My son asked for a road bike just before Christmas.He wants to do a kids Tri. I told him I already got his present so I couldn’t.But I would work on it after x-mas.So I been looking around on line for kids bikes.But I haven’t found much.I like the Felt F-24 but I just called the LBS and they want 550. for it!I wish he just a little taller because I would like to get the frame Nashbar has in 48cm.With the parts I have laying around I could build him a bike.
Another idea I was looking at is the Specialized Hot Rock.It’s a mountain bike or kinda a Hybrid.It’s 330.00 could I get road tires to fit a 24in wheel?
The Specialized Hotrock is a great choice. It’s light, has a low standover, and is relatively inexpensive. Terry Bicycles http://www.terrybicycles.com/BPA/2400000.lasso sells a tire called the “Fat Girl Slick” which fits the 24" (507) wheels that comes on the Hotrock.
When my daughter was 7, she actually won the IronKids national championships on a (highly) modified Hotrock. http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=1819&PWD=&ID=2186383&FROM=photos&BIB=807 All of her competition rode 24" bikes or smaller 650 wheel bikes, but she was too small to fit any of the small road bikes (24" or 650) so we modified the Hotrock into a little road bike that ended up weighing only around 16.5 pounds. (You could even put drop bars and STI’s on it, but her hands were too small so I stayed with the flat bars.)
Like with adults… the MOST important thing is that it FITS the child.
Plug in 47cm or 48cm on ebay and see what you get. Someone was selling Tomasso bikes for 399 on ebay last spring. I got one for my daughter and am actually using now as my winter road bike. It is made of aluminum but must weigh about 26lbs. She did an Iron kids last summer and I put on some rolf vector pros. I like it because it is small but still takes 700cc wheels. The seat post that comes with it is so long I can jack it up and still not get to the max. extension line. I also had to get an 80mm stem so she could fit on it better. This is not a tri-frame but at her age (12) it was better than showing up on a mtn bike like many do. They all had fun and worked hard, that’s the main thing.
a better tire for the little 24 in mt bike is the “vee rubber” 1 1/8 incher from harriscyclery.com
the vee rubber is much smaller, and lighter than that terry tire - i had them both in my hands at the same time - not even close.
if you are truly a tinkerer, that little mt bike could probably be retrofit later to 650 c wheels, with road brakes. i have started just such a conversion on a similar little 24 in mt bike turned really nice little road bike.
I have both the Vee Rubber and Terry tires, and I would disagree as to their differences. As I understand, and from appearances it sure seems like, they are the same tire. I think I even weighed them both on a gram scale and they weighed the same. I mentioned the Terry tire because the Terry folks are great people and I support them in whatever way I can. They are a great resource in fitting a bike for a smaller person. That’s their specialty.
And yes, depending on the frame you can put 650 wheels in a 24" MTB frame. The problem is where to mount the brake calipers. I could never get it to work… i.e. I could get it to GO, but I couldn’t get it to STOP! LOL!
my bad then, irondad. i had those sucka’s last spring and they were quite different at that time. the terry reminded me of a fat boy-like tire in size and weight. mebee they changed them ?
so far so good on the 24 inch mt bike to 650 road conversion! what manner of problem did you encounter? so far it appears the long reach dual pivots will work fine hanging from the already drilled bridge and fork. the holes aren’t recessed but i can work around that.
i’m using bar-cons already, and top mount brake levers which while not STI are at least roadie like and that is the idea. shimano does make a shimmed down STI lever too - as you prolly know - but it is expensive and anyway the bar-cons worked perfectly with the 7 speed or a freewheel for the 650’s. fun stuff.
if you don’t mind me asking - i perused that ironkids site. is it correct that the 10-14 y/o’s are going 10 K bike and what was it - 1 mi run? do your kids do only those events/distances or do they do other events also? i have a little 12 y/o girl who enjoys tri but generally races as an adult in local sprints. kid events don’t really do it for her anymore - what are the ironkid things pitched as? just kinda wondering if they are more " everybody is a winner’ type deals or sho-nuff races. i think the child would do OK in them - she can go 18+ mph over 12-20 miles in adult tri’s with the longer run/swim . . . . any input would be appreciated. maybe we’ll go check one out - the kid likes to line up and race but as a prepubescent 12 y/o she always has to race against college kids and whatnot up to 19 or 20. just kinda wondering .
The juniors (7-10) do 100m swim/5k bike/ 1k run, and the seniors (11-14) do 200m swim/10k bike/ 2k run. Those are pretty well established international distances for those age groups.
My kids are only 7 and 9, so they do just kids triathlons of those distances. My 9-year-old daughter wants to do some sprints next year that are around 300m swim/ 12 mile bike/ and 5k runs, and although she can easily do those distances I just think she’s too young and won’t let her yet.
I’d say that the IronKids is definitely set up as an “every kid is a winner”, but the top of every age group are definitely elite junior athletes. The 12, 13 and 14-year olds that are at the top in the IronKids races win or place in some adult sprint events. One of my daughter’s girl friends who races IronKids as a 13-year old does 21mph + and sub 7 minute miles in adult sprints. Aah… to be young again!
I cannot say enough about IronKids, though. She’ll have stiff competition, but even if she’s not a podium finisher, she’ll come away smiling because they make it really fun for the kids. In the IronKids triathlons that we race in there are anywhere from 300 to 600 kids, and they really have it down to a science because it’s put together better than virtually any adult races I’ve been in. Plus… it’s all kids, so there’s a lot of making new friends, which is one of the things I really like about it. We live in Texas, but my kids have friends in Minnesota, Tennessee, Colorado and California that they email back and forth.
Thanks for the idea’s.Ive been to Ebay but I’ll try it agian with the 47 and 46cm.The Javlin looks good also but I just know it’ll be over my budget.I’ll check into that also.