ahh. a topic i love. this past fall we built my 11 y/o girl a very sweet little surly pacer. it is a 42 cm. it takes 700c wheels which i think is absolutely great - we can switch with ours. she is very small - weighs 72 lbs, well under 5 feet closer to 4 1/2. the thing was dirt cheap and we built is up with mostly stuff from around the house and a set of sized down sti ultegra ( 11) levers. her little hands fit the levers great and she is rolling wicked fast on the for real sized wheels - when she does a tri she gets mine. we were able to fit her nicely with a very short stem and some runty little narrow deda bars. this bike rocks most heavily - stuff from the parts bin included a campy 165 mm crank, ti phill bb, fluted excel post, some sweet cyclocross top mount brake levers ( a MUST for a kid), and other trickery. we laid out under 6 bills, if memory serves. it is so bad a$$ that even even jaded single speed racers come over to say "cool!" ( much to her mother's chagrin) and here in town middle schoolers say "whoa" to the glittering ride get out of her way on the sidewalk.

i would suggest you pursue something like this surly. honestly the larger wheels and actual sti with the scaled down levers are totally the way to go. the speed difference on the road is very notable, if you are riding with the kid and the kid with you - compared to some funky 24 inchers. if you need more measurements i will be happy to help. did i mention this bike rocks?

Argon18 makes pretty nice bikes in kids sizes. They expo at all the Kids tri's in Southern Ontario & Quebec, and most shops ought to be able to get them. Check out: http://www.veloargon18.com/

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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For your 7-year-old, save yourself some money and get a 24" mountain bike and modify it with slick tires and take all the reflectors etc. off. I did that for my daughter and in 2002 she destroyed the competition in the 8-year-old age division who were all on 24" and 650c bikes. She regularly outsplits 10 year old girls. At the National Championships this year she set the fastest bike split ever and won the National Championships on that little mountain bike. I've seen 7-year-olds race 24" road bikes and they really end up being too much for them to handle and they can't get the speed out of it. Mountain bikes are much smaller and within a couple of pounds of the little road bikes. Like the big bikes, it's all about fit.

My 6-year-old son will be racing the same thing this year. I can easily afford to buy one of those 24" bikes, but truthfully I think there would be no advantage for him. By the way, he's 4'1" and weighs 60 lbs.

From experience...my two cents worth.

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

By the way... with everything I did to it, I think I'm at about $500.

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

well you can't argue with those results. my girl rode her mt bike with some fast little tires and spinachi bars pretty well too. but, she is a little older now and wants to ride her mt bike off road and a road bike on road like me. adults can ride mt bikes fast on road too but how many want to? long chainstays, a 71 degree head angle, high bb, etc all make a mt bike a drag on the road for adults and kids aren't any different. even tho they are equaly fast the girl likes the road bike much better for riding. the way it is fit she will do so for some time - the caveat from my perspective is you have to do it yourself, for the best benefit and fit - the market just isn't there from the industry.

I beg to differ, the offerings I suggested are just what I came up with, there are several others. These bikes are stocked by there respective distributors and are loaded with size specific items that are critical with children's bike fits.

Another FYI, Felt has their F85 and F65 available in a 47cm (42 c-c) compact frame with 650c wheels and 50cm top tube. Fit's most 8-10 yr olds.

Good Luck!

SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

ahhh, well viva le difference, superdave. i did look at some of those or similar offerings. i went the way i did for several reasons. for one things like 22 in wheels interest me not - far too obscure. the second is most of those bikes have things like stamped very low level cranks, hubs, and maybe 6 spd rear ends again of far lower quality than i would ever ride. with the surly, and admittedly a pretty nice sized parts bin out in the garage i was able to put a bike together that fit the kid well, has ultegra level sized down 9 speed shifting, dual pivot brakes with quality top mounts also, nothing stamped or steel where it shouldn't be, and everything is sized to fit perfectly for around 5 bills. it was a project - but a fun one and it beat what the market offers in every way. just an option.