the beef

au contraire. i worked 40 hrs/wk at minimum wage for a month my freshman year summer picking up **** (yes, literal ****) off of highway shoulders for the state dept of ecology in 85 deg weather to afford my first road bike. then, through hundreds of clever craigslist exchanges, scoring great deals, and reselling stuff to afford better stuff over the course of 4 years, i wound up turning my Bianchi Brava w/ Sora components into a Bianchi EV2 w/ Record (pictured above) and two other bikes.

when you're young, low on cash, and desperate, anything is possible with enough persistence.. my first pair of bike shorts was used off of CL. gross, but saved me a lot of dough.


PS schwinn super sports are awesome. i have one that i turned into a single speed.

mzeffex 

Just so you know, none of my Carbon bike was paid for by parents - not a penny. I work in a bike shop, making minimum. I do get a pro deal though which is how I got it.

heckler

I am glad you guys are all being shown so much support by your parents, I wish I got in younger (25 now). Like beef said it is a middle age mans sport and even I feel weird at group rides and races due to my age, you should get more respect than you do.

What is the min age for juniors? A very young guy was riding in a Cat4/5 road race it freaked me out he was so young. looked like he was 12.

DRietz

My parents don't really have much interest at all. They'll carry on a conversation, but aren't that interested. However, they do always remind me to stuff my face to get the BMI up, and so I do. 19% right now. Middle of the healthy range.

Also, I think it might differ by area. Around here, it's 13 I think. But I don't race, so I don't know.

chado445510

Yeah, I was very lucky to have my parents buy my bike. However, it will be the last one until I can buy my own (AKA like 6 years). That means summer jobs! whoooooooo!

poptart38247

I love my Schwinn it reads like a dream! And my first comment was just for humor

Twigman503

I'm 17 and have very little time to cycle right now. Job, college prospects, scholarships, and school just don't leave me any time. I'd love to come on here and brag about my 20 hours I spend on the bike per week but I haven't spent 20 hours total in the last four months. I can't really get serious about racing and training until the summer rolls around or if I lose my job. I'll wait for summer....

hansel

Thanks grandma! haha. hopefully getting a job this summer at a shop so i can blow all my money on some soul carbon clinchers or maybe some mavics.

im the same way with school, but actually i decided that march 20th will be my last day(my birthday). i just finished the bulk of my scholarships and got accepted into all my schools so now all i need to do is skate by. we have a "mail it in" board in my ap gov, i will be the second on that board. now i have time to ride every day!

midgetmaestro 

I worked my ass off to have enough dough to do my most recent build...but it was worth it!

I took the liberty of creating a junior riders group just in case this thread ends up dying at some point:

https://www.bikeforums.net/groups/junior-riders.html

Alright, g'night folks!

graytotoro

I'm 18 going on 19 and I had to bike to get to class. I never really did any measuring but I did ride almost every single day of the school year so far, save for that week somebody stole my wheel and the time before I got a bike. Rain or shine, even through a 30mph rainstorm. Of course, I don't think I'll be doing anymore actual riding for a while; bent my replacement wheel in an accident yesterday. But I do quite a bit while studying on an exercise bike, usually 8 miles or more, so if all goes well I won't suffer too much.

For those of you who go to UC Davis, it's the one-wheeled blue Freespirit abandoned out by the bookstore. Seeing as I got it for free (dug out of somebody's garage), already dropped 1/4 of the value on a wheel, and it was half-dead to begin with, I'm going to upgrade soon. haha The saddle's a keeper, though.

I don't know how "awesome" of a biker I am but I do "race" other bikes and I'm that jerkoff who passes 5-6 of you slower folk out there in a blaze of speed. Sometimes I can get some mad, pedal grinding angle full tilt around roundabouts.



Here it is in happier times. Funny how it's sitting a few hundred feet away from where I took that picture right now.

Weight? f-king heavy. My weight? Nowhere near ideal for cycling!

7bmwm3gtr

I like reading everyone's stories!

I don't have a job but i'm considering working at a bike shop near my house. I'm planning to keep my aluminum Trek for about another year unless it completely gives up. Then i'll upgrade to a Carbon. Like I said in another post, i want a BMC. Hopefully i can get a job while at the same time get some extra allowance from racing. My friend has saved up around $1300 just from racing, but there's only 2-3 races per year which give prize money to Juniors.

DRietz

In my opinion, racing for money doesn't really work all that well unless you're Alberto Contador.

The most I'd win at a mountain bike race over the summer was a t-shirt or cap or something. They don't give the junior raffle booze tickets.

As for jobs, I'm sure you can start wrenching at an LBS over the summer. You're 17, so the legal age thing isn't an issue. Do you have any bike maintenance experience? We have a bike club at school and I volunteered as the club mechanic. Several members of the club are successful local high school racers, and it's funny the day before race day when my garage is lined with their speed machines. Fulfilling.

McStuff

I'm 16 and I'm just getting into road bikes. Been borrow my dad's pacific mtb because it's the only thing that fits, but currently shopping for a new bike. I'm eying a Cannondale R500 right now, just trying to get more details. I'm a junior in high school, and I work a part time job at a dry cleaner's. I'm getting back into riding more, and my rides have lengthened and I've gotten better at hills. That's about it

Braden1550

The newbie, 16.5lbs as it sits:


The Oldie, POS cracked on me. Fulcrum R1's, Chorus/Record 10sp mix, came out to 7.8kg:


The Bike before the Oldie, also cracked on me. 8.9kg:


This is all over the course of 3 months. Bad luck for me

Urthwhyte

Just got my road bike, Giant Defy 2. Stopped by the LBS today on a whim and ended up with a great deal at ~$1200 for the bike and then 50% off all the accessories. Came away with clipless pedals, bottle cages, frame pump, saddle bag, and a free service at 1.000km/3 months. Hopefully I'll get a nice ride in with my father after rugby practice and can post back about how much nicer it is than my commuter

mzeffex 

Maybe you shouldn't buy nice bikes

nahh

I'm 18, started riding when I was 15 or 16. The best thing I did was quit doing group rides as a newbie. I can do them just fine now, but when I was first starting out I didn't have the muscle to do the climbs and long flat stretches yet, and I had knee problems.

I haven't raced yet, although I might race some CX next fall, and we'll see how things go in college workload wise, but I might start racing my 2nd semester of Freshmen year (so less than a year from now, I need to get a race bike first, and train up.)

so my advice to juniors: Don't kill yourselves, train smart. Don't worry about your bike, you can train on anything. Ride with fast people, they make you fast.

and most importantly, keep those grades up! So far, i've managed to keep my grades high senior year, but I have friends who don't care and are failing. It's not good, colleges don't like to see that.

walshconor

Heres my tarmac in race get-up. Couldn't be happier with it.





oh and btw in case you're wondering this bike in 0% parent paid for.

DRietz

This is one of the largest limiting factors to my riding. I go to a tuition-paid high school, and in order to repay my parents I take the hardest classes I can. The homework can sometimes take me a few hours of an evening, so getting out during the week is really hard. And then that lack of riding combined with my concern over our financial situation just makes me go insane.

Anybody else in a similar situation?

walshconor

Riding is fun. Keep it that way. Dont view it as a chore that you have to get done. At my HS there is the same amount of stress (most kids are headed for ivy's next year). I ride to de-stress and keep myself sane as much as I do to train for racing.

nahh

I mean, yeah. I'm in pretty hard classes, and I have about 3-5 hours of homework most nights. I balance it with work, cycling, freelance photography/journalism, social life, etc. Spending time with the family and sleep are the two things that get left behind the most. I'm up till at least 2am most nights, and get in about 8pm everyday. My parents are asleep or at work when i'm awake (I go to school from 2-7:15 everyday because my school's gym collapsed and we had to go to another school)

hansel

wow that sucks for you guys, my senior year a joke. no homework, no classwork, barley any tests. and riding every day

midgetmaestro 

I understand the financial situation... tuition to attend CIM as a prep student is about 7 grand, plus the fuel to get there (another 3) - we considered bankruptcy last summer as our debt was still sky-high and our insurance rates went through the roof due to a company change. This didn't make for great times at home - with the exception of music, cycling was the only thing to get me through summer. Sorry if I'm rambling, it's just nice to talk to other people with similar situations.

mitty2328

16. I ride about 140-175 miles a week. Plus i just had my first day of work at a bike shop today and loved it. I gotta say that i absolutely hate front derailleurs on low end treks and giants. THEY SUCK. Myself and the full-time mechanic spent 45 minutes trying to get one to shift right. Otherwise it is awesome. But was i the junior you were talking about in your original post? The one whose name starts with "m"?

midgetmaestro 

There's a bunch of juniors with a name that starts with m haha