Which bike?

dbiggings123

Hey bike radar, this is my first post on here, replies would be apprreciated, thanks

I am looking for a road bike for my 13 year old son, this will be his first road bike but will be used for a lot of training and possibly a few races.

I am looking to spend up to or around £350, which i know Is not much for a road bike but because he is growing fast it will not last long and I dont really want to spend a lot.

We are currently considering the Halcyon Cadiz at an indepent shop near us or the btwin triban 3 at decathlon, and are still looking at second hand bikes, but because of the frame size (47 - 50) and location (belfast) there is not much choice.

Any experience with these bikes? Look at them please (can't post links on computer) or any other suggestions?

Thanks a lot,

g00se

Just a thought, what about a child specific Islabike:

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath700lrg.html

They have a very good reputation.I know it's more than you wanted to spend, but as you said that the reason for the £350 limit was you were worried that he would grow out of it quickly, second hand Islabikes are in high demand and they don't depreciate much.

Also, if you're in Belfast, don't you have the huge Chainreaction flagship store there? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Help.aspx?HelpTopicID=49#belfast

dbiggings123

g00se wrote:

Just a thought, what about a child specific Islabike:

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath700lrg.html

They have a very good reputation.I know it's more than you wanted to spend, but as you said that the reason for the £350 limit was you were worried that he would grow out of it quickly, second hand Islabikes are in high demand and they don't depreciate much.

Also, if you're in Belfast, don't you have the huge Chainreaction flagship store there? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Help.aspx?HelpTopicID=49#belfast

Yeah, CRC do have a lot of nice bikes, but all very expensive!
The bike looks very nice, do you know anywhere you can but it in-store? I'm worried about buying online because of deliveries and quality.

g00se

As far as I know - Islabikes are mail order only - but I've never heard of poor packaging or problems with delivery, they have an enviably good reputation.

Looks like they do a buy-back on used bikes too.

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

dbiggings123

Sorry I'm so late replying, I have been searching around second hand bikes alot.

There are currently two Giant OCR Once or Giant OCR Team Once at £350 but since they are limited edition i can't find barely anything about them. Does anyone have any experience with these?

The Islabike seems very low spec for the price, and about the same weight as the Btwin Triban 3, which is another option.

Tom Butcher

If it's purely for the road then I reckon I'd go second hand - at 13 he's still growing and £350 should get you something reasonably nice. The younger riders round here have from memory, a second hand Ribble road bike, a Raleigh, a couple with Planet Xs and then a few on Islabike or Paul Milnes cyclocross bikes. You might also want to look at junior gear restrictions and whether he'd be better with a compact and factoring in the cost of a junior cassette (though you can just block off the higher gears). Something to think about anyway.

I think the IslaBikes make more sense for the younger kids but at 13 there's a lot more choice - not saying don't get one of the bigger Islas but they aren't the stand out choice they are for say 8-12 year olds.

One thing to think about is - is cyclocross big in your area? Round here most of the kids race cross in the Autumn/Winter and it's a good accessible sport - if he gets a cross bike he can always race it on the road with different tyres - you can't really race a road bike in cross as the tyres wont fit. The IslaBikes (I think) are all cross bikes so are that little bit more versatile than the pure road bikes you are considering at the moment.