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Road bike for children

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Road bike for children

Old 05-10-14, 11:15 PM
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Originally Posted by thebchessl
I would trade my children for a road bike.
I'll give you a Huffy. And it's a 10 speed!
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Old 05-11-14, 12:18 AM
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Eh, if I had a child, rather have child MTB than road. I feel safer in the woods and trails than on the road. Texting drivers scare me more than any tree, rock, cliff, steep hill etc. But I enjoy the speed of the road bike more. Not criticizing any parent's choice here, just saying I'd rather have hypothetical child enjoying the trails rather than the road.
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Old 05-11-14, 02:24 AM
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I modified an adult folding bike into a 7 speed mtb. Put slicks on it, replaced the crappygrip shifter with an indexed thumb shifter, stripped and painted the frame, mounted the stem backward to give her ideal reach. Two years.later I'm seeing more seatpost and stem but she is riding like a pro. Runs 20 inch wheels so its pretty fast.
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Old 05-11-14, 05:46 PM
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I added some pics of my son's Felt F24.

It's got 24 inch wheels (23mm) and 24 inch standover.




Here it is compared to my 61cm Allez.



It's Sora brifters and FD. Tiagra RD (8sp).







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Old 05-11-14, 05:51 PM
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Nice bike.
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Old 05-12-14, 11:49 AM
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Originally Posted by thebchessl
I would trade my children for a road bike.
Craigslist.
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Old 05-12-14, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by sideshow
I'm wondering if they made or make road bikes for children? My 6 year old daughter has a 20" specialized mountain bike with hand brakes and 6or7 gears. We ride long distances together, and she goes kind of slow, I may have her ride her skinny tire. Bmx race bike to see if it will make her go faster. I think it would be cool if someone made a small 10 speed with 20" wheels or something. If they do they are probably expensive. Any thoughts?
The children's used road bike market is actually quite good, so the depreciation of a good one like Felt/Pinarello will not be too bad. I sold my daughter's Pinarello PF0 (like this: Pinarello FP 0 Kid's Complete Bike | Competitive Cyclist) earlier this year for $500 for a bike I bought for about $700. She rode good 3 years with it, so it was well worth the money for us.

Before that, I went through similar thoughts of upgrade to a kids bike, and actually did put a pair of slicks on it, but as soon as we got her the little road bike, the speed difference is night and day. So I would highly recommend getting a real kids road bike if you think your daughter is actually going to ride a lot.
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Old 05-12-14, 01:06 PM
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I've seen the Fuji ACE bikes in person and they don't look/seem terrible. The only thing I think is crappy about them is the stem shifters, but understandably no one makes a really good kid sized STI shifter.

you can also try and find a local dealer for isla bikes (High quality lightweight children?s bikes from Islabikes) as they're kid centric from the get go.

otherwise find a super small WSD and see if you can make it work.
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Old 05-12-14, 04:53 PM
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found a bunch of 20" road bikes in the uk all boys but I cant find a 20" girls road bike. it cant be a 24" my daughter is only 7. anyone know of any please let me know, new or used is ok. me and my daughter just rode 30 miles last week, but a little slow on her mountain bike. she can do distance but her bike is slowing her down. she can ride her unicycle over a mile too. I guess if its a boys bike with the top bar it should be ok too. I'm only finding them in the uk though, and shipping would be crazy.
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Old 05-13-14, 07:55 AM
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Originally Posted by sideshow
found a bunch of 20" road bikes in the uk all boys but I cant find a 20" girls road bike. it cant be a 24" my daughter is only 7. anyone know of any please let me know, new or used is ok. me and my daughter just rode 30 miles last week, but a little slow on her mountain bike. she can do distance but her bike is slowing her down. she can ride her unicycle over a mile too. I guess if its a boys bike with the top bar it should be ok too. I'm only finding them in the uk though, and shipping would be crazy.

try islabikes. see above.
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Old 05-13-14, 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by cderalow
I've seen the Fuji ACE bikes in person and they don't look/seem terrible. The only thing I think is crappy about them is the stem shifters, but understandably no one makes a really good kid sized STI shifter.

you can also try and find a local dealer for isla bikes (High quality lightweight children?s bikes from Islabikes) as they're kid centric from the get go.

otherwise find a super small WSD and see if you can make it work.
I bought a gently used Fuji Ace 26 for my 9 year old daughter. she hated the heavy walmart gaspipe fake MTN bike the wife brought home. I tried a bikes direct bike that was short enough for her in stand over but it was a bit much in reach even with a short stem. she had a hard time with the brifters (in some part due to the reach) but loves the bar top paddle type shift levers on the Ace. Smaller hands can lever the lever for upshifts. I got the bike for $200 from a guy that told me he bought it from a guy for $200 that told him he also bought it for $200. Free bike with a core charge. Take care of it and get your money back when you pass it on. She is now almost 5 feet tall at age 10. Looks like the Fuji will be for sale soon.....

Last edited by Vicegrip; 05-13-14 at 06:36 PM.
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Old 05-13-14, 06:39 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by sideshow
found a bunch of 20" road bikes in the uk all boys but I cant find a 20" girls road bike. it cant be a 24" my daughter is only 7. anyone know of any please let me know, new or used is ok. me and my daughter just rode 30 miles last week, but a little slow on her mountain bike. she can do distance but her bike is slowing her down. she can ride her unicycle over a mile too. I guess if its a boys bike with the top bar it should be ok too. I'm only finding them in the uk though, and shipping would be crazy.
Nobody really refers to them as "girls" or "boys" bikes anymore. There's no reason whatsoever to choose a step-through frame for a girl over a standard diamond frame, unless she legitimately can't swing her leg over the top.
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Old 05-14-14, 09:23 AM
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Found one!!!!! A 20" road bike stand over height is 22" and it's complete and ready to go. It's a pinnacle 5 speed, think it's made in the uk from the 80's
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