to take it for a spin, or a jib, or a jump.

As a Daily

After I brought the bike back home, I used it as my daily rider for a few weeks. I took it out for a regular Monday morning MTB ride (18 miles, 2000 ft of climbing) with my fast friends and found that I was left in the dust for most of the ride. Again, it’s not a mountain bike. But where the little red bike really showed its strengths was on my usual commute – those tiny wheels transformed the dynamic of my 7-mile round-trip daily pedal to the bike shop and back.

It’s not fast – even with an 11-36 cassette and 36t chainring on the Kyoot, I couldn’t go as quickly as my singlespeed 26”-wheeled commuter bike – so I stopped trying to go fast. Instead of gunning it in the bike lane on the main avenue, I found side streets and practiced my nose stalls and bunny hops. What I lost in time, I made up for in fun. It’s also nice to give up the seriousness of biking and just goof around on a tiny bicycle like a circus bear. 

A Brief Diversion on Wheelsize and Ground Clearance

My test bike came set up with a Shimano Zee short cage rear derailleur and a 10-speed 11-36 cassette mated to a 36t front chainring. At its furthest extension, the derailleur has about 4.25″ of ground clearance. Compared to the 1 x 12 XTR groupset on my 29″-wheeled bike, that’s only a half-inch less ground clearance for the rear derailleur. Crank and pedal clearance is a different story; the 170 mm Zee crank arms at the 6 o’clock position give 3.5″ inches of ground clearance.

That’s roughly 2″ less clearance than on my 29er. Obviously 20″ wheels create less ground clearance, which theoretically would lead to more frequent pedal or derailleur strikes. However, that just wasn’t the case during my monthlong test of the Kyoot Itty Bitty – I definitely scuffed up the crank arms and pedals a few times (sorry Phil), but I never got hung up or slowed down by mechanicals as a result of the 20″ wheels.

I used to work for a framebuilder who said the highest compliment he could ever pay a bike was, “It rides like a bike.” If it rides intuitively according to how a bike should function and nothing weird stands out, then it’s good. In that case, then here’s what I have to say about the Itty Bitty: it rides like a bike. A really fun little bike.

Geometry? Who Cares!

Some regular Radavist readers are probably dying to dive into the geometry charts at this point, but we’re not going to go there in this review. When I emailed Phil Bailey about frame geo, here’s what he had to say:

The head tube angle is actually very mellow and the bottom bracket height is also dirt nasty low when comparing it to other mini bikes and most off-road bikes. This is why the bike feels so good at speed and it doesn’t feel like you’re gonna die or go OTB. With my background in BMX and “jumping“, I feel like I’ve come up with a unique geometry that works well for many people, including those that ride a mountain bike or DJ bike.

The bike geo is my secret sauce along with some key manufacturing processes. Your phone has an angle finder/level app. With some basic tools, I’m sure you could figure it out, but I don’t want to make it public. I also don’t want the customers to get hung up on geometry charts and I didn’t want to make a bunch of different sizes. I wanted to try to keep it as simple as possible. You throw your leg over the bike and ride the little bike like a little bike. It’s not trying to be a big bike or anything else. It’s just supposed to be fun and you’re not supposed to use your brain as much with this kind of bike. Just enjoy the ride.

I really respect this Rivendell-esque approach to bikes. I mean, I love BikeInsights as much as the next nerd, but I also think that in our data-obsessed world, there’s something to be said for just turning off our analytical brains and enjoying ourselves. Which is what this bike accomplishes. Quit thinking about it and have fun.

Pros

• Handling is intuitive
• Feels reliable and durable, like a big BMX
• Prompts creative riding
• Invites attention

Cons

• Small wheels can get caught up in rocks or loose gravel
• Not as fast as a big-wheeled bike
• Riders outside of recommended size range may feel cramped
• Invites attention

The Final Verdict

How many times can I use the word “fun” in a bike review? The Kyoot Itty Bitty is big fun, fun, fun in a small package. It’s well thought out, approachable, and affordable. As long as you’re within the size range, this big BMX is guaranteed to make you smile.

See more at Kyoot Bikes.