Recreational & Family - Redline Conquest 20

I am thinking about getting a Redline Conquest 20 for my son. Most of our riding is done on the street or paved bike trails, like the WO&D. I think this one may be good for him and would last a good long while due to the multiple chain rings. Around here several of the shops have the Hotrock 24 street, but I think he is probably too small for it. We have not gone out to the shops for him to try it yet.

Has anyone seen one or have the Redline for their kid?

If you have something like the Fuji Ace 20, how fast can it go? The section of the WO&D that we ride often can easily get to about 20mph. I would like him to be able to keep up, so I am concerned about speed and how easy it is to get there.

I am thinking about getting a Redline Conquest 20 for my son.

If you have something like the Fuji Ace 20, how fast can it go? The section of the WO&D that we ride often can easily get to about 20mph. I would like him to be able to keep up, so I am concerned about speed and how easy it is to get there.

You don't say how old your son is, but keeping up with a 20mph ride at his age/size is probably not the best thing you should be thinking about, I'm afraid. If he's small enough to ride that, or any other, 20" bike, then your main consideration might be better focussed on keeping with him, rather than the other way round.

Whatever bike you get him, good luck with the riding.

The boy is very in shape seven. I here your statement and fully agree and did not intend to sound like a stupid parent that would push my kid into oblivion. It is just the opposite, my kid is trying to push me into oblivion, you know -- Faster daddy, faster... He really wants to ride more with me, so I think it would be best to get him the proper tool so that we can both enjoy the ride more.

My meaning of 20mph is not to keep up at 20mph for 20 miles. I would have a coronary if I tired to do that. I am a 10 to 15mph rider. However, There are several sections on the WO&D trail and our neighborhood that are down hill and very easy to get to 20mph. What I want to avoid is like now, where he has to pedal like a sewing machine on 11 to get any extra force into bike. When a kid has to pedal like that they have a tendency to get very wild and out of control.

So the goal is to get my son a bike that is road friendly, with low rolling resistance, and gearing enough to be flexible for what a road can offer. There seems to be few bikes on the market for this. Most are built for trails and grass.

So does anyone have a one of these smaller road oriented bikes that can offer any comments or reviews of how their child enjoyed/hated it? It worked or didn't work?

--Bill

Glad to hear he's so enthusiastic - sounds as tho' you might want to put in some extra training ;)

Don't know about the US market for kids road bikes, I'm afraid, but you might want to consider what range of gears would be suitable, whether or not you manage to find one. It may be that, if you find one and the top gear is high enough, the bike might not have a gear low enough for the uphill. There is also the common impulse for children to try to use their highest gear, regardless of suitability (or parent's admonitions/instructions).

While you're not talking about competition, in the UK, we recommend our child members to stick to the gear restrictions required by either the British Schools Cycling Association (BSCA) or British Cycling. The BSCA ones are as follows:

GEAR RESTRICTIONS
a) For Circuit, Time Trial and Track REGIONAL AND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS,
the maximum gear will be the distance covered per crank revolution for that age
group.
(i) 5·10 metres for Under 8's (16' 8")
(ii) 5·40 metres for Under 10's (17' 8")
(iii) 6·05 metres for the Under 12's (19' 10")
(iv) 6.45 metres for the Under 14's
(v) 6.93 metres for the Under 16's.
(vi) 7·93 metres for the Over 16's

These restrictions avoid injuries caused by pushing too high a gear (look up Osgood Schlatters - not nice) and also gradually develop their ability to spin first. As they get stronger, they can then use higher gears more effectively and efficiently.

We do find, however, that our one 20" wheel road bike is popular with the smaller kids, but I doubt if any of them get up to 20mph, even on the downhill (slight grade) bits of our closed road circuit.

atbman, thanks for the post. I have not heard of the gearing vs age limit before. I will check that out on the Hotrock we just purchased.

The rest of the story: We tried several of the bikes including Specialized Hotrock 24 Street, Trek FX, Giant, 20 in coasters, and several 20in mountain bikes. The other street products from Redline and Fuji were not in stock close by. Most of the 20 inch bikes are great for 5 or 6 year olds and were on the small side. My son who is not overly tall, was at the limit of size for most of these. The trick bikes for 20inch were way to big for him.

The Specialized Hotrock 24 Street is what we ended up with. I think that it is smige big, but will be ok by the end of the summer. The bike does what I was looking for. We went for a ride today and he could easily push 15 to 17 mph on slight down hill slopes with much more gear left. Having a small chain ring (3 total on this bike) was also good for the climbs as they made it easier and did not tire him out. We did 9 miles on the WO&D, and then he rode a bunch more at home. Not bad for the first time out on it. Also, by the end he was getting the gearing right without being told what to do on every slope, this was even changing front chain rings. So far a thumbs up. We should easily get 3 seasons or more out of this one.

The Trek was the next closest choice, but the frame was too long for him now. The dialed setup is nice as crank length and handle bar height are adjustable. The geometry is shrunk from their larger bikes, so the feel will be as good as it gets. The bike is also a bit lighter, but I think that could be from only having one chain ring. I think that it is probably about 1 to 2lbs lighter than the Hotrock. It was also about $50 bucks more with similar components. If you have a bigger kid, this may be a better choice, but the single chain ring is limiting.

[QUOTE=Bikeisdusty;10944762]atbman, thanks for the post. I have not heard of the gearing vs age limit before. I will check that out on the Hotrock we just purchased./QUOTE]

My pleasure. Not surprised that you've not heard about age group restricted gears. I've looked on the USCF website but haven't found anything concerning youth racing, so it may be that there's nothing anywhere in the US on the subject, tho' I may be mistaken.

To check the gear size, postion the bike with one crank vertically down and with the bike in its highest gear. Mark the position of the crank on the ground. Wheel the bike backwards in a straight line until the crank has completed one revolution and mark that point. Measure and this will give you some idea of how it compares with the UK standards (which apply to racing only). If we find a bike with a top gear over the limit, we simply screw down the rear derailleur, cog by cog, until it mets the regulation's requirements.

These restrictions have two benefits: (1) the kids learns to spin rather than push and (2) the risk of knee injuries is greatly reduced - tho', in fairness, the risk is probably not very high. It's just that, if the risk does happen, the recovery period can be quite long.

Good luck and I hope you have many happy miles of riding together.

=Bikeisdusty;10944762]atbman, thanks for the post. I have not heard of the gearing vs age limit before. I will check that out on the Hotrock we just purchased.

My pleasure. Not surprised that you've not heard about age group restricted gears. I've looked on the USCF website but haven't found anything concerning youth racing, so it may be that there's nothing anywhere in the US on the subject, tho' I may be mistaken.

......

There at least previously was a gear limit. I think it applied to the Junior category and I think the limit was 100 inches, IIRC. I am not up on how they categorize young racers now or if they still have gearing limits.

Edit: Apparently the rule still exists although it sounds like it went away for awhile and has since returned. For those interested USA Cycling is the umbrella org for USCF (road), USPRO (track), NORBA (mountain), NCCA (collegiate) and BMXA (bmx).

http://www.usacycling.org/encyclingpedia/encycstory.php?id=4203

There at least previously was a gear limit. I think it applied to the Junior category and I think the limit was 100 inches, IIRC. I am not up on how they categorize young racers now or if they still have gearing limits.

Edit: Apparently the rule still exists although it sounds like it went away for awhile and has since returned. For those interested USA Cycling is the umbrella org for USCF (road), USPRO (track), NORBA (mountain), NCCA (collegiate) and BMXA (bmx).

http://www.usacycling.org/encyclingpedia/encycstory.php?id=4203

Thanks for that - it seems that the 10-12 max on the track is 6.0m as against the UK BSCA limit of 6.05 and the older ones are broadly in line. I suspect that, because we're a smaller, more densely populated country and British Cycling (USCF equivalent)has been very well funded through Sport England (to the tune of many £millions, esp. since the Olympics), we have a better structured racing scene for the U16s and below.

Here in Yorkshire we have the weekly White Rose series every Wednesday evening, May to September on closed circuits, attracting up to about 90+ kids, together with a summer 'cross series, again on Wednesday evenings, with winter 'cross on Sundays from early Sept to Feb. There are similar series across most regions in the country, with a strong push towards building more circuits. altho' govt cuts in spending are likely to affect those plans :(

If you're interested, http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/go-ride provides a pretty good picture of how they're going about things. There has been a serious increase in the number of Go-Ride clubs, of which one is ours. To get that staus, one needs things like qualified coaches, a development plan, a child protection policy, a volunteers development scheme and so on. It's a bit onerous, but we were already doing something along those lines when the scheme was invented (pause for smug).

We're a long way from achieving what I and our other coaches would like us to, but we're getting there. Who knows, one of our kids might, one day, be a new Chris Hoy, Bradley wiggins, Vicky Pendleton, Nicole Cook, etc.

Note: all our other coaches (3 active, 2 occasional as needed + me) are parents I have persuaded (read moral blackmail) to take it up. Why I'm doing it when I've never had kids remains a mystery ;)

Great fun tho'.

Thanks for that - it seems that the 10-12 max on the track is 6.0m as against the UK BSCA limit of 6.05 and the older ones are broadly in line. I suspect that, because we're a smaller, more densely populated country and British Cycling (USCF equivalent)has been very well funded through Sport England (to the tune of many £millions, esp. since the Olympics), we have a better structured racing scene for the U16s and below.

Here in Yorkshire we have the weekly White Rose series every Wednesday evening, May to September on closed circuits, attracting up to about 90+ kids, together with a summer 'cross series, again on Wednesday evenings, with winter 'cross on Sundays from early Sept to Feb. There are similar series across most regions in the country, with a strong push towards building more circuits. altho' govt cuts in spending are likely to affect those plans :(

If you're interested, http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/go-ride provides a pretty good picture of how they're going about things. There has been a serious increase in the number of Go-Ride clubs, of which one is ours. To get that staus, one needs things like qualified coaches, a development plan, a child protection policy, a volunteers development scheme and so on. It's a bit onerous, but we were already doing something along those lines when the scheme was invented (pause for smug).

We're a long way from achieving what I and our other coaches would like us to, but we're getting there. Who knows, one of our kids might, one day, be a new Chris Hoy, Bradley wiggins, Vicky Pendleton, Nicole Cook, etc.

Note: all our other coaches (3 active, 2 occasional as needed + me) are parents I have persuaded (read moral blackmail) to take it up. Why I'm doing it when I've never had kids remains a mystery ;)

Great fun tho'.

You Europeans have always been more organized and had greater public interest in cycling than us over here. It has always impressed and amazed me when we come up with world caliber cyclists. We have some very good cyclists but not the depth and history of Europe. My guess is it will be a long time until the US produces another that can come close to Greg L. and Lance A.

Good on ya for putting so much effort into your program. I know it is a labor of love. I coach another sport myself even though none of my kids are involved in it (although I hope my #3 will pick it up). I think I am the only coach in the organization that does not have kids in it or that is not a school coach working the teams as feeder programs for their High School teams. Some parents are oblivious to the effort it takes, but some really get it. I am always greatly appreciative of the small gifts some of the kids come to me with at the end of the season. One of my biggest joys is running into them off-season. Even if they are not still participating it is great to give them a little tussle, say hi and encourage them to keep going in their other activities.

Unless there is some sort of seed change here in the US, I don't think we will have enough interest and support to start clubs like yours. Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Portland or Denver I think would be most likely to have something like it.

Unless there is some sort of seed change here in the US, I don't think we will have enough interest and support to start clubs like yours. Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Portland or Denver I think would be most likely to have something like it.

Don't forget that this is of fairly recent development. My own club was a traditional one (founded July 1899) with no real attempt to move with the times and only a relatively small membership, until we started the kids club. It's membership is still a bit unbalanced, with a bunch of knackered old vets like me, a few in their 40s/50s (nobbut youngsters, really) and then a big age gap until the kids and some parents.

The Go-Ride programme started as a result of a careful look at club age structures by British Cyling which demonstrated the obvious, i.e. that they were very badly skewed towards vets, with a decreasing number of juniors coming through. The main source of encouragement of the U16s was the British (formerly English) Schools Cycling Association until then, and that was run on a shoestring and relied on a few national and regional volunteers.

I must admit that when I read about the size of some US clubs, e.g. the Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle way, with a membership of 10,000+, I'm astonished that none of them seem to have any year-round youth cycling (skills and racing/fitness) - climate permitting. Many of the new Go-Ride clubs are founded on little but the enthusiasm of a few existing club members.

Perhaps your new collegiate national mtb series which grew out of the California schools competition will point the way. I do know one thing, tho': any such development in the US will need to be organic and depend on local circumstances and people.

Perhaps an extension of Doug Detwiler's Sprockids scheme, using schools as a base might provide one model. but only when there is a concerted political will towards Safe Routes to School on a major scale. A vote for the $8 gallon anyone?