Little road bikes for kids?

[djg]

So my daughter, who just turned 10 (and started riding sort of late), has been enjoying rides on the MUT with me lately on her little girl's tank of a one-speed bike made by Giant. She has longish legs and she's really outgrown it, and she'd like to go faster, so we just started looking at options. It seems that the vast majority of kids bikes are mtbs and fake mtbs, but one local shop had a really little specialized road bike that seemed cool -- she went around the lot a bit and then took off with a woman from the shop for a short tour of the neighborhood. She's definitely not used to it yet, but she was smiling at the end of it and seemed psyched and I have to say that I was psyched myself. On the way home, she kept talking about the potential for going out on the MUT with her mommy and leaving mommy in the dust. This is the smallest kids' road bike I've seen, and she just fits it -- horizontally -- with a tiny stem flipped up. We might just take the plunge (definitely more than I thought of spending), but I'm wondering: Do people know of other options?

[Fixed]

bro my son's 52 cm is hangin on a hook if you need it he won a lot of races on it ...
cheers

[djg]

Thanks fixed, but I really think it's going to be a while before she can climb on a 52. She's a little taller than average for a girl who just turned 10, but she's still kid sized. I think that the little specialized one had a 45 cm top tube.

[Bruce K]

We went through the same thing with my son about 9 years ago.

In the end, we bought a Giant sloping top tube road bike, fitted it with a short stem, and let him go to town.

He loved road riding and we actually still have the bike and it is being ridden.

If she really appears to be into the idea of a road bike and road riding, go for it. You guys will have a blast riding together. There is nothing like it.

BK

[pdonk]

You may want to check out http://www.argon18bike.com/

They do a 24 inch and a 650B inch bike for "juniors".

[Polyglot]

I got my 10-year-old daughter a 1980's vintage racing bike with 26" tubulars and all. The frame is made of Columbus tubing with real lugs, fork crown and BB shell. She has problems with the friction shifting, but apart from that I have never seen anything under one grand that is any better. I found mine in Italy, where is used to belong to a bike club. It was leant to a different child every year as they grew up. You can tell that it was always treated with respect as it is still in good shape.

[justinf]

Thought you might want to see the little bike I'm piecing together for my daughter. The Cannondale touring/racing frame is early eighties' vintage as far as I can tell, and has eyelets for racks and long reach Modolo brakes for fenders. It has a 1x6 Dura Ace friction drivetrain and 700c wheels. The frame is 43.5 sloping st x 51 tt. Still working on finding a tiny quill without the long vertical extension to drop the bullhorn bars a bit, and replacing the corncob in the rear with a wider range. I'm thinking it will fit by springtime. . . :beer:

[rwl]

I had the same problem as you, x2.

My twins, 8 1/2, decided that they liked riding. They've stuck with me on 10 mile rides on their 20" wheeled bikes, and I wanted to do right by them. I researched the heck of of this, and really wanted to find steel. I hunted down two Ed Litton frames, vintage 90 (one built up, one as a NOS frame). Ed might still have another one or two. I'll have to post a picture one of these days.

Trek makes the KDR 1000, Piedrahita makes an aluminum road bike, based on 540 wheels (there are two popular wheel sizes that go by 24" - I'd stick with 520). Colnago and Pinarello are rumored to make some as well.

Best of luck!

[djg]

So we went back and tried the Specialized again, and I realized that it was just way too much money for a little kid's bike so, obviously, I bought it. She's happy, so there you go.

[Fixed]

the first bike is priceless imho
cheers it made you as happy as it did her i bet good job dad
cheers :beer:

[Michael Maddox]

I got my 10-year-old daughter a 1980's vintage racing bike with 26" tubulars and all. The frame is made of Columbus tubing with real lugs, fork crown and BB shell. She has problems with the friction shifting, but apart from that I have never seen anything under one grand that is any better. I found mine in Italy, where is used to belong to a bike club. It was leant to a different child every year as they grew up. You can tell that it was always treated with respect as it is still in good shape.

Did you buy that teeny little Ciocc that was floating around eBay? What a cool bike that was!

Anyway...if anyone's looking for nice kids bikes, I think Islabike has the thing.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/