If a Serotta had a baby.....

[duff_duffy]

it would look like this! Kid friendly, mom approved. We may have a new 9 year old Paceliner on the forum soon. Just have to find some flats.

For those with young riders in the family, do you recommend using flat bar or drops ok to learn on (maybe with inline brakes?).

[happycampyer]

it would look like this! Kid friendly, mom approved. We may have a new 9 year old Paceliner on the forum soon. Just have to find some flats.

For those with young riders in the family, do you recommend using flat bar or drops ok to learn on (maybe with inline brakes?).
I set up a 650c Legend for my daughter years ago, and used a flat bar (with a little rise) and shifters. I also got a Wound-Up fork for it so that I could put wider tires on it (the fork that came with it would only clear a 23mm tire iirc). I think Terry carried a 27mm tire.

[Hilltopperny]

See how your 9 year old does with the drop bars and if they aren’t comfortable then you can try flats.

My daughter has been on drop bars since she was 8 years old, but I did install dummy brakes on her first road bike.


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[Kontact]

Every kid with a ten speed got along fine with drop bars. It's the lever reach that may be an issue. Short reach road levers like the old AGC 252 or Tektro RL341 and bar end shifters may work better.

[happycampyer]

^ This is the issue (reach), especially with a young girl. For my daughter at least, the hoods would have been too far away for her. I can’t recall the stem length, but I think it was 80mm.

[Matthew]

Man that's freaking sweet!!! When I was 9 I got a neighbors hand me down Huffy!!

[ultraman6970]

I got a ridley xs (45 cm i think) for my 9 y/o... drop bars... came with shimano 105 but the levers are way too big so swap the whole group with mix chorus and veloce 10 stuff I had moving around. The chorus levers are ok.

Regarding reach, tHe stem originally was an 8cm but I swapped for a 4 or 5 cm stem, like a downhill 1 1/8 stem, pretty much the steering and the clamp for the handlebar. Once I did that reach was not like a big of a problem. The only issue just because the stem is super short he needs to over steer a little bit more and lean a lot more to have the bike to turn, super small frames turn weird anyways, and it makes sense. This year due to the f... weather we have not been able to go anywhere, but probably gonna have to swap the stem for the 8 cm one maybe half summer or by the end of the summer I guess.

And still raining here, sucks!

Initially tried to go 650 but no frames around when I tried to do find one so had to go 700c, which after all helps because at some point my kids will overgrown the xs frame, 700c easier to move out than a 650 anyways. And is easier to find a replacement aswell.

[Kontact]

I'm talking about hand reach, not "Reach". Many kids find the drops perfectly fine for all their riding, but they still have to be able to reach their hands from the drops and around the lever to break and shift.

[ultraman6970]

Well thats the reason I put like 4 cm stem :P

Modolo makes a handlebar that the curve is like 30% less than normail, ideal for situations like the one we are discussing right now.