Yoofs road bike

mudcow007

my mrs's younger brother (14) is after a road bike for chrimbo

anyone know of anything?

they are looking at around £350 to £500

meanredspider

mudcow007 wrote:

my mrs's younger brother (14) is after a road bike for chrimbo

anyone know of anything?

they are looking at around £350 to £500

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

Great bikes - normally excellent resale too

rubertoe

Planet X will soon be selling yoof bikes, have alook at their news articles, not sure it will be in time for christmas though.

zx6man

and of course depends how big a 14 yr old is, nephew rides a trek 1.2 and he is 14.

SteppenHerring

zx6man wrote:

and of course depends how big a 14 yr old is, nephew rides a trek 1.2 and he is 14.

Indeed. My boy is 12 and he will outgrow his Allez soon.

mudcow007

good point about height....

im thinking This

to be honest i can see the bike being smashed to smitherines in a few months from whacking kerbs etc....

so im reluctant to tell him about anything decent

SimonAH

14? Bah. He'll want a BMX with spinnable bars, a freewheel, no brakes and a saddle the size of a matchbox somewhere in the region of his ankles.

veronese68

My 14 year old has an 25" steel framed road bike. Be stripped it and painted it and did a lot of the assembly work. He is very aware that it needs to be looked after.
He's a bit tall.

daddy0

SimonAH wrote:

14? Bah. He'll want a BMX with spinnable bars, a freewheel, no brakes and a saddle the size of a matchbox somewhere in the region of his ankles.

This.

Perfect age for him to start on the old BMX.

mudcow007

he already has a bmx which he doesn't like

i've been trying to teach him bar spins an manuals an stuff but he ain't interested

i think he just wants to go fast

SimonAH

mudcow007 wrote:

he already has a bmx which he doesn't like

i've been trying to teach him bar spins an manuals an stuff but he ain't interested

i think he just wants to go fast

(I was of course joking)

If you can get him onto a proper bike then fantastic - opens up so many possibilities for him that will have more value in future years than hanging around at the skate park.

(I have to admit, at this point, to a fair amount of hanging around in skate parks as a yoof however )

mudcow007

SimonAH wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

he already has a bmx which he doesn't like

i've been trying to teach him bar spins an manuals an stuff but he ain't interested

i think he just wants to go fast

(I was of course joking)

If you can get him onto a proper bike then fantastic - opens up so many possibilities for him that will have more value in future years than hanging around at the skate park.

(I have to admit, at this point, to a fair amount of hanging around in skate parks as a yoof however )

i know i know, he already has a "vintage" Motobecane roadie but wants something new an shiny, god knows why it will only be left outside in the rain

i might persuade him to get a *shudder* hybrid

UndercoverElephant

mudcow007 wrote:

i might persuade him to get a *shudder* hybrid

He's 14. He wants to pick up girls. Nobody who rides a hybrid ever got laid. EVER! :x

daddy0

mudcow007 wrote:

he already has a bmx which he doesn't like

i've been trying to teach him bar spins an manuals an stuff but he ain't interested

i think he just wants to go fast

Fair enough - BMX is something that you've got to fall in love with really, takes a long time to get some of them tricks down. You should teach him endos, 180 endos and bunnyhops (proper bunnyhops - and maybe 180 bunnyhops) - all transferable to big boys bikes and VERY useful :-)

As for SimonAHs comments - I'm 35 and I still go to the skatepark/dirt jumps/flat car park, and I have friends who are in their 40s (and 50s I think) who still live the BMX life. I still find it very rewarding in a overcome your fear and MTFU kinda way.

As for that Spesh Allez - I understand they're good bikes, but I wouldn't want to risk it not turning up on time - the estimated delivery time is the week before Xmas. I'd recommend a visit to the LBS.

If he is anything like me when I was 14 he will go way too fast, crash, and need new forks and front wheel every few weeks. Whatever you get make sure you regularly check his brakes work!!!

gbsahne001

BTWin have some reasonably priced gear; nothing above Sora but if it's going to get trashed..

greg66_tri_v2.0

mudcow007 wrote:

my mrs's younger brother (14) is after a road bike for chrimbo

anyone know of anything?

they are looking at around £350 to £500

FYI: he's your brother in law.

At 14, he doesn't need a youth's road bike. Unless he is Rick Chasey-sized, he should fit onto the smallest sized adult frame from most of the main manufacturers.

As an example, I've just managed to fit our eldest - 13 today and 5 foot on the nail - onto a 48cm adult road frame with 700c wheels.

I'd suggest getting down to Halfords to size him on the smallest sized Boardman road bike, then keep an eye on ebay.

ETA: the things you want to bear in mind are (a) does he have small hands; if so can the shifters take a shim to bring the brake lever closer to his hand; (b) gearing - definitely compact. If you can find a bike with a 48/34 chainset on the front that's well worth a look; (c) crankarm length - go short but bear in mind this is probably not a deal breaker as boys can grow a lot from 14.

tailwindhome

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

(b) gearing - definitely compact. If you can find a bike with a 48/34 chainset on the front that's well worth a look;

If he's going to race he'll be on restricted gearing. You may want to check before you buy.

greg66_tri_v2.0

TailWindHome wrote:

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

(b) gearing - definitely compact. If you can find a bike with a 48/34 chainset on the front that's well worth a look;

If he's going to race he'll be on restricted gearing. You may want to check before you buy.

This is true. Apparently one trick is to adjust the limit screws on the rear mech so that the pointy end of the cassette Is out of bounds.

meanredspider

Do take a look at the IslaBike. It has all of the issues thought out and it's on budget. You might even find a secondhand one

mouth

Daddy0 wrote:

I'm 35 and I still go to the skatepark/dirt jumps/flat car park,

My little lad (I'm 31 he's 11) recently had a new X-Rated and when I took him out on it for the first time recently he spent most of the time asking for it back off me. Love it. Not had a BMX myself since I was about 9 or 10.

Interestingly I had a roadie after that and to be honest it never stuck. Too hard following my mates along the river and down the steps near the library etc on it so changed to an MTB soon after. Regretfully.

mudcow007

cheers all he seen a Claud Butler San Remo Clicky

he was sized up an told he should ride a 52cm an will hopefully grow into it

zx6man

Thats a lot of cash for a bike of that type and spec IMHO. The front 52/39 may be a handful too on those hils( I changed to a 50/34). Same spec as the carrera tdf I bought for 270 new..

Looks quite funky though :-) And I am sure in a year or two once hes into it, it will be upgrade time.

SimonAH

mudcow007 wrote:

cheers all he seen a Claud Butler San Remo Clicky

he was sized up an told he should ride a 52cm an will hopefully grow into it

....I'd be wary. It has forks made from stell.

A stell is a cattle or sheep shelter build on the moors apparently (had to look that up) so I would think it safe to say that this Claude Butler has dry stone forks.

mudcow007

nice, i've known a couple of bikes to ride wooden, but stone like - jeez louise!