Bikes for Kids

[D-Squared]

I just saw this on the Griffen website:


http://www.griffenbike.com/news/jdp.htm

If you buy a bike for your kid and he outgrows it Griffen will give you a new frame (exchange) at no charge. Until they are 18 years old.

Pretty cool.

[dirtdigger88]

Cool idea, but a $2500 frame for a kid- I don't think so. It looks to me that the frames don't go to a small enough size either. The smallest TT I saw was a 51? No 650c wheels? I would supply a kid with 4 or 5 Cannondale frames for the same $2500- swap the parts out each time and be good to go. By getting a compact geo. frame, I would bet that on average a kid would only need 3 frame changes from lets say 13 to 18. Think about it, most compacts only come in 3 or 4 sizes anyway. Again, cool idea on paper- not worth much in the real world IMHO.

Jason

[Bruce K]

As a personal experience I side with digger.

We bought Jesse his first road bike when he was 13. It was a Giant, size Medium, compact geometry with 105 components. We had to get a VERY short stem but we knew he would grow into it.

Now, 4 years later he is still using the frame as a TT bike. If he grows much more we will have to replace it but 4 years usage isn't bad in my book.

His road bike, a Trek 5200 was purchased 2 seasons ago. Unless he grows exponentially over the winter we will get at least 3 seasons out of that bike with only a stem and possibly seatpost replacement.

There are frames that can be had fairly inexpensively, leaving you with minimal exposure when it comes time to re-sell them while paying for the parts swap.

BK