24 inch wheel Road bike for kids any thoughts????

[dana_e]

I have a bike buy for a 24 inch for my Son, he is only 8 now, but thinking for the future

Are 24 inch bikes a way to go as a starter or should I just do the dort bike thing until he can ride a 700c bike??

[pinkshogun]

i have a Trek 220 24" mtb bike in my possession. aside from the nutted wheels its a great bike for an appropriate-sized kid to use/ride

[ntb1001]

My 8 year old daughter has a road bike with 24" inches, as well as a Trek mtn bike with 24 " wheels.
Might as well get the size that fits so the kid can ride now....you can always sell it when it's time to go to a larger size.

[cycle_chic]

My 8 year old daughter has a road bike with 24" inches, as well as a Trek mtn bike with 24 " wheels.
Might as well get the size that fits so the kid can ride now....you can always sell it when it's time to go to a larger size.

This is great. Young girls on bikes make me feel optimistic and happy inside. :)

[crownjewelwl]

Kona Jake 24...my kid loves it

[dana_e]

pic o rama

[josephr]

bought a 24" for my son when he was 9 and now he's 12 and still riding it. Hopefully he'll grow soon.
my daughter on the other hand was on a 24" when she was 9 and by 11 had to move her to a 26er with a 13" in frame.....she's 13 now and could probably use a 15" or 17" frame.

My brother-in-law though moved my nephew straight from a 20" kids' bike to 26er with a 2x9 setup....it was like a 29er to us. He grew into pretty quickly though.

these are all mountain bikes and they'll also use on path/family rides...they haven't been too keen on a full road bike yet, but my oldest turns 20 this year and has started joining me on some of the shorter group roads rides. I'll take that! :)

[christian]

If you're in the East Bay and have some better Shimano parts to swap onto it, it might be worth the $450 they're asking. Otherwise, I think it's pretty steep for a bike with Sora, though the frame is admittedly very nice.

Just as a comparison, a Tiagra equipped Jake 24 in Madison, WI: http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3877706440.html

BTW, anyone in Madison want to do me a Craigslist favor? :)

[dana_e]

which is decent

I have 2 boys, one 8, one almost 6, for sure one iof them will ride the snot out of it

I live near the bike trail in Sacramento CA

I estimate by the time the older one gets about 13 he will be dropping me uphill

[christian]

Yeah, at $350, I'd get it for sure. If you pass for any reason, let me know, and I'll have my bro pick it up for me.

[alpsantos]

Both my 8 and 9 year have Redline Conquest 24" bought on craigslist. They're still riding their 20" mountain bikes and looking to move to 24" next year.

Some pics. :)

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/Biking/photo24.jpg

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/Biking/20120711_W@W105.jpg

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/Biking/bike25.jpg

[dana_e]

it is totally awesome, straight steel fork, glossy paint

maybe 100 miles on it, maybe, dusty, no marks at all on the rims, little gunky chain marks on cogs, looks like the chain was never lubed except for stock gunk

basically new

total score. I was ready to take it at 500 but my wife and i agreed it was too much, so I went 350 and pop, it is in my trunk

I recently sold cranks onthe forum to fund it so no dent in our bank account

[shovelhd]

Both my 8 and 9 year have Redline Conquest 24" bought on craigslist.

Good choice. For a pure road race bike, add the Felt F24.

[branflakes]

congrats on the purchase. looks like a nice ride. i have steel envy.

just got my 7yo a road bike as well. i searched long and hard and found an out of state CL deal on what was described as a fuji 24". once it arrived i found out it is actually a 650c. surprisingly he still fits it reasonably well. a comparison of the geometries indicate a 14mm longer tt, 3cm longer chainstays, obvious increases in bb drop and clearance, and interestingly, lower standover height. the better surprise was the completely upgraded components - tiagra shifters and d/r's and ultegra 6600 hubs laced to mavic cxp22's. oddly it had a 170mm triple fsa crankset installed. it's no wonder the kid who had this bike didn't ride it. all this for $330 shipped. it was hard to say no considering i was about to drop $750 on the conquest 24.

the mods i made so far:
added cross levers to bars
installed 8º shims in shifters

waiting on parts to arrive tomorrow:
change 90mm stem to 70mm
swap the 170mm fsa gxp for a 145mm origin8 square taper (pretty much all 145's are square taper it seems)

with the mods i am right at $400.

i'd love to see a future post with how your kids like the bike.

[KF9YR]

I bought a 24" Trek KDR1000 for my daughter to ride on the roads and a 24" Trek MTB for the trails.

Last year she turned 12 and she was tall enough for a Cannondale S men's frame SL2. The city of Phoenix cut some new trails near our house that she really likes riding.

I gave her 24" MTB to my girlfriends daughter but her son was still riding a department store bmx bike.

This spring the fitter at my LBS decided to sell his MTB and Road Bike and get new ones. He is not tall and said he would give her a full fitting if I bought them both for her.

She is now the proud owner of a Cannondale System Six road bike and a Maverick SL 7.5 FS mountain bike.

I gave the Cannondale MTB to my girlfriend's son and now everyone has a nice bike to ride.

Investing in really nice kid's bikes has paid off for me. Her Trek KDR1000 is now on it's 3rd owner and has barely a scratch to show for it. I have a friend that has a young daughter that told me he would pay me my purchase price when she is old enough to ride.

The other bikes will each be used by the younger children as well if they show themselves to be interested in riding or I'll sell them to get a partial recoup in my investments.

Even if I don't get a penny for them I wouldn't mind as I've had the opportunity to ride 360 miles year-to-date with her and those miles are the ones I remember the most.

[rice rocket]

Kids should be on BMX or MTBs when they're young, whenever I see a kid on a road bike with drop bars, I always think, poor kid, parents probably make him/her play piano till their fingers bleed too. ;)

Unless your kid is the next Taylor Phinney or Joe Dombrowski, let them have fun on a BMX/MTB.

[ntb1001]

Kids should be on BMX or MTBs when they're young, whenever I see a kid on a road bike with drop bars, I always think, poor kid, parents probably make him/her play piano till their fingers bleed too. ;)

Unless your kid is the next Taylor Phinney or Joe Dombrowski, let them have fun on a BMX/MTB.

So....how is it they're not having fun on a rode bike??
My daughter had a bmx bike...and was happy to get rid of it for a new mountain bike. The road bike is something special for her....it is for riding with me & her brothers....hardly making her "fingers bleed".
Introduce kids to different things...it makes them develop the minds as well as there bodies.

[branflakes]

Kids should be on BMX or MTBs when they're young, whenever I see a kid on a road bike with drop bars, I always think, poor kid, parents probably make him/her play piano till their fingers bleed too. ;)

i get the sentiment, but every kid is unique. my oldest has begged for a drop bar bike for 2 years, he's not quite 8. he now has one, as well as a mountain and bmx bike. we mostly do neighborhood rides, greenway, or packed gravel. i don't tell him what to ride, he decides based on how he feels, or the effort he intends to expend. my only real requirement is that we ride.

[pdmtong]

when my daughter was 8 she had a full suspension specialized hot rock mtb, a trek kdr1000 road and a specialized big hit grom single pivot DH bike for northstar.

by 9 she was on a santa cruz juliana and a specialized dolce 44cm

sure, she could have been fooling around on a bmx but instead, i got her the right bikes for her size and as a result she has single track, road, cross and DH skills

kid climbed 3.3/1300 in 45 minutes when she was 9, as part of a 25/2000. one stop. kids can do amazing things if given the opty

[rice rocket]

So....how is it they're not having fun on a rode bike??
My daughter had a bmx bike...and was happy to get rid of it for a new mountain bike. The road bike is something special for her....it is for riding with me & her brothers....hardly making her "fingers bleed".
Introduce kids to different things...it makes them develop the minds as well as there bodies.

The purpose of a road bike is to stay comfortable over several hours. Most rides under an hour are fine on a MTB.

But maybe my opinion stems from parents who put my nose to the grind for all hours of the day, and I resented them for it.