Started by a family of four living in NSW’s Snowy Mountains, Sendy is a kids-specific mountain bike brand aiming to keep your grommets comfortable and shredding in style.
Kids have a way of being extra hard on kit, so we engaged our mini-testers-in-chief to see if the Sendy Gear is up to scratch.
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Sendy Gear Send It Short and Long Sleeve Jersey
- Price: Short sleeve ($44.95 AUD), Long Sleeve ($54.95 AUD)
Sendy makes its kids jerseys in both long and short-sleeved cuts. They are more or less the same bar the length of the sleeves, and are made from poly mesh, which is pretty similar to the material you find used for MTB tops from brands across the industry. It’s lightweight, soft, breathes well and doesn’t vaporise the first time it takes a slide through the dirt.
These jerseys don’t fit like potato sacks, and the cut suited our testers well. They’re big fans of the uplift pass pockets on the back of the jersey as they’re dreaming of trips to the mountains for lift access riding — aren’t we all? In reality, there is enough space in here to take a granola bar along.
Depending on your little one’s style, Sendy offers these jerseys in plain colours with a simple logo or loud and lairy splatter designs. The brand also offers them in adult sizes, in cuts to suit both men and women.
Priced at $44.95 for the short-sleeves and $54.95 for the full coverage version, they’re more or less at parity or even a little cheaper than youth gear from Fox and Dharco — depending on the style.
Sendy Gear Send It Shorts and Pants
- Price: Pants ($99.95 AUD), Shorts ($69.95 AUD)
The Sendy bottoms are both made from the same four-way stretch fabric. It’s lightweight and doesn’t restrict the range of motion, whether that be learning jumps, mastering new features, or a bit of trail-side karate.
At the waist, velcro tabs prevent mid-ride slipping and add some adjustability to increase longevity for growing riders. They have a zippered fly and snap button closure — the shorts only have one button, while the long pants see a double popper.
Pockets on either thigh feature YKK zippers and enough space to stash snacks. The shorts are a good length, coming in mid-knee for our mini-shredders.
The trousers have reinforced knees, so they’ll survive a few trips over the bars and also provide a degree of protection for little knees if they forget their pads at home. Like the shorts, they feature velcro tabs on the waist to tailor fit, but the long pants also have belt loops.
With a slim cut and snug cuff around the ankles, it’s like Sendy has hit a pair of adult-size trail pants with the shrink ray as they offer the tailored fit we’d look for in long pants for ourselves.
We should note that both are BYO chamois.
Sendy Gear Send It Gloves
- Price: $29.29 AUD
Gloves for kids are challenging, as often the length of the fingers is slightly out of proportion to the size of the palm — flappy finger ends are as common at the pump track as 20-inch wheels and scrapes on knees.
Sendy seems to have nailed the cut, and the gloves fit our grommet’s hands like a…well…glove. The synthetic leather palm is the same as what you’ll find on most MTB gloves, and there is excellent reinforcement on the inside of the thumb and forefinger, right where holes usually develop.
The velcro closure tabs are pretty tight but hold well, and they come in a range of designs and prints to match the kits. Our kids loved the “full send” written across the knuckles.
Sendy Gear H2O Kids Hydration Backpack
- Price: $64.95 AUD
With room for a 1.5L bladder, Sendy’s H2O Kids Hydration Backpack comes in stealthy black or this blue camo colourway. This is plenty of water to keep a child pedalling for a few hours, and it also doesn’t place too much weight on their body. The hose is pretty long but can be wedged into the bag, and the clip holds everything in place.
Made from materials more focused on durability than weight and technical prowess, they are well suited to the abuse a U10 rider (or there abouts) will subject this pack to — and by the time your grommet is old enough to care, they’ll be stealing your bags anyway. Even still, these are full-featured hydration packs for kids. The shoulder straps are TPU-coated mesh, and there is a chest strap to stabilise the bag. Designed to be compact, it doesn’t fit like a clunky school backpack and was in proportion for our pint-sized tester.
As far as storage capacity goes, there are small and large zippered pockets and an expandable external pocket. Combined, there is plenty of room for an extra layer, spares, and snacks in addition to the 1.5L bladder. The expandable pocket on the outside even has enough capacity to store the chin bar from a youth-size Bell Super 3R full-face helmet.
