New bike or slicks for my 11 year old
 

My daughter has a 24" Schwinn Ranger FS MTB that never sees the dirt. I'd really like her to have a bike better suited for the road for our new family passion, but I don't want to spend much at this point considering her growing age.

So, my question is do I dump this 1 year old MTB bike, and try to find a road/cross bike somewhere for a reasonable price, or just go the easy cheaper way and get some road tires?

BTW: Next month we're doing the Tour de Cure for Diabetes event, the 25K in Menlo Park, CA, which will be her long ride for her.

Assuming the frame fits her I would just get a set of narrow slicks.

Enjoy

Thanks, she can use this bike for a while. Any recommendation on tires?

Yeah, slicks. I know Trek makes a kid-sized road bike, but it costs a lot (something like $450). I've heard wheelchair supply stores are the place to go for unusual sizes and type of tires!

Slicks, and maybe a change in freewheel to give her a little taller gearing. I put street tires on my daughter's 24" right from the start, and it helped, but the gearing is still awful low, so I recently changed the rear wheel, choosing a quick release and a freewheel that went down to a 12 tooth. Helps some, but I really am hoping to get her on 700s next year. The effort is there but the results are still limited by those 24" tires.

Sounds like our riding is a little longer than your ambitions, so you don't need to get too carried away. We regularly do 25 miles and are planning a century the first weekend in June.

I don't know who makes 24" slicks :-\

Unfortunately, I don't know where to get 24" slicks, either!

If I did, I'd get some for the Haro 2.2 BMX cruiser I have!

Rats!!!!

:mad:

Harris cyclery has a few different in 24' size.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/index.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/507.html

Thanks for the link to Harris, just purchased some slicks from them.

Welcome!
I hope your girl will like the new tires. I think this will be the last set of tires you buy in that size. By the time those tires wear out, she'll be needing an adult size bike.

You'll need new tubes for those slicks, and the tubes will be presta. Bike shops carry little grommets to adapt a Schraeder rim to Presta.

Eh... what?? You don't need to change tubes just because you change tires, unless the width of the tire changes greatly. I find you can happily use a larger range of tire sizes than are normally advised by the manufacturers...

Why do they have to be Presta? It really doesn't matter to me, my pump will handle both, but It seems easier to find Schraeder tubes for 24" and the bike already has a Schraeder tube in it. Thanks for the help.