How little is your little guy? The size of bike you need will have a big impact on your options.

I've bought 2 road bikes for my twin boys from the ST classifieds (they will be 12 next month). You might try putting a WTB add up and see if anyone is looking to get rid of one. If you're paitent you can probably get a pretty good bike (components and fit) for $3xx and then sell it for close to what you buy it for (they can't put too many miles on them before outgrowing them no matter how much they ride).

I love riding with my sons and I'd sacrifice any training ride I had planned to ride ith them - I don't feel like riding is as selfish when I can spend time with them. I flyfish with them too and it's similar in many ways to riding, at least with regard to spending good time with them. They don't use their road bikes as often as I would like but they also have bmx bikes and several other hobbies/activities they like, but they paid for themselves the first ride I took with them!

CJ

How old is he, and how "serious" do you want to get at that age. I still contend they are better off riding a mtb where they can race and ride with friend and beat the crap out of it (especially if they are 7 or 8 years old). I coach a youth team, and I tell my athletes parents to not really think about road bikes until 12ish. Of course I was at a kids race 3 weeks ago in town where a 9 year old was on a road bike with tri bars and zipp wheels. I'm kinda also more of the mindset of taking a step back, realizing they are kids and not to try and win the arms race when your going to have to buy another bike in 3 years when they out grow this one.

I really dont want kids triathlon to turn into other youth sports where they have to "specialize" at 10 years old (or feel they are going to get left behind) and do travel league type of committment to the sport like I see in other sports.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Soma makes a 40cm kids frame for 20" wheels.

http://www.somafab.com/...-kids-road-frame-set

He's 8 and a half. About 4'2" but by next season might be a little taller. I definitely think a 650cc is still too big but the 24" size would work.

He's just a wee guy, but seems to love racing.

All good points. It's one of the reasons I'm not inclined to shell out for what seem like very nice bikes. If I could just get something that's a little "racier" than a regular MTB (and they all seem to come with suspension these days?) but still durable for kicking around, I'm sure I could sell him it's a race bike.

Check out the Redline Conquest 24, it's a cross bike in 24, but you could run smoth tires for road stuff and he would still have a bike he can beat on. My managers son has one and it is pretty bomb proof and the little guy can keep up with my shop rides (14-17 mph) pretty easily.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

I have 3 felt ace 24"s hanging on the wall my kids roll on. Totally worth the small $$$ investment.

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Tim

I am in the same boat, my son is 8 and a ready for a 24" next year. Right now he has a 20" Specialized Hard Rock that was a 'hand me down' from my oldest. The gearing wasnt great from steep short climbs in our area so I put a different freewheel on it. As for next year I am looking at the Felt 24" kids Cross bike, figure that covers mild off-road like fire roads and with slicks its a road racer for a couple years.


HERE

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"Base training is bull shit" - desertdude

One of my boys is on a 24", the other is on 650, but he's at least 2" taller than the one on the 24". They were probably 4'10" and 5' when I bought them so I would not go 650 if your son is only 4'2". That said, I'm not the kind of dad who buys an oversized baseball glove and hope my kid can use it from the time he's 6 through 14 so i only have to buy one (and some parents wonder why their kid can't field when the glove is 3 times too big!).

Whatever you get him, he's gonna outgrow it pretty quick, it's just the price you pay to get them involved at a young(er) age.

CJ

At the HyVee Kids Champs this weekend, I saw a Kirk Lee custom cf frame, w/Di11, & Lightweight wheels....in a 7 yo's transition area. I guess Im a bad parent.

Maybe someone like this(I think you can find it at other stores for less money): http://www.rei.com/...s-bike-2014#specsTab

You may be able to soup it up with latex tubes, less of a rise stem, some bar ends to replicate the further reach of a road bike, or nicer tires. And by "soup it up" I mean another $60, maybe...

Trek KDR - Ebay or Craigslist. They are great.

Fuji 650 Ace is a great bike with 650 wheels. My kids have been able to use it from ages 9-13 ish depending on how tall they are. I bought it new in Seattle for $350.00 ish as Performance Bicycles.

Try used in this type of bike?

http://www.islabikes.com/...e_pages/luath24.html

If you have a local bike team, inquire if anyone has a kid bike they want to sell. Often those bikes get sold as kids grow and usually get same as you paid for it a few years later.

Kids CX bikes are usually good deal if you want to buy new like the Redline or something along those lines. Just change tires if doing road riding or tris.

My daughter bought a Trek road bike from her paper route money when she was about 10-11. When she races she would usually be the fastest and even won a couple of races mostly because she had a faster bike.

We scored my (very tall) 9yo daughter a 46ish CM Fuji Newest bike from a friend who bought it, rode it twice, and garaged it. Regular 700C wheels. I think it was around $250. The height on it is fine, but the reach is a bit much, so we have to use a really short stem. She'll grow in to it. :)



Before this, we had road wheels on a MTN bike frame, and it worked just fine. I actually think a MTN bike frame, with drops is near perfect for a short-to-average sized 6-9 year old. But it's heavy.

wonder if you can fit cross tires in that frame? The Fuji

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"Base training is bull shit" - desertdude

Wouldn't the diamondback I posted make more sense for a xc type tire, with the v brakes it would probably fit a 32ish tire pretty easily.

And I found this... http://www.amazon.com/...Wheels/dp/B00FC1TMQA

depends on how serious your kid is I think.

There are advantages to sticking with the MTB first - lots of really good bikers came from an MTB/BMX background which develops skills you don't see traditional roadies or TTers develop. especially if they do some trail riding and develop the technical handling skills. maybe take him mountain biking and he might fall in love with it. MTBs are quite less susceptible to growth changes than road bikes ( in my limited experience)

if you get a kids roadie now, you'll be replacing one every few years as they grow up, which might be a problem. I'd only really get a serious road bike for a kid once they were maybe 14. IMO constantly buying bikes (especially expensive ones) for a kid sort of spoils them. could maybe use it as a lesson to teach him about saving up?

That's nice! That def looks like it could fit a knobbier cross tire on their with those brakes too.

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"Base training is bull shit" - desertdude

Lots of good advice above. I would second the recommendation to search for a Trek KDR1000 or the Islabikes Luath24 on ebay. This is a good time of year to be looking, at the end of the summer... That said, Islabikes is a relatively new brand, so unlikely to be many second hand bikes out there. Consider new too.

You will likely pay $300-400 for a Trek KDR1000 but as you know, the resale value will be about the same. I have bought two, for my kids.

(I just checked and there are 2 on ebay now. And no, they are not mine!)

Note, I would get one with additional brake levers on the top of the handlebars, as small fingers can struggle to use the shifters to brake. The one on ebay with 1 day left has these.

I've seen the kid's 24" cyclocross bikes come up on local cycling forums used and in good condition for around $200. New they all $650-$900. They seem to fit kids for 4 or 5 years though. My kids are still in the 'weed' phase so I've been buying BMX bikes nearly every year at $300 a pop, so the prospect of having one bike last 5 years, even at the new cost, seems to be a reasonable proposition.

Here are a couple examples:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trek-KDR-1000-24-in-wheel-40-cm-frame-junior-road-bike-/331307650626?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item4d23798e42


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trek-KDR1000-Kids-Road-Bike-/261577946703?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item3ce742b64f