tiiger

My 10-year-old loves his new-to-him fixed-gear Fuji (bought a used frame/wheels off ebay and cobbled together some other bits I had to complete it), that my 7-year-old wants something. (big surprise!)

We were at the LBS yesterday, and he sat on a 24" Fuji Ace (deraiileur bike, not SS), and it'll probably fit him near the end of the summer, or at latest, next spring. (He's already got a 20" MTB thing, so no way I'm gonna look for something that size.)

Felt makes a ridiculously expensive geared kids racer called an F24 ($800) that looks nice, but I'm gonna spend about a quarter of that, and I really want the simplicity of single speed.

So, any thoughts out there on a FG/SS on a 24" wheelset? Has anyone built one up?

He knows how to use handbrakes, but haven't determined whether he's too young to ride fixed... I remember seeing a thread where the parent said "No way I'm letting him ride fixed at 8 years old!" but there was no explanation why.

He wants to try drop bars because he sees his brother and me using them, but he might have to graduate to those after a year.