Originally Posted by
69chevy
Here's a shot of my 10 year old on his new bike. He is pretty comfortable in the drops.
Our training route has several agressive climbs. Neither of my boys can shift on climbs since the shifters (twist revos) are so close to the stem. They need to stay wide on the hoods to have control.
This leaves them in whatever gear they hit the climbs on and is the main reason I want dual-control levers for them.
I don't want to get all "back in my day" on you, but...
I was riding a 5spd downtube shifter bike when I was 10/11, and learned to a) ride 1-handed to shift or take a drink with the other, and b) shift before I needed to, especially on roads I knew well. (I also learned that when riding on the tops, those suicide levers weren't worth s4it, but obviously that isn't an issue for your boys).