Advice required on buying daughter her first road bike

swelsbyuk

I recently bought myself my first decent road bike - a 2014 Giant Defy 1.

My daughter has now asked if she can have one for her 10th birthday. She is 4ft 9" at present and I am struggling to find her something for the £400 budget I have. This looks promising to my untrained eye:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitu ... prod107021

Have considered buying an XS adult bike but worried brakes will be set up for adult-sized hands. Oh, and I have to do this in secret so as not to ruin the surprise.

Does the above Vitus look okay for the money? If not, could anybody recommend an alternative?

Many thanks

S

nochekmate

Check out the Islabike range - example of 13+ bike below (she may be looking at the 11+ version)

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

Far from being the cheapest around but they are built with children in mind and are always keenly sought after so when your daughter does finally outgrow it, you will more than likely recover in the region of £250 to put towards your next purchase if it kept in good condition. Not sure that the Vitus would retain anything like that percentage value.

Secondhand ones do crop up on eBay (if you would consider secondhand) but they do fetch pretty strong prices.

apreading

As well as Islabikes, and cheaper options:

If you have a Decathlon near you, look at their bikes - they put alot of work into catering for smaller sizes, including smaller wheels on them.

Or you could look at Boardman's new junior bikes: http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/k ... ort-e-bike

MichaelW

nochekmate wrote:

Check out the Islabike range - example of 13+ bike below (she may be looking at the 11+ version)

The luath26 uses MTB rims, not 650c, so mid-wider tyres are available to a min of 1" (28mm).
650c tyres max out at a narrow 28mm.
Also the single chainring reduces Q factor and simplifies gearing.
Correctly sized short cranks (155mm) and narrow bars help to fit a smaller rider.
Rack and fender-ready for the school run or touring.

jordan_217

Frog bikes are meant to be a good alternative to Isla bikes:

http://www.frogbikes.com/lightweight-ki ... ad-70.aspx

Salsa

The new Pendleton Initial road bikes great value with Claris parts for only £250. The sizing would be the only possible issue, but 43cm is pretty small. It's better equipped than the junior Boardman for example, for less money.
Claris shifters also come with the extra rubber shims to get the levers closer to the bar.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -road-bike

Anonymous

I got our daughter a Felt F95 junior and it has been a fantastic bike for her (she was 10 when she got it).
A little over your budget even if you can find one for just under £500 as we did, but better value than most and resale should be good.

It is 9 speed Sora with Miche levers which are fantastic for small hands.
Brake lever is not upshift. The lever behind (which is normally down shift) is and there is a button on the outside of levers for downshift.

Think Decathlon has 650c wheels on all their small frames, which seems sensible to me.
If your child is cycling on the road with cars they need as much control as poss.
Full size wheels with adult size levers on frames they 'grow into' would be a no no for me.
OK in the 80's perhaps but there are better options now and your kids life should be worth the expense. If not just stick to off road until they are big enough.

I would personally not bother with Isla Bikes. I feel if the frame, wheels and levers are the correct size then they are far better off with the bike being as similar to an adults as possible.

Make sure whatever you get it has duel calliper brakes. There are some 'kid's' road bikes out there with brakes I would struggle to pull, yet alone 10 year old!