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@Dutch_Cheese
@ Andy W:
Yeah, but the Isla with a Recon is a 26" and far too big for a 7 year old.
They classify it as a 9+ but even that is questionnable.
As far as air forks are concerned, at least the cheaper ones: they are air ASSIST, not pure air.
Means that the biggest portion of "boing boing" has to be covered by coil springs.
If these are lousy, the whole fork is.
I rode such forks from RockShox ans Manitou. I had to admit that the Manitou was much more sensible.
Further: I know that fork experts can easity convert 26" forks to a 24" or even smaller. They just cut the stanchions. But prolly it's a lot easier for disc brakes than for V's. For V's you also have to modify the lower castings. Too costy. Discs do make the bike havier and more expensive again.
@ Scott:
I used to put a wooden stick (from a broom) inside a cheap susp fork, just to have a rigid fork on my MTB (when there were no ridig MTB forks for disc brakes yet).
Some racers do the same to limit the travel to 35mm or 50mm instead of the standard 80 or 100mm.
And as you wrote: most times it's posible to remove the coil or elastomere from 1 fork leg (mostly cheaper forks).
Many (expensive) forks have the suspension mechanism in just 1 fork leg. The damping mechanism in the other.
So, it's okay to have a coil spring in just 1 fork leg.
Just be careful if these is oil inside the fork.