Thinking about purchasing a road bike for my 10 year old. Very few options out there. Anybody have any reviews of the few choices?
Felt? Pinarello?
I am leaning toward the Pinarello FP0. It retails for about $800. The geometry and specs are vitually the same on all the kid’s bikes, I think the Pinarello may have greater re-sell value on Ebay when my son outgrows it.
http://www.louisgarneau.com/ca-en/product/382093/0301011/Junior/GO_2.4
I work in a shop that sells these. Seems like a decent road hybrid for a kid. I like the versatility of a hybrid for a kid’s bike. You can definitely spend under $500
Have an Argon 18 Xenon 24 on the way (2008 model) for my daughters 8th birthday. They look like great bikes…will let you know how it works out. Should be here Saturday. I hope she is like, a tenth as excited as I am for it!
Brent
I’m in the hunt right now for one for my son, and like you i’m probably WAY more excited about it than he is… =]
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my dad got it in Canada three weeks ago, and I’ve only seen pics. The bike looks amazing. Now I need to find time to ride with her, and schedule some dad/daughter training time…oh crap, sounds like complaining. She swims already and loves to run, so I guess more tris are on the schedule!
I really can’t wait until Saturday…
My son has his first ironkids tri in about 2 weeks. right now he will do it on his 6 speed mountain bike unless I can find him one before then. I take him out to fiesta and do laps. He did 13.5 miles with me the other day. I have taken him on 10 mile trail rides when he was 7. =] Kids are so resilient. =]
Coach,
I put my nephew on a Felt F24 last year and have been very happy with it. For $750 (MSRP) you get a carbon fork, internal brake cable routing, and dual top mount brake levers. I picked up an '08 model for $400 with a sora drivetrain that is nearly as smooth as my dura-ace.
HTH,
Phil
Agreed. Teigen did her first tri last year. Was first out of the water (more than enough the way her dad swims - was so happy) took off with the police escort, to surprise was still in the lead up the hill to the finish of the bike, and held off the chasers on the run. Finished first (2nd with staggered time but beat all the boys) and one very proud Papa. Looking forward to a few races this year with her. She did an aquathon in March when I did the UBC tri, and did great. Love seeing the kids push, question themselves and figure it out. And she loves LOVES Chrissie. What better role model than that for a young girl?
Brent
Good luck to him on his race. Somehow, if you can’t find the road bike, he’ll find a way to motor that bike no matter what!
Kids are resiliant. Love that. They just want to be a part of it, and that is why it’s important we set the great example!!
Brent
That’s absolutely awesome. I like your signature line too.
Thanks. My wife runs and I tri and we all get after it. Our 4 yo boy LOVES to run, as a 3 yo at IMC last year ran the whole 1 K run saying, we are gonna do it dad, no stopping, we are gonna win. I think that the most important thing we can do for our kids is set the example. Palmer loves Tuesday and Friday where he and dad swim and bike and run…and I love that the four of us love to complete and achieve goals. Now, I have to figure out how to make that important to everyone…lol
Brent
Your living pretty much exactly how I am, I had a bad race at oceanside, but I wouldn’t DNF because of what it would show both my boys. I’m trying to show them that finishing strong even if it wasn’t your day is important.
My older son did his first 1 mile run a couple years ago, I ran with him and tried to explain pacing to him, he didn’t listen and was dry heaving and running as fast as he could all at the same time. It was awesome. =]
So so so sweet! I love it.
All the great things we can do are great and all, but the longer we can be important and influential to those kids, the better. That said, my daughter wants me to qualify for Kona just so that she can see Chrissie. Could be worse!
Message me know how his race goes, I’ll be very interested to hear!
Brent
Thinking about purchasing a road bike for my 10 year old. Very few options out there. Anybody have any reviews of the few choices?
Felt? Pinarello?
I am leaning toward the Pinarello FP0. It retails for about $800. The geometry and specs are vitually the same on all the kid’s bikes, I think the Pinarello may have greater re-sell value on Ebay when my son outgrows it.
Try this: http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/road/ventura/11_venturacompf.html
Its a ladies bike (can’t tell) and comes in 44, yet still has 700cc wheels. I just got it for my 10 year old and he loves it.
After searching and searching with no luck, I finally decided to Flea-bay it and bought a 44cm Dawes for my daughters for less than $400 including shipping. I have four of them (13, 11, 8, 7), the older three of which competed their first tri’s last year (on mountain bikes & kids bikes - without slicks) and much to dad’s pleasure, they seem to have caught the “bug.” The oldest will ride the road bike, and the others have moved up the food chain in the mountain bike stable. Definitely going to add slicks this year as well. They are scheduled for three races this year and are taking initiative to train on their own - which is great motivation for me to stay on it as well…shameless promotion alert: 2 of the 3 who competed last year made it to the podium (with more than three athletes in the field 
So far, very pleased with Dawe’s and it also gave me a chance to check out Microshift shifters. It has an aluminum fame and carbon fork, and although the tires are 700’s, it fits well. However, it is heavy and a significant amount of that weight is in the wheels. Solution: swap wheels on race day! If the kids stick with it, my wife’s current road bike will be next in their stable, and I will upgrade her bike…again, all ways to keep the family involved. In a few years, I’m hoping to fill our own group ride…
With all that said, the Dawes is likely too big for a 10 year old. I have seen the both the Felt and Pinarello, and if I were going to splurge on a smaller road bike for my younger girls, I’d look hard at both - leaning towards the Felt primarily since it is a tad more affordable for me. The Jamis, LG and Argon appear to be great options too.
For my family, just being out there was the most important thing. The races we chose had a wide range of age groups and kids with widely varying experience levels. We simply tried to make the most of the day regardless of equipment…in particular, my eight year old is crazy about the sport (as in slowtwitch crazy) and she road a kid’s fixie last year.
Best wishes on keeping the family involved and experiencing all of the “lessons” triathlon can teach us about ourselves.
shoulda gone with this for $8k
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my 10-yr old son rides with me on his Trek 1.2 road bike, size 43 cm, and mavic ksyrium elite 650mm wheels.
just another option
Redline Conquest 24
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bikes/cyclocross/2011-conquest-24
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I just picked this up for my son. I am super happy, I showed it to him the other day and he said thats the one that he wanted. =] And I got it for a price that is great, I was willing to pay more since he liked it so much.
New Bike
I swopped in with 10 seconds left. =]
I just bought a trek KDR 1000 bike on e-bay for my son’s 8th birthday - and he loves it.
(Search on e-bay for “KDR 1000”, and there are currently 3 on sale as of May 2nd, 2011).
Trek no longer makes the bike, but it is great, and one can get good deals on clean, lightly used bikes.
It has 24 inch wheels, drop bars, shimano 8 speed gearing in the back…
nice brifters… a cool racing bike for junior!