General Cycling Discussion - Best Classic Kids' Road Bikes?

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mburger
08-05-10, 10:21 AM
My 9 year old son is ready for a new bike. Pretty much, the new choices from Trek and the like are mountain bike styles. I wanted to show him some road bike alternatives and thought that a 70's classic might be the way to go. When I was his age I had a Raleigh Chopper. Pretty cool, but I think he'd have trouble keeping up with his older brother on one of those. Thus, I was thinking about a classic 10 speed, but in junior size. Are there any accepted "classics" among kids' road bikes that I should be looking for?

Standalone
08-05-10, 08:12 PM
most road bike mfr's seem to offer extra small road bikes built around 24" wheels. They're pretty expensive!

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2010-Product-Catalog/Road/F-Series/F24.aspx

You can always put drop handlebars (with brakes and shifters) and slick tires on a suitably light mountain bike. Voila!
MRT2
08-05-10, 08:20 PM
I bought my 9 year old son a used mountain bike (Trek 800), no suspension fork, 21 speed with trigger shifters, and slick street tires.

IMO, though certainly not a road bike, this bike is lighter, faster, easier to ride, and more fun than those entry level 10 speeds I remember from the 70s. I am sure quality kid sized classic vintage lightweight road bikes exist, but I have not seen many.

JoelS
08-05-10, 08:50 PM
My 8yo has a Felt Z24. It's a 24" wheeled road bike with a tiny little frame. He loves the thing.
dedhed
08-07-10, 08:51 AM
If you have the time, tools, and skills you can build one fairly reasonably.

See #1 I built for my daughter.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?629188-Velo-Cheapo-2010-The-entries-are-in
martianone
08-07-10, 06:30 PM
My 9 yo son had a Specalized Vita, XS size. This worked very well for him, as he was able to easily use the grip shifts and V-brakes were good.
Then he got a little bigger, this past spring we got him a Trek 1.2 also in XS size. He likes the drops, but it took him a while to get comfortable shifting. The shifters are not proportioned smaller on the XS bike. So far this year he has
over 1200 km on the bike, including a 660 km tour- he rides it pretty well.