need advice for new bike for 9 yr old daughter
 

My soon to be 9 yr old daughter has outgrown her 16" toy r us bike. She complains about difficulty going up the hill on our street. I am thinking about getting her a 20" with different speeds because the single speed bike will cause her the same hill problems as before. I definately want to get her a nicer bike from a LBS but I also worry that since summer is almost over and she doesn't ride much in the fall that she will outgrown a 20" bike by next year. Should I want until next year and go for a 24" bike? The 24" is a little too big for her now. Any recommendations as to bike brands. I had a FUJI road bike for many years and had great memories of its durability. How about something like Specialized or Performance? Thanks.

I would definitley go for at least a 24" bike, but your choice depends on how tall your daughter is. If she is tall, she will outgrow a 20" bike rather quickly. Even if she is not tall, she may experience a growth spurt that will make a 20" obsolete rather quickly. My 9 year old son did just that. We got him a 20" bike for his 7th birthday, and he was a little bit small for it. The guy at the bike shop said that it should last him until he was 11 or 12. This past spring we found that he had outgrown it completely. We investigated 24" and small framed 26" bikes, and finally decided on a small frame (14") 26" Giant Rincon mountain bike. We found that the difference between a 24" bike and the one that we bought was almost negligible (The top tube was a little bit longer), and the 26" is a bike that he can use right through adulthood.

Good luck,

Mark Stoughton
BikingWithKids.NET

I agree with bikingwithkids because my 11yo daughter had a 20" kids bike from walmart and the thing is a tad bit big but she does well on it. If she does good this summer on our longer treks, I am going to get her a GOOD bike, one with sealed hub wheels and the like. And I'll measure her and get one that is a tad big because she'll need to grow into it some.

I owned a bike shop for a number of years. Sold Specialized and Trek kid's bikes. The size issue is a tough one. For safety reasons, a bike that is too big is not good for the child. Without seeing your child, it's difficult to tell how big a bike she can handle. If a child has better than average coordination, handling a larger bike may be OK. The problems of using a bike that is too big are most apparent if the rider has to stop and dismount quickly. That's when an injury is most likely to occur.

I think that a multi-speed bike made by a reputable manufacturer makes sense. For my boy, we extended the life of his 20" bike by buying an extra-long alloy seatpost. If you wanted to take this one step further, you could also switch out the stem for a longer one with a higher rise, although this will probably require replacing brake and/or shift cables since they probably won't be long enough to accomodate the higher stem. Check on the costs.

The most economical route would be buying used. I gave away my boy's 20" Specialized to a Christmas charity. After cleaning, adjusting and putting Armor all on the tires, it looked brand new! Doubtless, there are slightly used bikes of 20" and 24" size hanging in garages all over America. Check with your neighbors, especially the ones you know that cycle, stay away from "junk brands" and if you have a buddy with enough bike knowledge, he could help you check out likely used candidates. Currently, I've got two 24"
bikes (Girl's Trek & Boy's Schwinn) hanging in the garage. Since my girl and boy are 16 and 13 respectively, they will probably hang there until I take the initiative to find a buyer.

Checking back in on this thread, got my 9yo a small frame 26" wheeled bike, and he and I both couldn't be happier. We looked at 20's and 24's but shop suggested since he does some miles go with the bigger tires smaller(est) frame. Should be able to get 2-3 good years out of it.

He loves the rapid fire shifters as opposed to the twist grip which is essentially useless in the cold with gloves on. He pulled about an hour and a half at 15 plus MPH this past weekend, when he finally figured out how to shift gears to his liking to keep his cadence up and his mashing down. Bike we ended up with was a Specialized Rockhopper and at $300 I feel it was very economical since I know he will put more than 1500 miles on it this year since it's so late, and a couple few thousand the next couple of years.

We had also looked at a Giant that was similarly equipeed and $100 less, but he liked the feel and the color of his Specialized better which was fine with me! The salesman we worked with had sold me my Stumpjumper a few weeks back, and spent a lot of time adjusting my son's less expensive Rockhopper and treated my son with the utmost respect and patience.

I just HAVE to add, he is very depressed about giving up his *mart Roadmaster bike from last year! ;-).... He loved that bike and the memories we made with it, but he can see some definite advantages in the upgrade! LOL Most notably to him the shifters, the number of gears and the big wheels like dad's!