Ok. My 13 yr old son is pretty athletic - runs track and competitively swims, and rides his trek mountain bike to school. 3mi roundtrip most days. Last summer he went to a few youth triathlons in the northeast and did very well, placing in the top 3 or 4 each time. I felt "like a bad dad" when I watched him peddle his mountain bike while other kids zoomed past him on their road bikes. He looked like a grandma sitting upright while others passed him with the 'right technology' advantage.

The youth bike legs are only 4 miles long.

I'd like to get him a road bike so that he can be more competitive this summer but I'm not a biker and have no expertise. The goal would be to keep him "near" the top bikers so that he would be within striking distance at the start of the 1 or 2 mile runs.

The local bike store has an entry level Trek road bike for $800 which is, from my perspective, a crazy price to pay for 3 or 4 races this summer. I've learned of a nearby shop that has a very serious 'fitter' who will do the calculation on my son for $50 and apply that to a bike if I want to buy one. This same person will 'rent' me the correct bike at $50 a day.

My son is still growing so a year from now he may be 2 or 3 inches taller.

Preliminary questions:
1) will growing 2 or 3 inches and increasing his weight from 120 to 135 result in a 'new' bike no longer "fitting" him ?
2) if we rent a bike for his races, is it absolutely critical that we rent if for a few days before so that he can practice on it or should he be able to 'figure it out' by warming up for a few miles on race day morning.
3) assume we get 'fitted' for $50 and then go shopping online, should I be able to buy something "good enough" online ? Ebay shows aluminum road bikes for $200-$300 which might be good enough.

I know there is no right answer to the above but I've got to start somewhere.

Thanks.

Bad news: cycling is an expensive sport.
It might be the case that buying maximum one size bigger bike, counting on the bigger flexibility of the children and playing with stems (they are not so expensive), a bike may be used for 3 years. So: 13+3+3=19. The third bike would be the last that is constrained by the age.

I guess that renting is not a big deal, because it takes some more time to get used with a new geometry. Besides... cycling requires continuous training, like any other sport, so how can somebody get trained on a long run without a proper bike?

I assume that a 300 $ bike should be ok for 13 years old, to get used with the sport. At 16 years, a serious junior would probably need something at least 1000 $.

I made a lot of research over the internet for buying bikes and my assessment was that the price of a very good bike is around 2000 - 2500 $ (but even 1500 - 2000 $ is more than acceptable) and everything above that price brings very little to nothing to the performance.
Apart from the price, the type of bike also plays a role: a time trial bike is somehow different versus a road one (aero position). But this is for really performance oriented people.

By age 13, I would expect him to be riding a small frame bike with 700c tires. Don't expect it to be a forever bike, although you could probably size it slightly large and get a couple of years out of it.

I wouldn't plan on renting one for just races. That will get expensive quickly, and he really needs experience riding the bike, both for safety and training.

There should be lots of good used ones on the market. I wouldn't go out and immediately spend $800 on a bike. If he starts getting top tier finishes with an old steel bike, then you can consider something a bit better.

You can always sell the bike or pass it down to another deserving kid when he outgrows it. Get a good deal now and it should hold a lot of value.

Or, invest in upgrades like race tires/wheels that could be moved from bike to bike as he gets older.

Hmmm... looks like a lot of options from $100 to $500+

https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/5620862340.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/bik/5626759088.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/bik/5615360475.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/bik/5629104723.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/5610824852.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/5628184788.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bik/5620215731.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/5609599791.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bik/5585980724.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bik/5585634492.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/bik/5621031179.html

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Thank you. I definitely understand why it would be smart and 'essential to safety' to have the bike available to him to practice on beforehand. I will have him fitted by a fitter who's been recommended to us so I know what I should be looking for.

Some of the bikes listed are labeled 'women's bike'. What exactly does that mean? And does that matter at this age ?

Purple colored bikes?

If you are talking to a fitter, you can ask them about "women's bikes". I don't believe the differences are significant. Women are frequently shorter than men... so smaller sizes (which is what you need). They may have slightly longer legs and a shorter torso, but I can't see it as making a huge difference at this point. Perhaps the only significant difference would be the width of the seat, so you may need to add a small narrow seat.

Everything will change rapidly with the kid. So, get him "fit" now, and he'll grow taller, longer legs, arms, torso, etc in a year.

Personally I would just eyeball it. Get the seat height set right, & ride. "Test Ride" any bike you buy.

I, as a 53 male have a WSD bike and have happily rode it for 8 years, with the merits being a narrower handlebar and shorter cranks and well as a shorter top-tube, BUT I would never consider getting a WSD for my teenage son. They are very sensitive to such things and may not endure the teasing of other kids.

I'm in a similar situation. I purchased my 12yr old son (who is now 14) a Motobecane Vent Noir that he is now a perfect fit for. I also have another son, who is now 12, who feels left out as he doesn't make the outings with brother and dad. My oldest is riding Pelotonia this year and has had multiple rides of 50 miles... so he's a capable rider. So my thought it to get my older son a new bike and have the Vent Noir go to my youngest. Since my oldest is a capable rider and expects to continue riding I don't mind getting him a nice bike. He is 5'6" and test rode a 54cm Fuji Roubaix with Ultegra groupset (yes, I know he doesn't need Ultegra but the bike is on sale for 799). The sales kid is continually chirping that the bike is too big for my son. My son was happy with the bike but did mention that the stretch to the bars may be a little much for a long ride. My thought is... well, get a shorter stem and move the seat forward?!?! I don't want to dismiss the sales kid (who should presumably have a reason for his opinion) but does anyone have an opinion on this? I mean my son is prolly going to grow a few inches by next year and if so, the bike will last him years. But I really don't want it to be a painful experience for him and I fear his excitement for the bike may be in part due to my commenting on it being a nice bike. Has anyone bought a bike for a growing teen?

Because other kids also grow too tall for their bikes, it seems to me it should be easy to find a good used one. I wouldn't be too worried about 'old steel ones', they are still road bikes made to go fast. Compared to the mountain bike you will reduce his disadvantage on the best bikes from minutes to seconds. That can easily be compensated by training on it and getting used to it. Competitive kids need good stuff to give them a fighting chance, not the best stuff that gives them an edge. He will just have to find an edge somewhere else.

Just a quick observation as it's frequently discussed on these boards. As stated in my post above I ordered my son a bike off a frequently dissed website BikesDirect. There are more "support your local bike shop" advocates on these boards than there are deleted emails from HRC. So I've spent the last 5 days attempting to get my son fitted and TRYING to buy a bike from my local shops in Cols, Ohio and I've got to say they suck.... ALL OF THEM!!! I can't believe any of them are in business. I went from one who tried to convince me that pretty much any bike in the shop would work to another where I was informed by the biggest ego I've ever seen "I tell you what bike fits your son"... which would be great if the only bike to apparently fit my 5'6" son was a 56cm $4500 carbon fiber bike with Dura Ace. Please... please someone direct me to these fantastic LBS's I hear so much about. Around here it appears they're hiring the same blank faced, anti-social introverts who ask you "what do YOU want" you see at the drive though. YOU CAN'T PAY PEOPLE TO WORK anymore!!!!

Sorry for the rant and to be fair, if I'm going to bash the bad, I need to recognize the good. Finally found a quality shop.. Baer Wheels in Clintonville. Awesome guys who are knowledgable and love what they do.

If he likes athletic stuff, my guess is that he will be riding that road bike a lot. I know I rode the heck out of mine when I was that age. I think if you got him a decent bike where the seatpost only had a 2" extension from the frame that he could ride that bike for many years, just by raising the saddle and putting on longer stems.

OTOH, it's possible to go like stink on a MTB with the right tires and position. It's totally not necessary to be sitting upright on a MTB. Standard road position should be possible. That's faster on the trails anyway. You want 1" slicks at 100 lbs. for the road.

Thanks everyone for your comments (so far).

We went to the fitter and are renting a 51cm Felt bike for his summer races. My understanding is that it's a $2k bike and it'll cost us 10% of that to practice and race on during the summer. Each time we rent for a race we take it out a couple of days early for him to get used to it.

My son's 5'6" like the other poster's kid who is riding a 54 cm bike. Different bikes could be measured differently I suppose but at our shop they had Felts in all different sizes so nobody was trying to push a 51cm bike on me since we were renting. So I would think a 54cm one is just too high for your son and that the chirping pro there is correct.

And to Stadjer who wrote " Competitive kids need good stuff to give them a fighting chance, not the best stuff that gives them an edge.", I just want to say THANK YOU ! You hit the nail on the head. Brilliant and fits my son to the tee. His edge will be the run. His plan is to stay close to the leaders through the bike stage and then run them down the last 800 m.

Andy