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Kid's tri - bike help
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My son wants to start doing triathlons with me, which is fantastic news. He's already run a few 5k races and is on the local swim team, so he's got a decent background from which to start, and we've got him signed up for a local kids tri this summer (I think the distances are something like 100m open water swim, 5 mile bike, 1 mile run). I don't doubt that he'll be moving on to sprint distances in the near future once we get open water sighting nailed down.

The problem I've got is figuring out what bike to put him on. He's outgrown his old bike (a typical kids mountain-style knobbly tire deal that he beat the hell out of) so it's time to get him a new one anyway. I've done a lot of reading, consulted my LBS, etc., and we're all struggling with what to get him because of his size vs. his age. He turns 10 in two months...but he's already 5'1" with a 29" inseam. We've considered a youth road bike like a Fuji Ace 650 but based on his height/inseam, that seems small and he'll certainly outgrow the bike quickly. We've also considered a used full adult road bike in a 51" or so, but I'm worried about the ability of a kid to control a 700c wheel, especially in triathlon traffic.

I'm also trying to keep costs low because he's likely going to end up being 6'4" or so. This bike is going to last 2-3 years max.

Has anybody else had to deal with this quandary and/or do the bike experts here have recommendations?
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Re: Kid's tri - bike help [frumptyfrontbum] [ In reply to ]
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I have a 10 y.o son who'sbeen racing both tri's since he was 6 and road/CX since he was 8. He's grownthrough both the 24" and 650c sized youth bikes and is now on a 44cm roadbike. At the rate he's growing I'll just keep buying used bikes off craigslisttill he settles on something more permanent.

Many other kids his same ageon his team are in the same boat. They all do fine on 700c frames.

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Re: Kid's tri - bike help [frumptyfrontbum] [ In reply to ]
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Yep - I bought my son the smallest road bike I could with 700 wheels. He did look a little funny on it, but it worked great. Each spring we had him re-fit. The small bike with 700 vs. 650 probably would have saved me a year before the next bike except he wanted a tri-bike so we upgraded before he outgrew the road bike. He had no trouble with the bike at his 1'st "adult" duathlon at 11.

At the time Jamis made a 48 w/700's

But yes - expect a new bike every 2 or 3 years and enjoy buying them for him.
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Re: Kid's tri - bike help [B.McMaster] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks to both of you - that's helping my thinking and I think I will go with the 700. The good news is that he has a sister 2 years younger and on roughly the same growth curve, so I think I might be able to get 4 years of use instead of 2.

Do any of the kids use clipless pedals yet? Obviously that's not a great idea to start.....
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Re: Kid's tri - bike help [frumptyfrontbum] [ In reply to ]
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I did the same as the others, I got a solid aluminum Trek with 700c wheels in a size that works well for my daughter (46 I believe). It makes everything easier with tubes, tires etc. between all of our bikes (wife included). She got the bike when she was 10, is now 12 and still has room to go. Lots of adjustments to be made to get her fit right. We got it in the fall so she spent the winter on the trainer, which turned out to be a great intro to the bike, shifting etc. When she hit the road in the spring she was comfortable. I went with flat pedals so far, most of the local races here for kids have clipless pedals as illegal, not because you are locked in but because you have something protruding from the bottom of your shoe (weird to me). Some use mountain bike shoes to get around it. My daughter is not crushing podiums and is happy on flat pedals so I will leave her on them for a bit yet. The only issue we had with fit was levers, her little hands couldn't reach out far enough to brake hard enough. The LBS put the biggest shim they had from Shimano to pull the levers in and it did the trick.
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Re: Kid's tri - bike help [frumptyfrontbum] [ In reply to ]
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No kids (well, they're 27 and 30, so...) but I saw this bike on display at an LBS a few months ago thought it was pretty cool:

http://www.amazon.com/...Wheels/dp/B00FC1TMQA

At the time I thought it wouldn't be too hard to make it a very race worthy bike - replace the saddle and brakes - certainly all a 10 year old would need.

"...the street finds its own uses for things"
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