Bike for youth

Harveyshreeves

Looking to get a road bike to replace my dirt bike . I'm 12 years old , 5ft tall , and want to use it for triathlon . My budget is £450 . I have been to halfords to get sized and I am around 45-48 cm frame . Any suggestions ?

skyeflyguy

Hi Luke, great to see you looking for advice from this forum at such an early age.
Unfortunately I cant give you the advice that you need, but I'm sure there will be some useful stuff to follow.

dereko

I would say anything by specialized, giant or trek. They have a great mix of frame and components and value. Any of these frames is good for upgrades (Christmas or birthday presents!) and will serve you well

nochekmate

Harveyshreeves wrote:

Looking to get a road bike to replace my dirt bike . I'm 12 years old , 5ft tall , and want to use it for triathlon . My budget is £450 . I have been to halfords to get sized and I am around 45-48 cm frame . Any suggestions ?

Perhaps look to join your local tri club for advice and training - it's a great sport (but can be expensive), the training is varied and it's great for all-round fitness. I wish I had started triathlon at your age!

To be honest at the age of 12, you don't need a specific tri/TT bike so just look for a suitable road bike (and be prepared to outgrow it pretty soon too). At a club, you may come across other junior bikes that have been outgrown that you could buy secondhand. £450 is a decent budget to start.

Good luck and just get out there and ride!

napoleond

Have a look at decathlon, the Triban range is excellent vfm.

wotnoshoeseh

Or the Felt F95/Z95 currently on offer from Wiggle!!

rickeverett

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

Or the Felt F95/Z95 currently on offer from Wiggle!!

yeah the Felt F95 is hard to beat at that price from Wiggle !
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f95-sora-wiggle-exclusive/

Nice looking bike too but only goes down to 51cm. (Halfords always under size bikes IMO)

Theres also:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-gtr-4-2013/

alphacharlie

You managed to find anything yet Harvey?
Cheers
ACSC

Monty Dog

5ft tall is right on the bottom limit for 700c bikes - Kinesis Racelight KR210 is about as small as they come: http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/technical ... ht-kr-210l

Anonymous

Dereko wrote:

I would say anything by specialized, giant or trek. They have a great mix of frame and components and value. Any of these frames is good for upgrades (Christmas or birthday presents!) and will serve you well

Do not really agree with this at all. Feel you get quite poor spec on stuff like cheap Specialized bikes for example.
Not sure you can get anything decent (even 2013 sale bikes) from those brands without going over budget.

I am not a fan of pushing Triban 3's on people but (I think I am right in saying that) one thing that Decathlon do which is market leading IMO is that all their smaller frames come with 650c wheels.

A 650c Triban 5 with carbon fork and 9 speed 2013 Sora would seem a good option. Not sure triple is that suitable for a 12 year old or triathlon use but do feel that having a smaller frame and wheels will be much better.

Upgrading an entry Allez would be expensive and a waste of money in my opinion.
Far better to enjoy the better spec'd, better fitting bike and upgrade the whole bike when height, budget and knowledge are bigger

DeVlaeminck

Most 12 year olds will be fine on 700c - go to any cross race or circuit race and all the 12 year olds will be on 700c wheels. At that age ask ourself if ou are going to use it on grass - my daughter did a bit of triathlon and their training was on grass - in which case a cross bike may be an better option.

I have 12 year ild twins - one has an Isla Luath 700c which I got second hand for £220 in excellent condition and one I got a Specialized tricross frame for £80 and built it p with a mix of campag bits I already had and a 165 chainset I bought new. OK so you may not have that option but second hand can get you something decent well inside your budget.

Philly8mt

As you can see from the posts above, there is a lot of personal choice and opinion to be had ...

Personally I'd steer clear of second hand for now unless you really know what ya looking at and have a very supportive adult available to help in terms of advice, security and transport.

For what it's worth ....

The Wiggle Felt deal seems great value for money (if size available)
J.E.James have the Mekk @ £411.00 - my 14yr old plumped for this for Xmas as his first road bike.
My mate purchased the Triban 5 from Decathlon for £429.00 and is very very happy with it for the cash.

As long as ya can get the sizing then I'm sure any of the above would be a great purchase.

Good luck and be sure to let us all know what you go for ... Perhaps stick some pictures on here as well.
Very envious of you and my boy starting at such a young age ... Wish I'd discovered it earlier.

pilot_pete

Shame the Wiggle Felt deal doesn't come in a size small enough for him...

My son has inherited his big brother's Allez Sport, which is a 700c and perfectly adequate. Only point I would highlight is that is is a few years old and has the Sora thumb shifters fitted. The thumb lever for the front mech requires a real hard push to drop the chain from big to small ring and his little 11 yo thumb was not strong enough to operate it, so I have fitted a bar end shifter to remedy that. Otherwise it has been an excellent first bike. It has had NOTHING done to it other than clean it in 3 years. The chain is just on limits now, and that is it. Can't complain for the money.

PP

simon_e

At 5'0" most brands' size Small will be too big to fit you, including the Defy and Allez models. Riding a bike that's too big is sh*t, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The appropriate frame size for your height will depend on the geometry - horizontal top tube frames are obviously taller than the compact (sloping) models - so the frame size for your height may vary.

An increasing number of brands sell models marketed for women that are available in an XS size. Specialized Dolce, Scott Contessa and Giant Avail might be beyond your budget new but secondhand ones should be available. Chains like Evans Cycles sell their own brand Pinnacle alongside lots of others, have a look through the road bike section of their website to see what they sell. WSD posts like this might help: http://velocentric.com/2013/01/women-sp ... ikes-pt-1/

I'd also suggest you look at Islabikes Luath, either 26" or 700c. They are designed properly to fit small people and will hold their value better than anything else.

DeVlaeminck

Bit old for a Luath 26" unless he's tiny for his age. At 12 he might even get on a 700 large.

I'd disagree about not getting a bike too big, If you get it to fit just right in 6 months it'll be a touch small. Assuming most would want 18 months out of a bike there is no harm in kids getting a bike a little bit too big and riding it til it's a little bit too small. That is pretty much what they all do.

Anonymous

I would not put my kid on a bike that was too big and harder to control for them to ride on the road with cars :shock:

MTB on a trail maybe, but road bike on a road, no freaking way. Get a bike that fits rather than play the lottery (it won't be me) with your kids life!

Plenty of adults ride 650c for time trial/triathlons don't they?
Plenty of adults have a smaller framed, lighter and better to control bike too.

There is plenty of growing room anyway. Just change the stem and seat post :roll:

650c wheels would probably be better for a lot of small riders.
Decathlon have it right IMO.

simon_e

Carbonator wrote:

I would not put my kid on a bike that was too big and harder to control for them to ride on the road with cars :shock:

MTB on a trail maybe, but road bike on a road, no freaking way. Get a bike that fits rather than play the lottery (it won't be me) with your kids life!

Plenty of adults ride 650c for time trial/triathlons don't they?
Plenty of adults have a smaller framed, lighter and better to control bike too.

There is plenty of growing room anyway. Just change the stem and seat post :roll:

650c wheels would probably be better for a lot of small riders.
Decathlon have it right IMO.

Agreed. The idea that a bike that's too big for you so you "grow into it" is sh*t. Islabikes have an accurate size chart that will show which model is the best fit.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using the smaller wheels, they were all the rage in TTs a few years ago. Emma Pooley is 5'1" and while she rides a 700c road bike (IIRC for compatibility with the rest of the team & neutral support) she races TTs and triathlon on a 650c Cervelo. And she certainly won't be the only one.