Seeking info on or to buy a low-weight kid's bike (Any tire size)

[biker.caliente]

I'd appreciate if someone can recommend a kid's bike with a good low-weight frame. My son pedaled 20 miles with me on Father's Day on his steel Trek while I was on my carbon Parlee. He is pretty excited to complete the ride but I'd like to get him a good, low-weight (aluminum??) bike to keep his interest up. Have a budget of around $500.

FWIW, he is big 9-year old with an inseam of 29.25" cycling inseam and is about 5'2" tall. His current bike is a Trek 24" steel bike. Weigh like ten-times my Parlee.

Advice greatly appreciated. Also, PM me if you have something to sell. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Edit] - I actually have a good stock of road components that may be put to use to build him a bike. All I need would be a 48-50 cm frame or shorter crank. Let me know if you have something you like to sell. Wheel size no matter.

[bikinchris]

SOMA makes good looking kids bikes.

http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/bart-kids-road-frame-set

They sell parts kits to finish them also. With cranks, bars etc. sized to match the frame.

But he sounds like some of the small woman's bike frames would work. Just don't tell him it's made for girls.

[carpediemracing]

Your son has longer legs than me and he's 2" shorter than the Missus (who has longer legs than me).

I'm pretty sure that he'll fit on a 48-50 cm regular road bike. Once you put that into play then you have a zillion options.

If you have extra wheels that would really come into play as you could really get any bike out there and put your wheels on it.

I set up the Missus with basically a little brother version of my build kit - she rides the same height frame as me but with a shorter top tube. I even built up two sets of basically mirror image clincher training wheels (hubs were Veloce vs Centaur due to two sets of Centaurs not being available at that time). Part of my "identical build kit" was in case I needed extra parts in a hurry - I could just strip her bike of parts. I even used the same shift/brake levers for the tandem so we'd have yet another set of extra levers.

A plus side is that we could trade parts the other way - she could use nicer wheels if she felt like it for example. To her credit she chose to use some of my nicer wheels most of the time.

[biker.caliente]

Thanks for the info on SOMA. The BART or LISA takes only 20" tires and would be a bit small for him. He is on a bike with a 24" tire but he already looked a bit cramped.

Yes, he is quite leggy. Looks even better with the tanned muscle from swimming everyday, too.

I thought about getting him a small (women's??) road bike. Mom's carbon Trek (50cm) has been hanging off the ceiling since he was born. But given he is just 9, I worry he would trash it before our very eyes.

[bikinchris]

The smallest SOMA frames would fit him well. For instance, the SOMA San Marcos smallest frame is a 47cm and the standover height is 28.8 inches. Put some 165 cranks and 650B tires and you are set. Probably a 19 pound bike with no real budget crunching.

[carpediemracing]

I thought about getting him a small (women's??) road bike. Mom's carbon Trek (50cm) has been hanging off the ceiling since he was born. But given he is just 9, I worry he would trash it before our very eyes.

I think any small bike would work. If you're worried about standover a compact style frame like an XS Giant would work. I have a size S Giant and it's pretty long so I'm assuming an XS would be a touch shorter in length. My size S Giant aluminum has a 40 cm c-c seat tube, fyi, and I liked it so much I spec'ed the same length seat tube for my custom frame.

btw I use 175 mm cranks (by choice) and my legs measure in the 28" range. I really wouldn't worry much about cranks or whatever. A smaller bike might come with shorter cranks but it's no biggie if it doesn't. As long as the bars aren't crazy wide and the brakes are light enough for 9 year old hands you should be fine. Just keep up with his growth, I see kids on the same saddle height for a year and that's usually not right.

If he's riding a geared bike now I don't think he'd trash a bike very quickly, and if the bike in question has been hanging for 9 years I think that after clearing it with Mom it would be a perfect way to get into the 700c wheel bikes.

I have friends who has a son just a bit older and the first full size bike he's ridden was his mom's (1997?) 50 cm Cannondale. She stopped racing when she was pregnant with his big sister, got back into cycling pretty much when her son started to ride (a 20" wheeled bike), and started racing again. When her son got to the point where he could ride her bike she got a new one for herself.

[Fatty]

Thanks for the info on SOMA. The BART or LISA takes only 20" tires and would be a bit small for him. He is on a bike with a 24" tire but he already looked a bit cramped.

Yes, he is quite leggy. Looks even better with the tanned muscle from swimming everyday, too.

I thought about getting him a small (women's??) road bike. Mom's carbon Trek (50cm) has been hanging off the ceiling since he was born. But given he is just 9, I worry he would trash it before our very eyes.

So what. That is what bikes are for.

[pdmtong]

Use your wife's bike. Even if that was a 6.9 SSL it's nine year old carbon and not worth much yet still a better bike than anything you can buy or cobble.

How is he going to trash it?

Crash?

Toss on ground?

Doesn't know how to lean it or park it?

All of these you can coach teach to avoid.

More than anything get a bike that fits. Nothing worse than too big or too small even if the usage window is short. Bay Area has an active cycling craigslist so you can buy sell more easily than other locations

[pdmtong]

Btw I think we went though 16 bikes life to date (kid road mtb DH townie) for my now 16yo before her growth stabilized. All but one off Craigslist. And i am net cash positive on the purchases

[cmbicycles]

If he fits your wife's bike, I'd second/third that suggestion, even if for nothing else than to get a baseline fit. Just put the fear of God into him that it is 'Mom's bike' and he needs to take care of it. Of course teach him how to take care of it too, but if he's only riding with you then you can make sure he treats it right from the start.
If he trashes the bike (wear not tear, or negligence) then your wife gets to pick out a new one (or fix the old one) and he has to go along to help/learn. Of course if your wife wants to ride with him/you then that changes everything.

[Dead Man]

My boys are pretty responsible and sharp... Their bikes have all been crashed. Some of them several times.. You should see my 10-year-old's bar tape and shifters.

If they're riding aggressively, they're gonna crash from time to time. They ain't getting carbon/uncrashable bikes from me. Not any time soon, anyway.

The Trek KRX would be a good option, and pretty close to your budget. It's the current equivalent to whatever my kids have (can't remember what it's called). Great mini road bike, shimano STI (deore or 105ish), parts inexpensive replaced as needed.

[giverdada]

sounds like he's big enough to get on a 'grown-up' bike, so i'd go that route.

our 11-year-old is now on a size 46cm specialized tricross that she hasn't fully gotten into due to time constraints, but it fits her well and weighs about half as much as her 24" Fisher mtb.

we've found that specialized makes the lightest kids' bikes BY FAR. especially if they're shockless and singlespeed. our 6 year-old was carrying hers through sand at the beach without complaint a couple summers ago. that's a huge plus.

anyway, if he fits a 46 or something, in a compact geo, i'd go for that. all this assuming you're looking at road bikes...

[brenick]

If he's really long legged, then there could be an issue with the top tube length. He needs to comfortably reach the brakes. Just saying. :banana:

[Vera J. Hogue]

Children will tolerate, even enjoy, almost any bike. If you get them a good one, however, they’ll keep using it after the initial thrill of having a new bike has faded. Good bikes get used, day in, day out, because they’re a pleasure to ride. Bad bikes, on the other hand, slowly decay in sheds and garages, then end up at the dump.

Cycle prices don’t simply scale down with size. A child’s bike uses shorter lengths of tubing, but smaller components are not intrinsically cheaper and unlike clothes, children’s bikes aren’t VAT-free.

However, most children’s bikes are much cheaper because they are built to a price – the kind of price that would buy just a couple of PlayStation games. So, be warned, lots of children's bikes are little more than Bicycle-Shaped Objects, offering the appearance of a bike but none of its function.

[Joxster]

I gave a local kids club 8 of my bikes to use, most of them were Campag Record and almost of of the bikes could be adapted to fit from 8yrs up. The bikes were very well looked after by the kids. I'm 5' 8" with a 31" inside leg so look for a small adult bike, you should be able to pick up a decent frame on ebay.

[ultraman6970]

This kid is between sizes, between a small regular bike and whatever is for kids, what about a 650 bike???? not hard to find and probably cheaper because nobody wants them too much now a days, light aswell.